wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
Won't your destination accept an LFD test?
Do you disapprove of people who are planning an overseas holiday this summer?
- Thread starter Elpenor
- Start date
miss direct
misfungled
I have now used Randox posted tests 3 times for travel - only costs £30ish now and I've always had the results back well in time. Couldn't be bothered to get to the airport so early and pay their silly prices.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
Nope. PCR within 48 hrs only. Basically I have the choice of doing a trip into central London two days before for results the day after, or going to the airport 3hrs before check-in. Both are kind of a pain in the arse. I'm trying to work out which will be less stressful, given that no-one will totally guarantee the turnaround time.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
Was that also with a 48hr limit on when you could take the test? My concern is that my flight is 1530 on Wed. If I take the test 1600 on Monday I'm concerned it might not get to the lab by the beginning of Tuesday. In which case it will be cutting it a bit fine.
miss direct
misfungled
Yes. And I had the same worries, but it's been fine every time. The labs appear to work overnight, since each time, I got an email around midnight saying the sample had been received, and had the result/certificate by the time I work up.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
Thanks, this is good to know. Maybe I can do this then, and have the airport one as a backup if the postal one doesn't arrive (just to reduce my stress about it).
Think I was put off by their website being confusing. I'm not sure if I post it or if I have to go to a 'dropbox', which are nowhere near me.
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miss direct
misfungled
This is how I did it the last time, which was the cheapest.
Ordered test well in advance. Had to go and pick it up from a random newsagents the other side of the city. Took test 48 hours before, took a taxi to the dropbox. That's all.
Ordered test well in advance. Had to go and pick it up from a random newsagents the other side of the city. Took test 48 hours before, took a taxi to the dropbox. That's all.
I am flying to SA in 4 weeks to see my family who I have not seen in 4 years. I am crapping myself. I am travelling with my two young children one of whom has some additional needs. Normally this journey would be hellish but with the added Covid stresses, it's even worse. Can someone explain to me how I get the testing done before we fly, I definitely don't want to do it in the airport!
We have to do PCRs 72hrs before our flight which is at 10pm. I guess I'll get them done 48hours in advance, already a nightmare as my children will be in school and that's a working day for me. How do I ensure I get a reputable company that will turn it around with the correct documentation? How do I avoid having to travel across London to do the tests? Is there any way to do the tests in your own home, do you have to record yourself doing them?
Help!
We have to do PCRs 72hrs before our flight which is at 10pm. I guess I'll get them done 48hours in advance, already a nightmare as my children will be in school and that's a working day for me. How do I ensure I get a reputable company that will turn it around with the correct documentation? How do I avoid having to travel across London to do the tests? Is there any way to do the tests in your own home, do you have to record yourself doing them?
Help!
Jimmy Don't
Well-Known Member
I've used Randox a few times and always got the results back as timescales advertised etc
How does it work? Exactly.
Jimmy Don't
Well-Known Member
Order the kits - do the tests within the prescribed timescales and then drop off to one off their drop boxes by a certain time and you get the results via email by midnight the next day. If you order the kit by click and collect they are £35
teuchter
je suis teuchter
I only had to to an LFT (for Eurostar to Belgium) but I used this company who also do PCRs:
www.biogroup-laboratory.co.uk
I largely chose them because they have a "lab" close to Victoria station, easy to get to from Brixton. I did click & collect a couple of days ahead instead of having it posted to me, just so that I knew I had it in my poesession instead of waiting for unreliable deliveries.
For the LFT all I had to do was email them back with a photo of the completed test and my passport etc, and the certificate was then provided within a couple of hours. (The whole thing is a bit of a scam because it would be so easy to fake a negative result)
You could also have the test done at their "lab" (actually a disused shop unit with some temporary screens and a couple of guys scrolling through their phones waiting for any customers to arrive) for a higher cost and I assume the same is true for PCR; this would remove any uncertainties about things getting lost in the post etc.
PCR Fit To Fly Test London | BIOGROUP UK
Get your PCR Fit to Fly certificate by booking your appointment for a PCR Fit To Fly Test in clinic or order your test to be delivered at home.
www.biogroup-laboratory.co.uk
I largely chose them because they have a "lab" close to Victoria station, easy to get to from Brixton. I did click & collect a couple of days ahead instead of having it posted to me, just so that I knew I had it in my poesession instead of waiting for unreliable deliveries.
For the LFT all I had to do was email them back with a photo of the completed test and my passport etc, and the certificate was then provided within a couple of hours. (The whole thing is a bit of a scam because it would be so easy to fake a negative result)
You could also have the test done at their "lab" (actually a disused shop unit with some temporary screens and a couple of guys scrolling through their phones waiting for any customers to arrive) for a higher cost and I assume the same is true for PCR; this would remove any uncertainties about things getting lost in the post etc.
So technically I could order the kits two weeks in advance just to have them?
And how easy was it to find a drop box?
Attachments
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
All Covid restrictions on entering the U.K. to be dropped from Friday, for all passengers.
So, assuming we make it with the rising cases, I don't have to test the family when leaving SA to return to the UK in April?
BA won't insist on a test?
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Nope, nothing, not even proof of vaccination status.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
As of today you no longer need to wear a mask at Heathrow, nor on flights unless the destination country insists that inbound passengers wear them during the flight.
sparkybird
ask the bird...
Meanwhile here in Mexico everyone wears them in the street as well as in enclosed spaces. Apart from the young foreigners of course. I don't get how you can walk around and see every Mexican wearing a mask and not think...'hmm maybe I should put one on?'
In restaurants masks are kept on until food arrives and put back on as soon as you've eaten.
Most Mexicans really can't afford to get Covid.
It's odd but I think less about Covid here than I did in the UK despite seeing all masks. I now wonder whether it wasn't COVID I was thinking about but other people's attitudes to it, winding me up?
In restaurants masks are kept on until food arrives and put back on as soon as you've eaten.
Most Mexicans really can't afford to get Covid.
It's odd but I think less about Covid here than I did in the UK despite seeing all masks. I now wonder whether it wasn't COVID I was thinking about but other people's attitudes to it, winding me up?
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
About to test this flying back from Munich.
Am hoping the US changes soon too as have flights to DC in late April and don’t fancy mask wearing for 7 hours. Though I guess one workaround is to drink continuously.
sparkybird
ask the bird...
You get used to it, did an 11 hour flight with a mask and even slept. The person sitting in the opposite row who pretended to eat/drink most of the flight was getting some pretty dark stares....
wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
I'll be going to visit my mum and probably a couple of old friends in France next month, regulations now down to me making a sworn statement to enter France.
I'll be training it and wearing a mask the whole time (I have those take the pressure off your ears thingmajig)
I'll be training it and wearing a mask the whole time (I have those take the pressure off your ears thingmajig)
We fly Wed 30th at 10.30pm. so think we'll do tests with Rapid Tests as they use priority Royal Mail post boxes and lots near us.
I'll order the kits to come this week Thursday and we'll take them and post them Monday morning.
Does this seem good for a 72hrs before departure rule?
Still crapping myself, especially with so much covid around and all 3 of us in school every day.
I'll order the kits to come this week Thursday and we'll take them and post them Monday morning.
Does this seem good for a 72hrs before departure rule?
Still crapping myself, especially with so much covid around and all 3 of us in school every day.
Cloo
Banana for scale
I am wondering what will happen in summer, because it seems a few places now are asking for proof of vaccination in last 6 months, but by July/August a lot of people in a lot of countries won't have been vaccinated within that period. But presumably unless a country is vaccinating everyone every 6 months (which probably no one except maybe Israel is doing) it'd be a bit counterproductive and pointless to expect it of everyone else coming to that country.
We're going to Slovakia at end of May and right now they have a 9-month requirement, so we'll still be OK for that if still the case. I will get my mum to check the rules in Slovak before we go so we can be sure.
Dunno what we're doing in summer yet - we were thinking of resurrecting out 2020 USA plan, but I'm trying to change jobs so we may find I don't have that much holiday allowance unless I get one starting before June. Or after August.
We're going to Slovakia at end of May and right now they have a 9-month requirement, so we'll still be OK for that if still the case. I will get my mum to check the rules in Slovak before we go so we can be sure.
Dunno what we're doing in summer yet - we were thinking of resurrecting out 2020 USA plan, but I'm trying to change jobs so we may find I don't have that much holiday allowance unless I get one starting before June. Or after August.
wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
someone told me the French rules were "having had a booster in the past 9 months" but when I checked the rule is (currently) "having had a booster within 9 month of the second vaccination", and changes will probably occur again on these. So yeah, keep checking.
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