How will changes announced by the transport secretary impact tourists?

Q What do you think of the travel changes announced by the transport secretary?

Tom L

A Finally, just before 5pm on Friday, Grant Shapps tweeted out some changes to the tangle of travel restrictions that have blighted the summer for many of us. My scorecard records two modest positives. But much is still to be done before the UK can be said to have a coherent and effective set of rules governing international travel. The first positive: reducing the despised “red list” – countries from which it is necessary to go into hotel quarantine on arrival in the UK, at a cost of over £2,000.

Pakistan and Bangladesh have been moved off the red list, which will enable many families to reconnect. So have six holiday favourites: Egypt, Turkey, Kenya, the Maldives, Oman and Sri Lanka. While the data for Egypt was not especially supportive, I am already booking my winter break there. The second: reducing the ludicrous and disproportionate testing regime for fully vaccinated travellers to the UK.

The test-before-travel will be ditched. As it happens, though, that was the easy part of the multiple testing procedure: plenty of foreign pharmacies and airport testing centres offered fast, professional and cheap lateral flow tests to UK-bound travellers. The other component, on arrival testing, is still with us. I don’t count Grant Shapps’s headline of replacing PCR tests as a significant positive. Much has been made about replacing the “day two” PCR (which can also be taken on the day of return or the next day) with a lateral flow test.

But for the traveller the booking, paying and testing procedure remains exactly the same. The only difference will be a reduction in cost of perhaps £20. Only when the UK follows other major European countries in abolishing testing for fully vaccinated travellers, and reduces the red list to a small core of really risky places, will we be able properly to expand our horizons. Friday’s adjustments are not going to change the world; but they will open it up a bit for us.

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Q I shall shortly be travelling to the US to see my daughter. Because there is still no entry allowed to passengers travelling direct from the UK to the US, I shall be “laundering” my UK status for 15 days in another country en route.

I am double-vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Since the US has only given formal recognition to the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, will US immigration regard me as vaccinated or non-vaccinated? I have my NHS vaccine certification, but a fat lot of good it will do me if the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t count. And if I’m categorised as “non-vaccinated”, what quarantine rules will apply to me on arrival in the US?

Name supplied

A America is off limits to people travelling direct from the UK and most of the rest of Europe until further notice. Yet there appears little concern about travellers coming in from other parts of the world. As with many other nations, you have to take a test before travel – or produce evidence of having recovered from coronavirus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says: “All air passengers coming to the United States, including US citizens and fully vaccinated people, are required to have a negative Covid-19 test result no more than three days before travel or documentation of recovery from Covid-19 in the past three months before they board a flight to the United States.” It also advises that you should have a second test three, four or five days after arrival.

People who are fully vaccinated need not quarantine. As you say, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Fortunately, the Foreign Office points out that it can also be a World Health Organisation-approved vaccine. Anecdotal evidence suggests US Customs and Border Protection are not overly interested in visitors’ vaccination status.

You also need to be wary of individual state requirements or recommendations. For example, the Hawaii Tourism Authority says: “We are strongly advising visitors that now is not the right time to travel, and they should postpone their trips through the end of October.”

Finally, if you are laundering your status in Mexico, be warned you must spend at least 10 days away from this red-list country (eg in the amber list US) before returning to the UK.

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Q We’re contemplating an autumn trip around northeast England and the Scottish borders. We know Hadrian’s Wall, but what are your recommendations for other places to visit?

Name supplied

A The two outstanding cities are on the English side of the frontier: Newcastle, with a superb location on the Tyne, and Durham, whose heart occupies a loop in the Wear. A day in each is well worthwhile, with the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle and the cathedral in Durham my favourite locations.

You might want to open your eyes to Barnard Castle with the half-hour drive south from Durham. Long before Dominic Cummings escaped from lockdown here, it was a lovely market town with the remarkable Bowes Museum – an extravagant building with eccentric exhibits.

Further up the coast, Northumberland is characterised by a string of castles, all atmospheric and mostly in ruin. Offshore, visit Holy Island. Plan carefully, though, to time the tides right to drive out and back along the causeway. Lindisfarne Castle is one attraction, alongside the ruined Priory.

The main sight at Berwick-upon-Tweed is the wall that wraps around the town, providing outstanding views. The Tweed itself forms the Anglo-Scottish border for some of its course, but just west of Coldstream it becomes a fully Scottish river. Follow the Tweed upstream from Kelso to Melrose, through beautiful countryside (embellished by relics such as the monumental Leaderfoot Viaduct) and a series of interesting towns.

Just outside Kelso is the amusingly extravagant Georgian mansion, Floors Castle, created by the Earl of Roxburghe. Dryburgh Abbey is most memorable for the Dryburgh Abbey Hotel next door, a Victorian pile – well worth a night.

Melrose is the most interesting town, with arty shops and delicious places to eat. It has the obligatory decaying abbey, where what is thought to be the embalmed heart of Robert the Bruce was found a century ago. Finally, Abbotsford House near Melrose is where Sir Walter Scott lived and died – and it has been lovingly restored in his honour.

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Q We are considering taking a Hurtigruten cruise along the Norwegian coast next year, flying from Gatwick and picking up the boat at Bergen. I know it’s not a traditional cruise as such, and that you are aboard a working boat that carries goods to the various ports of call. Some of the reviews we have looked at indicate that it can be crowded and that the additional expenses for drinks and excursions are high.

Val S

A I unreservedly commend Hurtigruten – the coastal ferry that connects Norwegian communities between the fine city of Bergen and the Arctic, terminating at Kirkenes just short of the Russian border.

With daily departures heading north and south between 34 coastal communities, it is an essential social service as well as a clockwork testament to endurance.

But while Hurtigruten is part of the Norwegian psyche, the transport aspect is getting less and less important as airlines and better roads accelerate journeys. So for a couple of decades, spare capacity has been sold off cheaply to holidaymakers who want to cover long stretches of the voyage. It is extremely comfortable and well run, with buffets that deflect the high cost of nearly everything in Norway. If you wish to drink, two words of advice: duty free (which conveniently is available on arrival at Bergen airport) in your cabin.

The three-day stretch between Bergen and Tromso, de facto capital of the Norwegian Arctic, is an excellent introduction – but having had a couple of voyages, I recommend the whole thing, especially the Arctic arc across the top of Norway. Excursions are expensive, but local transport is available or simply walk around – a joy in the enticing cities of Alesund and Trondheim.

For about the price of three good meals a day in Norway, you get three good meals a day plus six nights in a comfortable cabin and 1,500 miles of travel. And I have never felt remotely crowded.

The only question: when to go? I can be specific: late February/early March or late October/early November. There is enough daylight to give plenty of time to enjoy the coastal spectacular as you drift past, and enough night to make it very likely you will experience the northern lights.

Finally, build in a 24- or 48-hour stop in Bergen at the start of your trip: it is an exceptionally beautiful city in a superb setting.

Email your questions to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder