Can you help my friend with mobility issues plan a rail trip to Europe?

Q I have a friend who would like to travel by train from south London to Warsaw. He had a mini-stroke last year and can’t manage air travel. But he is not in a wheelchair. Can you make some suggestions?

Jane R

A For anyone who has mobility issues, rail is a far gentler transport proposition than air. You avoid the airport experience, which can often be stressful when going through security and awkward when tracking down the departure gate. There is generally much more personal space on trains than on planes. Most operators have good systems in place for assistance at stations. And transport is city-centre to city-centre, with easy links to and from other parts of the metropolis.

London St Pancras, which has direct train links from many south London stations, is the place to begin the international journey – with a Eurostar train to Brussels. The question for your friend: does he want to make it a journey of daytime travel only? If so, then the 9.01am Eurostar from St Pancras connects neatly at Brussels Midi to Cologne, with another transfer to Berlin – arriving at 7.15pm local time after a journey of just over nine hours from central London. At this point he can break his journey. I like the slick Hotel Amano Grand Central, very close to the Hauptbahnhof (main station) in Berlin and with accessible rooms.

But if your friend is happy to take overnight trains, Mark Smith – the international rail guru known as The Man in Seat 61 – has a better idea. “From 26 May it’ll be more time-effective to take the 3.04pm Eurostar from London to Brussels, then take the new European Sleeper from Brussels to Berlin,” he says. The new service leaves the Belgian capital at 7.22pm and reaches the German capital at 6.48am next day.

Whether or not your friend takes the night train or stays in Berlin, Mark recommends “the 9.51am EuroCity train from Berlin to Warsaw arriving at 3.22pm”. He points out: “That’s less than 24 hours from central London.”

For station assistance, contact Eurostar for London and Brussels, and DB (German Railways) for Berlin to Prague. “I’m not sure what assistance European Sleeper can provide,” concedes Mark.

He and I will welcome feedback on how your friend enjoys the journey: TrainInfo@Seat61.com and S@Hols.tv.

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Q I know restrictions are being lifted for unvaccinated people to travel to the US from 12 May. But can I book a holiday now, so long as I actually travel after the rules are eased for people who aren’t vaccinated? Also, can I apply for an Esta permit before restrictions are lifted?

Gill W

A The international Covid rules that matter are those in force on the day you travel. As mentioned in my answer to yesterday’s travel question, America’s “Covid-19 public health emergency” is coming to an end on 11 May. The White House has announced that from the following day, Friday 12 May, international travellers will no longer need to demonstrate to their transatlantic airline that they have received Covid jabs. It will be the first time for 38 months that unvaccinated British holidaymakers have been allowed to visit the US.

Anyone, regardless of vaccination status, can make plans to travel to America from 12 May. But I ask you not to do so until your application for an Esta (the fairly swift and easy online permit to visit the US) has been successful. There is, regrettably, a steady stream of people whose applications are rejected as a result of a previous visit to Cuba (since 12 January 2021) or because your name and/or other personal data are similar to those of someone on an official watchlist. There are no automatic refunds for Esta rejects. Anyway, you can apply at any time whether or not you have Covid jabs.

Also, you need to know that transatlantic air fares are high. I calculate 7 million British people are unjabbed, roughly equivalent to the entire population of the island of Ireland. A significant proportion of them will have family in America, or need to make business trips there. As a result you can expect flights on 12 May – the first day of the relaxed rules – to be full and expensive. On a benchmark British Airways London-New York flight on that day, returning a week later, fares are over £800 return. As the summer approaches, demand for popular destinations is likely to increase – putting pressure on accommodation and car rental prices as well as flights.

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Q I am dismayed to see that my package holiday flight to and from Turkey is going to be with Corendon Airlines. I don’t know anything about them but the reviews are terrible. Can I cancel and get a full refund?

Sarah E

A A refund is extremely unlikely. But I believe your flights will be fine. As luck would have it, I flew with Corendon only last week. It was a 4h 20m trip from Antalya – the airline’s base on Turkey’s southern coast – to London Gatwick. The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800, with a standard one-class configuration of 189 passengers.

For a flight of that duration, I always prefer an Airbus A320 series aircraft to a Boeing 737 because the European jet has a wider cabin and a bit more comfort. That is of little account on a flight of an hour or two, but for a trip of over four hours on a full plane the reduced space is evident (I had flown out to Turkey on an easyJet A321). One reason the Corendon plane was so full was because there were so many package holidaymakers on board. Lots of golfing tour operators seem to use Corendon, presumably because of its relatively low cost (I picked up a flight the day before departure for about £50 one way, far less than easyJet).

Unlike the reliably excellent Turkish Airlines, where you get European business-class service (including complementary food and drink) even in economy, all catering on Corendon is paid for. I wasn’t tempted by the offer. The flight was about 20 minutes late leaving and arriving, for reasons that were never explained. But overall the experience was perfectly adequate.

All holiday companies, including those such as Tui with their own aircraft fleet, reserve the right to outsource the flying to other companies. They will ensure the airline partner they choose is fully safety certified. The only theoretical circumstances in which you might qualify for a refund is if you made a particular carrier (and perhaps aircraft) a condition of booking. But I imagine you did not, and so I advise you to look forward to your holiday and feel reassured that it will be a reasonable experience. One possible piece of good news: Corendon allows two pieces of cabin baggage, though one must be handbag-sized.

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Q I see that America is to drop their demand for vaccinations from overseas visitors. It made me wonder: what other countries still have Covid travel restrictions? I have been jabbed (original two plus a couple of boosters) so I’m particularly interested to learn of places where I still need to take a test – so I can avoid them.

Robert F

A The May Day announcement from the White House was welcome news for the millions of British travellers who have not been vaccinated against Covid and who want to go to the United States. By the time the “jabbed visitors only” rule is lifted on 12 May, it will have been over three years since they were last able to travel to the US. For almost 20 months from March 2020 to November 2021, arrivals from the UK and EU nations were banned. When the borders finally opened, vaccination was mandatory for anyone wishing to enter the US. The White House claims the onerous regime has helped “to slow the spread of new variants entering the country”. Whatever you think about that assertion, America will imminently be aligned with the vast majority of popular holiday nations in having scrapped all Covid travel restrictions.

The two major countries that I am watching are Brazil and China. For Brazil, travellers who are unvaccinated must test negative for Covid within the 24 hours before their flight. This means you have no need to avoid South America, since you will not need to test. But keep those NHS vaccination records on your phone, and ideally printed out, because the Foreign Office warns: “There are additional local requirements to show proof of vaccination in order to access certain places … including hotels, restaurants and gyms.”

China is the main outlier in terms of Covid travel rules. While Chinese citizens can now travel abroad, international tourists are still not admitted. Anyone travelling for work or to visit family needs a negative PCR test within 48 hours of boarding a flight to China. You might also be tested on arrival. I imagine you will want to steer clear for now, but bear in mind these restrictions do not apply to Hong Kong – for which no tests are required, regardless of your vaccination status. The Hong Kong government advises inbound travellers to conduct daily rapid antigen tests from the day of arrival into Hong Kong for five days, but this is not mandatory.

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