Travel To USA

[bad company]

Mrs BC and I would really like to go to Florida for Christmas to see our family and Grandchildren. Obviously travel from the UK isn’t possible right now, the latest advice I found is this:-

USA: Travellers who have been to the UK, Ireland, Schengen Zone, Iran, Brazil or China within the last 14 days will be denied entry to the USA. US citizens and permanent residents of the USA, certain specified close family members and certain other limited categories of visas holders (such as UN staff and diplomats) are exempt. They will still be able to enter the USA, subject to normal entry requirements.

That being the case we were thinking of flying to Bermuda (I’ve fancied going there for years) or one of the Caribbean islands for 2 weeks then onto the USA. Does anyone know if this would be acceptable to the US authorities? Obviously we’d need to isolate for 2 weeks when we get home.

If so travel insurance could be an issue. Any ideas?

[HotJambalaya]

basically thats the way in. Though you'll only be able to choose a carribean island where you can fly to direct, so be careful since to get to a lot of them you'd have to transit in Miami which isnt allowed.

keep an eye on https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/world.php in case things change.

Also options are Turkey, Mexico and Croatia.

I'm flying into Mexico in december, will travel around a bit, and if things look good in the US will head there after.

[Chucklehead]

I don't mean to scaremonger - i work in travel and believe me, the industry wants to get people moving again, but...

editBermuda Barbados put the UK on their quarantine list last week, so if you'd booked to go there, you'd need to quarantine in your hotel. I think they are less strict and demand that you stay in the resort grounds, and with testing you can be cleared quicker than 2 weeks. You'd need to get to a Caribbean island of your choice (direct), avoid catching anything between now and your trip and make your flight (assuming it wasn't cancelled) and then make it two weeks in your chosen destination without coming down with anything to then make your flight to the US out of there. It's a lot of things to line up. If you did catch something while you were out there and didn't have any serious symptoms, you'd need to make your own arrangements to stay there for X days, or X+Y to be able to then travel on to the US where you might have totally missed Christmas. There are travel insurers out there that will cover it, but not many, and i'm not sure what level of cover you get if you need hospitalised.

If you have the luxury, i would set the plan in motion, but i would probably not book until much nearer the time when there was a bit more certainty. You certainly have my sympathy and i hope it works out.

Edited by Chucklehead on Tuesday 29th September 13:03

[bad company]

Thanks for the help guys. I take the point about direct flights and see that St. Kitts is about to re open for tourists so that could be a good gateway.

Anyone where we can buy insurance given that the Foreign Office is advising against going there.

Also the FO website implies that we may have to isolate on arrival in USA, that’d make it not worth going. There seems to be conflicting advice on this.

[Chucklehead]

Battleface is the company that i hear for covid travel insurance. I don't know anything about them or if it'd meet your needs, but it's worth a look.

https://www.battleface.com/

[GCH]

bad company said:

Also the FO website implies that we may have to isolate on arrival in USA, that’d make it not worth going. There seems to be conflicting advice on this.

A questionnaire, verbal questions at your entry point with possibly a temperature check, and isolation not enforced or checked.
Buy hey, things may change by then.

[matt21]

Similar situation here. Fiancée lives in NYC right now, I’m stuck here with no line of sight as to when I can get over. Been hoping for a relaxation of rules but looks like it may get worse. Thinking of 2 weeks in Turkey then into USA. Right PITA

[HotJambalaya]

bad company said:

Thanks for the help guys. I take the point about direct flights and see that St. Kitts is about to re open for tourists so that could be a good gateway.

Anyone where we can buy insurance given that the Foreign Office is advising against going there.

Also the FO website implies that we may have to isolate on arrival in USA, that’d make it not worth going. There seems to be conflicting advice on this.

Quarantine restrictions are by state, hence the vagueness. Florida is fine.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/us-state-tr...

I know trailfinders covers corona virus, but the big hurdle is the travelling against FCO advice. I priced up a 6 week trip to mexico and usa on battle face for me (41) and it came in at a staggering £667.

[eliot]

I’ll keep an eye out for the daily mail sad face saying you are stranded in the states and cant back home for the new year and might loose your job.

why cant you simply accept that this is an exceptional time and stay at home until things improve ?

[RDMcG]

Things are getting rapidly worse in the US right now and Florida may be a real hotspot since they have just dropped all restrictions, distancing, masks the lot by order of the Governor. Great test of herd immunity now.

[bad company]

eliot said:

I’ll keep an eye out for the daily mail sad face saying you are stranded in the states and cant back home for the new year and might loose your job.

why cant you simply accept that this is an exceptional time and stay at home until things improve ?

We’re retired, no job to lose.

If you hadn’t seen your granddaughters for a year you might understand.

[satans worm]

matt21 said:

Similar situation here. Fiancée lives in NYC right now, I’m stuck here with no line of sight as to when I can get over. Been hoping for a relaxation of rules but looks like it may get worse. Thinking of 2 weeks in Turkey then into USA. Right PITA

I did exactly this last month, works no problem, no questions asked, happy to be back in New York

The city is good right now, midtown maybe not, tottaly dead, but below 20th and upper east and west sides are buzzing with locals going out eating drinking etc, a nice atmosphere, not quite what the news reports!

[bad company]

satans worm said:

The city is good right now, midtown maybe not, tottaly dead, but below 20th and upper east and west sides are buzzing with locals going out eating drinking etc, a nice atmosphere, not quite what the news reports!

Good to hear. Do you have to wear muzzles/masks in the street or just inside?

[matt21]

satans worm said:

I did exactly this last month, works no problem, no questions asked, happy to be back in New York

The city is good right now, midtown maybe not, tottaly dead, but below 20th and upper east and west sides are buzzing with locals going out eating drinking etc, a nice atmosphere, not quite what the news reports!

Good to hear. What route did you take? Any hints on what to do and where to stay in Turkey?! I’ll probably just work from a hotel

[Vette_1978]

Chucklehead said:

Battleface is the company that i hear for covid travel insurance. I don't know anything about them or if it'd meet your needs, but it's worth a look.

https://www.battleface.com/

I used them for the trip to Le Mans last week, was about £27 for full cover for the week, covers all Covid issues.

[HotJambalaya]

bad company said:

Anyone where we can buy insurance given that the Foreign Office is advising against going there.

Sorry brain fart the other day.

I'd actually been looking at health insurance policies for the USA a little while back. You can actually get a local health insurance policy as a tourist, which works out significantly cheaper then a uk based travel insurance policy, and of course it has the benefit that they dont care at all about FCO advice.

I cant remember the site I'd looked at previously but here is a few:

https://www.americanvisitorinsurance.com/

https://www.insubuy.com/


There's quite a few, and they mostly seem to come up with the same companies. A local told me to always take a minimum of $500k coverage so make sure to select that, and make sure to select that it includes covid.

[bad company]

HotJambalaya said:

bad company said:

Anyone where we can buy insurance given that the Foreign Office is advising against going there.

Sorry brain fart the other day.

I'd actually been looking at health insurance policies for the USA a little while back. You can actually get a local health insurance policy as a tourist, which works out significantly cheaper then a uk based travel insurance policy, and of course it has the benefit that they dont care at all about FCO advice.

I cant remember the site I'd looked at previously but here is a few:

https://www.americanvisitorinsurance.com/

https://www.insubuy.com/


There's quite a few, and they mostly seem to come up with the same companies. A local told me to always take a minimum of $500k coverage so make sure to select that, and make sure to select that it includes covid.

Thanks I’ll take a look. Hopefully they’ll also cover us for the 2 weeks in Bermuda or Caribbean before flying to Florida.

[bad company]

Vette_1978 said:

Chucklehead said:

Battleface is the company that i hear for covid travel insurance. I don't know anything about them or if it'd meet your needs, but it's worth a look.

https://www.battleface.com/

I used them for the trip to Le Mans last week, was about £27 for full cover for the week, covers all Covid issues.

Bit scary:-

[juice]

bad company said:

That being the case we were thinking of flying to Bermuda (I’ve fancied going there for years) or one of the Caribbean islands for 2 weeks then onto the USA. Does anyone know if this would be acceptable to the US authorities? Obviously we’d need to isolate for 2 weeks when we get home.

Bermuda is likely to not be that warm at Christmas, it's really hit and miss as to weather. Plus for 2 weeks you're likely to be bored quite quickly.
(I used to live there for 15 years)

[bad company]

juice said:

bad company said:

That being the case we were thinking of flying to Bermuda (I’ve fancied going there for years) or one of the Caribbean islands for 2 weeks then onto the USA. Does anyone know if this would be acceptable to the US authorities? Obviously we’d need to isolate for 2 weeks when we get home.

Bermuda is likely to not be that warm at Christmas, it's really hit and miss as to weather. Plus for 2 weeks you're likely to be bored quite quickly.
(I used to live there for 15 years)

Thanks, we wondered just that. As I said I’ve fancied going for a while but thought 3-4 days would be enough. Trouble is the Caribbean islands aren’t of much interest to us either. We need somewhere with direct flights to & from the UK and Florida.