US-London-Paris trip

There is also a declaration you'll need to fill out for your flight back to the US. TBH, it was easier to print it out ahead of time, fill it out the night before (you have to say you don't have symptoms so needs to be done right before travel) and just have it available when I got to the airport. I printed out both the entry form and the exit form from the Delta airline site before I left home.

You do not need to carry them around after you arrive. When I got to Paris (via plane) in September no one even looked at my entry declaration so I just put it back in my folder of paperwork and left it.

I had my Pass Sanitaire on my phone, on my watch face and a back up printed copy. I never used the paper copy but kept it in my purse. With 5 people, I'd probably get one of those plastic document envelopes from an office supply store and keep back ups in my purse.

You all need a day 2 test for entry into the U.K. (taken between the day you land and the second day there) which must be paid for before you arrive in the U.K.

The NHS Covid app is worth having.

Things are changing rapidly with the new variant, which has now been detected in the U.K., so procedures may change before your trip.

and order the tests to be delivered to the hotel

You can also have the "Day 2" test on arrival at a testing site. There is one just a short walk from St. Pancras where you will arrive on the Eurostar. We found that handy and then we had the test out of the way. The Eurostar site also has links to test providers from which there is a slight discount. We had to take a PCR but that changed the end of October so you only need an antigen test.

EDIT: I just realized you are going London to Paris, not vice versa. Still, you can take the "Day 2" test on arrival and get it over. IMO worth doing.

BTW, in France, everyone was great about masking and the restaurants all checked for our pass sanitaire. In the UK, almost no one masked even on public transportation. You should, IMO, mask up as much as possible as you don't want to get infected and mess up your return-to-the-US tests. We took BINAX NOW tests along with us and did them in our hotel. We then uploaded the results to the app our airline used so all the boxes were ticked before we got to the airport.

Can you get your boosters before you go?

I did this a few weeks ago.

For the UK you will need, proof of vaccination, a booked and paid for Day 2 test, and a passenger locater form. (If you are flying American or British Airways download the Verifly app and it will make check in easier.) The British passenger locater form can only be done within 48 hours of your departure.

For France you will need proof of vaccination and a filled out form This form can be filled in by hand and takes 5 minutes. It's supposed to be collected by Eurostar but mine wasn't.

Give yourself plenty of time at St Pancras in London. You go through French immigration there. When you arrive in Paris you just go on your way.

Pam's advice to print out copies of the CDC form for your return to the US is excellent. Unless you know your hotel will do it for you, you'll be glad you don't have to hunt down a print shop.

Due to the new variant, the advice given a few hours ago is now out of date. You will all need the more expensive PCR test and need to self isolate until you get the results (usually within 48 hours). This means you can’t leave your accommodation and will need to get food delivered.

If you come into contact with someone who tests positive, you must self isolate for 10 days. If this does happen, you won’t be able to travel to France until after this time and you test negative.

Wow, Jennifer, that is an amazingly quick turn of policy due to Omicron. Do you have a source we can look at?

This is still on the government website. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-england-from-another-country-during-coronavirus-covid-19#red-list-update-friday-26-november-2021

Before you travel to England – fully vaccinated
Before you travel to England you must:

book and pay for a COVID-19 test – to be taken before the end of day 2 in England
complete a passenger locator form – to be completed in the 48 hours before you arrive in England
You can choose a lateral flow test or a PCR test. You cannot use an NHS test for this. You must use a private test provider.

You will need to enter your COVID-19 test booking reference number on your passenger locator form.

If you will be in England for less than 2 days you still need to book and pay for a day 2 COVID-19 test.

When you arrive in England – fully vaccinated
After you arrive in England you must take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2. The day you arrive is day 0.

This is the lateral flow or PCR test that you booked before travel.

If the test result is negative, you do not need to self-isolate.

Wow, thanks for all of the great info! If this is true about isolating in the UK, we may just skip London this time around and head straight to Paris. We are only in London for 3 days, makes no sense at all to isolate in a hotel for two of the days... Does anyone have the latest on this, from a verified source?

Laurel it was just announced in a Boris press conference with the two advisors, science and science.

On a Saturday night which is very unusual.

I'm sure details and government webpage updates will follow soon.

Changes start immediately.

By the way, no more Lateral Flow Tests - it is PCR on arrival now. Many countries now back on the RED list which means if you originated in one of the REDs (only UK nationals allowed to come) it is 2 weeks in a quarantine hotel and all contacts to isolate.

If you are found to have been near a person with Omicron you must isolate even if you are fully vaxxed..

I also watched Boris' press conference and posted the new rules on a separate thread.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/new-rules-for-entering-england

This is also for FULLY vaxxed people??

Yes. You can read about it in the Guardian or in the sources Nigel and Frank have shared. A change as of this afternoon UK time.

Appreciate it, everyone. I am so sad that we may have to cancel again. I better keep up to speed with what's going on with entrance policies from either UK or US to Paris. We may have to catch a puddle jumper to France directly and pass through LHR....

you will have to wait to see what is promulgated for transit passengers - that's not clear yet.

It is probably prudent for the foreseeable future to plan trips that only enter and exit one other country -- it gets crazy complicated when there are multiple destinations.

Clearly COVID is going to be an endemic worldwide virus for the rest of our lives with periodic vaccinations like we do for flu; we can only hope the medications being developed to treat it once it occurs will be effective against variants and soon available.

Natashak, that is NOT the attestation form I downloaded from the Delta Airlines site before I traveled this Fall for the return trip. It was one page, 3 questions or so. I’ll see if I can find the link.

Editing to add: OK, here is the link on the Delta Airline site. I am sure there is a link on your airline of choice. I think this can be done on an app with Delta now but that was not available when I returned in October.

https://www.delta.com/content/dam/delta-www/pdfs/us-cdc-attestation-us-national-us-resident-us-immigrant.pdf

This certainly may change if they change the requirements due to the new variant so download it right before you travel. Be sure to have some writing implements with you. I had pens and pencils both.

Agree with janettravels44, until more is known, keep itineraries as simply as possible - in and out of the same country.

For air carrier arrivals, the US entry requirement has been the same for some time - Antigen test successfully completed within the 3 calendar days prior to your departure. Any required paperwork will be given to you by your airline.

And you should be able to upload your test to your airline as well as vaccination card, attestation and passport such that you don't have to wait in long airport check lines to present all this stuff. We had 3 groups ahead of us at check in at CDG a couple of weeks ago; those without pre-loaded tests and vax and attestations were in a line for our airlines that was at least 150 long.

Unfortunately, it will cost an arm and a leg to re-route so as of now, plans are still London to Paris. It looks like we might be able to speed things up and pay for a 3 hour PCR test, does anyone know anything about that? Either at the airport or on our way into London. Willing to pay the extra cost because it's cheaper than re-routing or losing money for non refundable tours. :-(

you will need to check nearer the time. the 3 hour test is usually for the fit to fly to the US. I don't believe that it is valid under the new regulations. You need to check and double check much closer to the time. Much may have changed both here in the UK and in France in that time with Omicron.

As Nigel stated, the 3 hour test is not for a day 2 test--at least as of now.

Appreciate you all! We are going to proceed with our plans as they are, for now, hoping we don't regret it. What I need now is a timeline with tests, documents, procedures, and dates, my head is spinning! 😒