London/Germany/Paris 12/15-30

We were supposed to stay 5 nights in London. However, there were some new regulations that took place while we were in London regarding travel between the UK and France as well as the UK and Germany. France essentially banned travel between the UK and France which I believe went into effect on 12/17 or 12/18. Then Germany decided to restrict travel between the UK and Germany starting at midnight on Sunday 12/19. Our original itinerary was to fly from London to Amsterdam on Monday 12/20, then immediately take the train to Cologne Germany. We weren’t sure how these new restrictions on travel between the UK and France and Germany would play out with our travels, so we made the decision early Sunday morning to get out of the UK a day early. We took the Eurostar to Brussels later that day, stayed the night by the train station in Brussels and then the following morning took the train to Cologne. We are not super experienced in international travel, and I was concerned that if we were “stamped out” of the UK after Germany imposed their new UK restrictions, that would impact us. In hindsight, I don’t think we needed to leave the UK a day early, I think we overreacted, but it all worked out. Once we went through passport control boarding our Eurostar train, no one checked out passport until we left France on our way home. Our flight to AMS was on miles so we were able to easily cancel. We took a taxi to the train station in London for the Eurostar. The taxi driver said the day before that the line for the Eurostar was so long it went outside and wrapped around the building. So many people were trying to get to France before France restricted travel. He said he’s never seen anything like that in 20+ years of driving.

We got to Brussels around 8:30pm, stayed the night at a hotel right next to the train station. Dude, the area around Brussels Midi is a dump! I’m sure the city center area is much better, but man Midi is just gross. Thankfully we were only there for a quick stay. When we got off the train, they had a couple police officers asking randomly to see proof of your passenger locator form that is required for travel to Belgium. We had out proof on our phones. Nothing else was asked for.

The following morning, we took an ICE train from Brussels Midi to Cologne Germany.

We stayed in Cologne for two nights at Kommerzhotel Koln directly across from the train station. We arrived at 9am and got lucky, they had our rooms ready and allowed us to check in. The hotel was in a super convenient location. During our time in Cologne, we visited the cathedral, the NS Documentation Center, visited several Christmas Markets, and did some Christmas shopping.

Once we arrived in Cologne, we noticed that the COVID measures were much more stringent compared to the UK. Most all people wore masks indoors, many wore them outdoors. When we checked into our hotel, they asked for our vaccine proof. All restaurants and shops asked for proof, all the Christmas markets asked for proof as well. Our CDC lanyards worked everywhere we went in Germany. Everywhere we traveled in Germany was under the 2G rules.

After two days in Cologne, we rented a car and headed to Hagen, Germany to spend Christmas with family. We stayed in an Airbnb on the Lenne River about 15 minutes outside of Hagen. On Christmas Day we went to the castle in Altena for a buffet, it was a fantastic setting. We went to the local Christmas market in Hagen, it was more of a carnival feel than a market, but it was still a great time.

On Monday 12/27 we returned the car to Cologne and took the Thalys train to Paris. Once we arrived in Paris, there were a couple police officers asking for proof of vaccination, that was it.

We stayed three nights near the Eifel Tower at Hotel Muguet. Great hotel and great location. We took a taxi from the train station to the hotel. We bought tickets to the Louvre ahead of time and that was our only planned/pre-scheduled outing in Paris. We did a lot of walking and exploring. In our short time in Paris, we really loved the city and the vibe. We randomly would stop at a café for a drink, do some people watching form outside, rest our feet, then carry on with some more walking. We used the metro as well, found it easy to navigate as well. Walked by many of the typical Paris attractions, walked some pedestrian only areas.

The COVID situation in France was comparable to Germany we found. Nearly everyone wore masks indoors, many wore them outdoors in crowded situations. We did not get the Pass Sanitaire, every place we went accepted out CDC cards including the Louvre.

We stopped by a pharmacy next to our hotel for our COVID tests that are required for entry into the US on our return flight home. I believe we paid 15 euros each, no appointment needed, just walked right is. We had all five results within 20 minutes. All the pharmacy’s do COVID testing and they also have tents sent up around the city that do testing. One thing we found odd was when we went to the pharmacy for testing, they asked us to write down our names and date of births on a piece of paper. No one ever asked for our passports to verify identity. We found that COVID testing was so incredibly readily available in both France and Germany. There were so many places to get tested at a moments notice. Quite the opposite back here at home.

I forgot to mention this earlier, we brought with us the BinaxNOW proctored tests. We had intended to use these tests for our return to the US. When we made the decision to leave the UK a day easier, all the adults took one of these tests in our hotel before leaving. We were not real clear if a negative test was required to enter Belgium, so we errored on the side of caution and took the tests since we had some extras. The proctor tests we really simple and easy to connect, they were just time consuming since we had to do one at a time. Each test takes about 20 minutes from start to finish to get the official results. So fast forward to when we were in Paris, we decided to pay for the local COVID tests instead of doing the proctored tests in our hotel room. It took all of 10 minutes to get the tests done at the pharmacy.

Our return flight was from CDG-SEA direct with Air France. We took advantage of a 40% transfer bonus from AMEX to Flying Blue and I was super lucky to book 5 business class seats! It ended up costing approx. 38,000 AMEX points and approx. $200 per person. I didn’t tell the family about this until the night before we left Germany for Paris. They were all super exited, and instead of dreading a 10hr flight in coach, everyone was excited about the 10hr flight in business class. They flight was great, awesome service, food was great as well. It was a great way to end the trip. The only negatives about coming home was the security line/process at CDG was a disaster. I understand it’s a busy time of year but once you get up to the area where you place your belongings for screening, it was a disaster. Then, once in Seattle, we waited for 2 hours to get out checked baggage. Yes, 2 hours! They had three other international flights arrive after our flight, and all three of those flights had their baggage before we did. We never check a bag but on this trip we had to, we had a large suitcase that had a bunch of Christmas presents.

That’s about it. Very long winded, if you made it this far, thanks for reading!

Nice read, thank you. We are due to travel in a few weeks and are just down the road from you. This summer we used UW Medicine for the testing, but they are not offering that for travel anymore, so thank you for the Walgreens suggestion. That is still tough as there are so few appointments, so I am setting a reminder on my phone to get that done.

We have stayed at the Muguet and also liked it. We had the two rooms on the top floor, so one had a view of Les Invalides and the other a view of the Eiffel Tower. We were very spoiled with those!

Walgreens had some statement on their website that their rapid tests were only for people that were exposed but we booked anyways knowing it was for travel. You go through the drive through line and they don't ask you any questions other than for your name and drivers license.

It's amazing the lack of testing that is available here locally and throughout the country compared to most countries in the EU, well at least France and Germany.

We were real happy with the Muguet. Close to the Eiffel Tower, close to two metro stops, lots of great restaurants in the area and two pharmacies within a 5 minute walk. It was our first time in Paris and will certainly make it back!

JJT2005--After I read your post, I went to the website even though I knew I wouldn't be able to book for our dates just yet. It did not say it can't be used for traveling, which I know it did this summer when I looked. Anyway, I have a reminder on my phone now thanks to you:) I also just ordered another box of the Binax NOW tests from eMed. These are the proctored ones and we used those coming home from Iceland, so we needed a few more for the upcoming trip. An FYI for anyone looking to buy these, they do say that shipping is taking a bit longer due to the demand, and I noticed that we had to pay for shipping this time, where the last two times I ordered shipping was included. We have been to Paris and other areas of France many times, and never tire of it. The time we stayed at the Muguet it was myself, our 16 yr old daughter and my mom. Our kids have traveled with us all over Europe, but this was my moms first, and only, trip. She is one of those that is better suited to staying close to home or through a high end tour company such as Tauck, which she has done. We have very different travel styles;)

Great report, thank you for all the detail!

Enjoyed reading, thanks for sharing.

Yes thanks - great info

Enjoyed the report. My mother and I were just in France ourselves, 27 Nov - 8 Dec. Your correct on the Covid testing sites all over Paris, there were four of them within walking distance from our apartment. In & Out in 20 minutes with a printed copy & our Pass Sanitaire updated.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write up your TR and post.

Even in retrospect, I think you made the right decision to leave UK early. It's hard to really know when you are getting information on the fly but judging by how France and Netherlands shut down various entries, you did well to get out and get to Brussels. TBH, in reading other people's reports, delaying (and dithering) seems to have caused some people major problems. It seems like in times of Covid a strategic exit can be essential.

The area around Midi station has, I think, always been pretty awful. My parents lived in Brussels in the mid-70's and it was terrible then! You don't need the information now but the area around Centraal near the Grand Place is much better.

You mentioned that there were police officers asking for Covid proof in Paris. Was that at the train station or as you walked around? I enjoy Muguet. The folks there are so very nice and I like the location. I, too, had good success with one of the 2 nearby pharmacies in October. Very nice folks to deal with. I think it is hard for those who have not been to Paris to understand how easy getting the exit Covid tests are compared to the US.

Thanks for posting!

Pam - yes in retrospect I'm glad we left London when we did. We knew going into the trip we needed to be flexible and may need to make some revisions on the fly. It worked out well, plus we enjoyed the Eurostar in lieu of flying to AMS. In Paris, they had police officers down on the platform checking vaccination status just before you take the escalators up to the main level. They didn't have anyone checking up on the main concourse.