Terenia Taras
I AM never going to leave the island again! For anyone who has attempted to get off the island for any reason and get back, you will share my pain.
I am in a hotel airport in Manchester as I write this, having not been able to get on my flight because my PCR test result didn’t arrive in time before my flight.
My partner got his the day before and I just kept waiting and hoping mine would appear. But it wasn’t until I was finally able to speak to someone at Boots, where I’d had the test, that they managed to send it on to me, two hours too late for my flight!
So here we are after being refused boarding without the necessary fit to fly certificate, having to get two more tests done, one for me and my partner, book two more flights and spend the night in a hotel at the extra cost of £640! On top of the £750 we’d already paid for PCR tests to return to the UK, and that’s excluding flights.
It is an absolute joke and the UK Government is making it very difficult and costly for anyone to travel anywhere. I get the fear of people bringing back COVID with them, but there are many of us who are travelling for reasons other than a holiday.
We live in Mallorca but will always have ties in the UK with family and I feel that we’re being forced to pick a country and stay there and forgo seeing loved ones as a forfeit!
I went back to the UK for several reasons, one being to see my son who isn’t able to come to Mallorca because he’s not a resident. I also had to get my belongings out of storage and organise them to be brought to Mallorca, again at another inflated cost due to Brexit and new customs charges.
My partner works for Jet2, well I should say worked, because he’s not done a single flight in 14 months. He has no idea when he will be recalled to do training to get him back to currency in his job as a pilot.
There has been very little communication and as far as everyone can see the travel situation just gets kicked further along every month. That and the fact it’s so costly to travel when you’re forced to pay for exorbitant PCR tests and it’s starting to appear as though the Government is deliberately making it as difficult as possible for people to travel.
Do we want to have to stay in our own countries indefinitely, or until we’re allowed out, because it’s currently illegal to go on holiday from the UK. Who knows what will happen from May 17, but what is more of a concern is how accepting and passive we all are when our civil rights have been withheld and eroded one after another for so long!
You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @tereniataras
