Only about a month now until my rescheduled trip back to the UK. Knowing my luck, it's about this time that a new even more transmissible COVID variant will get discovered and throw my plans into disarray. But before then, I was checking entry requirements to the UK. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there are no longer any COVID testing requirements for vaccinated people entering the UK. When I was going to travel in December, I was required to book and take a PCR test upon arrival - so I had booked and paid for a test at Heathrow. When I canceled that trip, I got given a credit for retaking the test within a year. I guess that credit is going to go unused now - yet another waste of money, much like the lateral flow test that I had also previously been required to book for the trip. What is frustrating is that the US has not changed it's COVID entry requirements yet. So to re-enter the US, currently I still have a take (and pass!) an approved COVID test within 24 hours of flying back. Which is a massive, and expensive, pain in the ass. However this time I am prepared for this. I've just ordered a CDC-approved at-home COVID test which meets the requirements for re-entry. It's still a bit of hassle in that I think I have to perform the test on a video call, but hopefully that's something I can do easily enough and a lot less hassle than finding somewhere (probably involving a trip into central London) to get the test. Or perhaps the US will catch up with the rest of the world and also drop it's testing requirements for vaccinated people.
