After 8 months in Mexico City of self-isolation, I was able to return to London to self-isolation and then to continue life after lockdown. My travel to Mexico in comparison to previous trips was eventful and unique, but I am happy to be back. Once in London, I was able to adjust, book my vaccinations shots and continue with my medical treatment.
I was able to go to Mexico in October 2020 just before the UK experimented the second wave of COVID and due to this I extended my stayed in Mexico City until end of May. However, living in Mexico City during the pandemic was lonely as the recommendation was also to self-isolation and just made trips for essential needs like medical appointment and food shopping, the same restrictions as in UK.
Therefore, on early May I started with my research in what are the requirements for my return to London as they depend on which country you are coming from. The essential travel requirements needed to enter the UK from Mexico are:
Proof of negative COVID-19 test which needs to be taken within 3 days of departure to UK. A proof needs to be provided as either a printed document or email or text. The test could be a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) or antigen test. The test requires to meet the standard of ≥ 97% of specificity, ≥ 80% of sensitivity at viral loads above 100,000 copies/ml. The proof needs to be in either English or Spanish and should contain full name, dob (date of birth), results, date of test sample, name of the provider and contact details, and confirmation of device used.
Two coronavirus tests are required by everyone on day 2 and day 8 during the quarantine period after arriving to UK, which needs to be booked prior to your departure. The travel test package needs to be purchase in a company authorise by the government (see list of companies).
Passenger locator form which needs to be filled before arrival in the UK (all tests need to be booked before this form is filled). The form should contain passport details, full travel details including time and dates, full UK address where I would stay in the UK, booking reference for the two COVID-19 tests which should be taken after arriving in the UK (fully paid), and in case of travelling from a red list country the invoice number for the quarantine hotel booking.
Mandatory quarantine is required for every person arriving to England for 10 days unless exempt (see list of exemptions). If travelling through a red list country the last 10 days, you required a valid managed quarantine facility booked prior to departure (currently Mexico is not on the red list country).
Wearing face covering is a legal requirement on all public transport in the UK.
Failure to comply with these measures is a criminal offence and you could be heavily fined.
After 17th May 2021, the stage 3 of lifting lockdown would be applied due to the heavy vaccination programme which allows the pubs and restaurants to seat people indoors. All business would be legally able to ask customer for proof of vaccination as this does not break the equality laws, this vaccination card would be accessible via medical records and the NHS COVID app. Although, most lockdown restrictions would be lifted all the travel requirements listed above would apply.
On 24th May 2021, my preparation started by logging into the BA website in order to double checked if the essential information need to the enter the UK via Mexico had not changed. Mexico was still in the amber list and everything depicted above was still correct, this status was checked in the UK government website (www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england). The amber list country requires: quarantine period either at home or in the place where you are staying for 10 days, which starts the day after you are arriving; take the COVID-19 test on day 2 and day 8; and followed all the national restrictions.
After this, I paid for travel test for day 2 and day 8 in order to get the reference number as it is needed to fill the passenger located. During this period, there had been a lot of fraud test which do not comply with the UK requirements, therefore, the safe bet is to search a reputable laboratory which complies with this by searching the official government list in the UK government website (www.find-travel-test-provider.service.gov.uk/test-type/amber).
This list has many laboratories with prices ranging from £90 to £300, so I decided to choose the cheapest. However, I found out the cheapest valuation for the test needed extra payment for the shipping depending of the type you wanted and they did not ask for any details but the payment details. Therefore, I reviewed every single lab until I found one within the lowest value which have the post included, as I did not know which type of post was required.
The laboratory that I chose was Sirkka Networks as it was the only one that asked for detail including departure details, quarantine address, and delivery date for the package (within three days of purchase). After purchasing the test, I decided to fill the passenger locator form, however, I found out that you only can fill this form 48 hours prior to departing but I was able to create an account with basic information.
On 29th May (48 hours prior to departure), I went to the private laboratory in order to take my first COVID-19 test. However, due to the restrictions the only way to access the lab was with prior appointment. I arrived to the test on my own after breakfast, before paying for the test I asked if the test complied with the UK requirements and they assured me that it did.
Before taking the test, I enquired with the nurse and the lab manager to verify if the report complied with the requirements of the airline, which they assured me that they did as this laboratory was registered with the government and the test was accepted by all the airlines. Therefore, after all this guarantees I proceeded with the test.
The nurse explained that the swab will go into one of my nostrils in order to swab the nasal cavity on and then the other one. The nurse also tried to explain the feeling and she said that it would feel this chocking, like this would ease my nerves as if I know what it feels. After all the explanation, the nurse carried out the test and it was very uncomfortable. The pain lasted around 30 minutes and got the results within 30 minutes by negative, which were negative. However, I decided to pick up a printed copy as it is easy to use.
On 30th May (24 hours prior to departure), I needed to check-in with the airline, fill the passenger locator and print all this information.
The passenger locator need to be filled online (www.gov.uk/provide-journey-contact-details-before-travel-uk), I already had an account as I register earlier in the week. In order to fill this you need: the passport number, test reference and name of supplier, quarantine address, travel information (quarantine address, arrival date, travel plan after quarantine), arrival to UK (airport, flight number, country on the 10 day before arriving to UK, departure date, arrival date and time), personal information (name, address, date of birth, telephone), and passport information.
After filling the form online, an email confirmation arrived with the information of the passenger locator which I printed out for easy access. However, in order to start with the online check-in, I needed to wait for the exact 24 hours before the plane departed.
The check-in process started at 11pm, however, after trying several times to change the seat, I was unable to change the seat or pay for the luggage as this always needs to be done at the airport.
On 31st May (travel day), I left my parents’ house with my parents to the airport around 7pm and since travelling abroad is very restricted, therefore, the trip to the airport was faster than expected. We arrived to the airport around 7.30 pm, and I was able to check in around 7.45pm. During the check-in, they asked for my migration forms, covid test and passenger locator.
After checking-in, we decided to wait at the food court as I needed to wait for two hours as boarding started at 10pm. Just before 10pm, I decided to get ready to cross the boarder by putting latex double-globes, eye protectors and a sweater. However, before entering the border, I needed to fill a COVID registration form from the Mexican side which I had to do in a rush as I did not know that this was required. Therefore, I recommend that beside following just the instructions of the airlines further research is required about the exiting country, in my case Mexico as this needs to be completed before leaving and rushing just before entering the border is not a very good recommendation.
After the rush exiting form, I walked the airport in order to board the plane. This was the first time in my trips to London that as soon as I arrived the gates were open and the queue was very short for boarding. Once inside the plane, I found out that I was the only person and the seats of either side were empty so I had the entire row to myself.
However, as the boarding was very fast, we had to wait around 45 minutes until our departure time. The flight was 10 hours and I was able to have a two meals service as normal (one hot at night and a nice breakfast sandwich the following morning).
On 1st June (Day 0), I arrived to London Heathrow airport terminal 5 around 3pm. In order to reach the UK border, you need to walk a little, then take the train and the walk a little more. Once I arrived to the UK border, we queue are divided depending of the country of your passport. I joined the queue with UK, European and Swiss passports however, the queue was huge.
I arrived at the queue around 3.30pm and the pace was slow as the border personal was checking two documents for every passenger the COVID test and the passenger locator, and then you were let to enter the retinal scanner. However, as you were allowed to have all these documents in your mobile instead of printing form it took a very long time. I was able to cross the UK boarder and collect my suitcase around 4.33pm. It was a very long wait, however, the thing that make this faster was that I always have print-outs of everything, therefore, my recommendation is just print these documents before arriving.
After a very long trip, I arrived home around 8.30pm in order to eat dinner and then waited until 11pm to sleep in order to avoid any jet lag.
On 2nd June (Day 1), I woke up and my quarantine started. I decided to take it slow and then start unpacking, I also decided that this was the time to complete the photographic project that I started while in Mexico. Therefore, I had plenty of things to do and I started doing them.
On 3rd June (Day 2), after an uneventful first day of quarantine the day of the first home test arrived. I opened the package marked as day 2 test and read all the instructions and started following them in that ordered. However, I found out that the online registration required the time of the test, therefore, you only can fill the form after taking the test.
The test bag includes three bags, a swap, and a plastic tube with some liquid. The first thing was taking the swab a use it on back of the throat and then on each nostril. It happens that doing the test yourself you are more careful and the sensation of chocking was not there.
After taking the sample, I placed the swab inside the plastic tube and then close the tube. After this the tube was place inside bag 1, then all place inside bag 2, and finally place everything inside the last bag with have the paid self-address envelope.
After the sample was packed, then it was time to fill the online registration form. The registration requires the test reference barcode, the test booking reference, the time of swab, all the personal details (with telephone and email), all medical notes (including symptoms of COVID, any health issues, medication, vaccination programme, type of test), passport details, and arrival information. After submitting this information, I received a confirmation email.
After all this, I asked my husband to send it by priority post as this was the only way to send the sample. While this, I received a call around 12.47pm from NHS Test and Trace in order to verify all my information, if I had any symptoms, and if I had taken the day 2 test. This called lasted around 5 minutes.
On 4th June (Day 3), I received my daily call from NHS Test and Trace around 11am which lasted around 1 minutes. The caller verified the same information as the previous date, and I asked if I should expect this calls every day and they said yes. They also asked if I knew the results of my test and I told that I did not know.
After this call, I checked my email and I saw that they send an email around 10.58am confirming that they received the sample in the laboratory. Therefore, I decided to continue working on my photographic project and leave the worried for another time as I could not changed the outcome of the results.
In the evening, I decided to check my email and I found an email sent by the lab around 3.14 pm confirming that the results were negative. As although I kept safe all the trip, most of the contagious occurred during the flight confinement and if it was negative means that I was almost clear to return to normality.
On 5th June (Day 4), I received my daily NHS Test and Trace call around 12.14pm where all my details were verified and I told them that my results were negative which they recorded. This call lasted around 3 minutes and after this I returned to my photographic project.
On 6th June (Day 5), I received my daily NHS Test and Trace call around 11.13am where all my details were verified as every day and this call lasted less than a minute. After this call, I returned to my photographic project.
However, around 7.30pm I received another call from NHS Test and Trace and my curiosity arise as this was the first time this happen. The caller identified himself as a Tier 3 operator in order to tell that someone with who I was in contact recently tested positive with COVID. I asked the operator if this was during the flight and it turned out they were not willing to tell me where the contact was but this was the only option. The caller asked if I had any symptoms and I said no, and I asked the caller if from now and the remaining of my quarantine should expect two calls and he did not answer this. This was a very long call which lasted around 9 minutes as they wanted to make sure that I was keeping the quarantine and I did not present any COVID symptoms. After this, the call ended and I was able to return to my photographic project.
On 7th June (Day 6), I received my regular daily NHS Test and Trace call around 12.32pm where all my details were verified as every day and this call lasted less than a minute. After this call, I returned to my photographic project.
On 8th June (Day 7), I received my regular daily NHS Test and Trace call around 9.39 am where all my details were verified as every day and this call lasted around 2 minutes. After this call, I returned to my photographic project.
Around 12.30pm, I received another call from the NHS Test and Trace where they asked me to verify all my details again and I did as they doing their job and they explain that I needed to take the next test. If the results of test of 8th day were negative, I could be able to finish quarantine on the 10th day.
On 9th June (Day 8), this was the day to take my last COVID test and my expectation were to verify that this was negative and finished quarantine on day 11 as planned. I woke up and opened the packed marked as day 8 test. I followed the same procedure as before and after taking the test and getting it ready for post, I decided to fill the online registration form.
My husband was able to send the sample place inside a pre-paid tracked enveloped using priority royal mail. I received my daily NHS Test and Trace call at 12.09pm which lasted around 1 minute and reminded me that my last quarantine day was Friday if the test results should be negative.
On 10th June (Day 9), I received my daily call from NHS Test and Trace around 11.20am which lasted around 2 minutes. The caller verified the same information as the previous date; however, this time did not ask about the results of the test.
After this call, I checked my email and I saw that they send an email around 10.29am confirming that they received the sample in the laboratory. By this time, I almost finished with my photographic project so I then continued with the filling of every piece of information in the correct folder and there were around 8 months of post and packages.
In the evening, I decided to check my email and I found an email sent by the lab around 4.09pm confirming that the results were negative. With this result, I guarantee that my quarantine would finish as planned.
On 11th June (Day 10), I received my last daily call from NHS Test and Trace around 11.43am which lasted around 2 minutes. The caller verified the same information as all the previous dates.
After this call, I was very happy that I fulfil all the requirements in order to end my quarantine period and then be free to walk around and started my activities with this new normal with the aim of getting fully vaccinated next.
However, from 19th July 2021 the rules for entering England from an amber country have changed a bit if you are fully UK vaccinated. UK vaccinated means that only vaccination from Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca, Moderna, or Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) are permitted, as these are the only vaccines that the MHRA (Medicine and Health Products Regulatory Agency) have authorised to be used in the UK.
In addition to proving that you are fully vaccinated, you need to make sure that your final dose was 14 whole days before the date of your arrival in England (considering that the day you had the final dose does not count).
This means that if you are fully UK vaccinated and travelling from an amber country the rules for arriving to England are the same as the ones of a green country, which are:
Proof of negative COVID-19 test (see previous notes), children age 10 and under are exempted.
One coronavirus test is required by everyone on day 2 after arriving to UK, which needs to be booked prior to your departure. The travel test package needs to be purchase in a company authorise by the government (as before). Therefore, you only need to quarantine for 10 full days, counting from the day after you arrived, if either the result of your day 2 test is positive or the NHS Test & Trace informs you that you travelled to England with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Passenger locator form which needs to be filled before arrival in the UK (the test needs to be booked before this form is filled). The form should contain all details as before (see previous notes) and your NHS COVID Pass, as proof of COVID-19 vaccination status by downloading the NHS App (https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/).
Wearing face covering is no longer a legal requirement on all public transport in the UK, however, it is expected and recommended to continue wearing face coverings in crowded and enclosed spaces where you come into contact with people you do not normally meet. Therefore, check the requirements with the company you are travelling with.
Failure to comply with these measures is a criminal offence and you could be heavily fined.
Although, being fully vaccinated allows you to travel to both amber and green countries with less restrictions, you still need to paid for two COVID-19 tests before entering England, and being lucky enough to have a short quarantine because if either you or anyone on that trip gets infected NHS Test & Trace would quarantine you for 11 days from the day you arrived. Since travelling abroad is becoming more expensive and very complicated as every country has its own COVID-19 rules, this should be limited. I would recommend to explore every corner of the UK as there are many hidden places to visit, and wait until this health crisis reduces to start leisure travelling.
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