Hi everyone so today we are going to talk about Portugal travel news
- This is almost in the category of breaking news for Portugal and for Covid 19
and this is part of the reason why we decided not to spend winter in The Algarve
this coming year this winter so what have we got Tina - Well on this just recently on December the
28th Portugal released their numbers saying that it was the highest numbers they were over 17,000
per 100,000 which was the highest number from January of last year which was 16,000
so the numbers were going up and up and it's the highest rate they've had - The curiosity
is that Portugal did such a fantastic job with the vaccines didn't they Tina you know they were one of
the yeah one of the most vaccinated countries in Europe and the world - Yes they were - But with
the new variant I guess it's just increasing as it's going to increase in all countries
and that's partly the reason why we decided it would be safer for us to stay at home and safer
for the Portuguese people if we didn't come to their country so they could keep their resources
for their local population - How are they handling it well one of the biggest things they've done
is that now you have to have a negative test when you arrive in Portugal you can either have a PCR
test which has to be done within 72 hours or an Antigen test which has to be done within 48 hours
but you can no longer arrive in Portugal without this negative test with you - And the complication
for us is we looked into seeing how we could get a test in our local community as if we were going to
be going to Portugal and we would have to wait around 9 days to get an appointment to get the
test and then wait for the results so it would be too long to be able to get a flight - Yeah be even
harder for us wouldn't we - And the other thing Tina is a cost - Absolutely which adds doesn't it because
now you've got the cost of the test to get into Portugal and then there's when you're
there to come back to Canada you have the cost of the PCR test to get back into Canada too
- That's right the other breaking news from Portugal is the government has closed bars and nightclubs
until January the 9th at the earliest and there's no guarantee that they will open at that point
they've also instructed that all non-essential workers that can work from home
should work from home so they've gone down into a stage of lockdown in Portugal - And another thing
too Norm to now get into restaurants you actually have to have a negative test that has been done
within 48 hours to actually go into a restaurant and you also have to have a current vaccination
card with you to prove that you actually are vaccinated - And also you need to show proof of
a covid test to go into a hotel and I believe you need one every (few days) 48 hours to prove
that you still have it and you have to have a certificate of vaccination as Tina said the
thing about the vaccinations from Ontario where we live is that the barcode system doesn't work in
Portugal so there's no guarantee that restaurants and hotels will accept those proof of vaccinations
certificates we believe they are doing it because obviously these businesses want the money
but there's going to be increasing pressure on restaurants to close - Absolutely isn't there
because it's probably it's going to get tougher for them to be able to stay open with these travel restrictions
- So if you don't have self-catering facilities or access to take out food and you're relying
on restaurants it's going to become a very expensive proposition of getting tested at €25
each - Somebody had told us that wasn't it Norm - And you need that every 48 hours so
once again - If you were staying say a month and you couldn't cook for yourself that
would be a lot of extra money you'd have to put into - It really would the other
development in Portugal is the government has now said that masks must be worn in public
in all places so it's no longer optional they've gone back to when in the summer time they were
requiring people to wear masks on the beach and obviously they do have police to enforce that
so we just feel that with all these restrictions it's not the time to go to Portugal for us
anyway - And we also as you know we live in Canada so the Canadian government has put on a
not to go to Portugal we are on a level of non-essential travel to Portugal and in
actual fact the United States has gone even higher than that they have put a level 4 do
not travel to Portugal (that's right) so we feel that with two huge countries here recommending
people not to go that we are going to respect that aren't we and we're staying home - And it's
nothing to do with the Portuguese people at all there's no discrimination against them in fact
these measures are being done to help the Portuguese people by not having an influx
of tourists who if they get sick are going to use up local resources which may become scarce - Yeah
absolutely like hospitals and things isn't it - And once again with the Canadian government as Tina
said going back to a non-essential travel advisory null and voids our travel insurance - Oh yes that's
true - For Covid and for regular travel so we would have to go and find a specialist
insurance company that would have an adequate Covid package and that once again is becoming
very expensive don't forget a lot of us are going to Portugal because it's great value for money
it's a great climate great food great people but it's inexpensive in comparison say to Florida
yeah - And that's why we've been going isn't it because we love all that but now all these
added extras of tests and things and extra insurance that's making it a lot more expensive
- So we want to respect the Portuguese people and the government and just not travel right now
to Portugal as much as we would dearly love to be there to escape the snow that's outside
- Absolutely we'd love to be in the warmth wouldn't we walking on the beach in those beautiful blue
skies - We do but we felt we had to come on and just say why we're not going to Portugal
some of the reasons some of the facts and we're just going to stay home keep safe and
respect our various governments advisories the Portuguese and the Canadian government
- So we hope that everybody is staying safe - And keeping well - Until the next time bye-bye, bye-bye