bons

Are you holed up at home now.? Good luck. Fortunately, I am in the lowest tier, but I don't go out as much as I would have. I'm even going to use click n collect from now on. My niece and her husband have Covid, and they live about 15 miles away!!!! He picked it up at work from his boss and they had a work Covid app which contacted him. He didn't feel ill but had a persistent 'wet' cough. The contact initially told him to carry on as normal, but then he had a test... My niece hasn't been tested but felt worse with aching joints and a severe headache. Her husband has gradually started to feel worse.

Shanorme

I'm sorry to hear that and I hope they recover quickly and that you stay safe. Your niece should get tested; it seems that different people have different reactions and Long-Covid19 is a problem. It is better to know what one is dealing with.

Yes, holed up back in Wales now. Fortunately, I had harvested quite a lot of veg before we went out to Portugal and had cooked and frozen a load of stuff and it looks like most of the pumpkins have survived our time away - so I will be harvesting that today. Got plenty of milk frozen because I had forgotten to cancel the last milk delivery, so thank you for your kind lasagne offer but we won't starve. We will eat more veg meals than Mr Shan would strictly like but I view that as a bonus.

flatlndr

We went in the beginning of the Oct, flew Luton-Faro.
- The airports on both sides were uncrowded
- Our flights (easyJet) were maybe 1/4 of capacity
- Masks required end to end (from the point you enter the departure terminal, the whole time you are on the plane, to the point you leave the arrivals terminal)
- Staff at all the desks (incl car hire) wore masks, and most desks had shields
- For the way down we filled in paper Passenger Locator Forms for Portugal, which the attendants collected on the flight (it's an online form now)
- For the way back, we did the UK PLF online, and had PDF copies on our phones. An agent at passport control asked to see our forms (he didn't check them, merely checked that we had done them)

In Portugal, we felt everyone was well behaved. We were in the Eastern Algarve, where it was quiet. Everyone we saw wore masks in shops, respected distances, and on the occasions where we entered town centres, people put on masks, even just walking in the street.

Almost done with UK self-isolation now.

bons

Congratulations on the residency. Where did you register? Fingers crossed that your plans for Christmas work out, it will be great.

bons

Thanks for that information.

bons

Another thought about flying, if we book one way to Faro, how hard will it be to get a flight back to the UK without a return booking? I've only ever booked a return journey from the UK.

flatlndr

I just saw a post that appears to say that public mask wearing is now mandatory in Portugal. https://www.visitportugal.com/en/node/421175
If I am reading this correctly, it's not just in stores and public transport, but being out in public in general.

bons

Are people flying Ryan Air.? I don't like them but they always come out the cheapest. I know they have hidden costs though.

BillBullock

You can get crowds / congestion in the streets as well as in stores. When you cannot avoid congestion and cannot maintain safe distancing, it is sensible to take precautions and wear a face covering. That is the intention of the new law that has just been published. You do not have to wear a face covering in public in the open air if you are maintaining safe distancing. Commonsense prevails here in Portugal, at least where I live.
Just as I finished this post, the following info was posted by AFPOP:
Masks in public: The President of the Republic has now signed and issued the law regarding the wearing of masks in public, which comes into force at midnight tonight and lasts until January 5th 2021. During this period the wearing of masks is mandatory “where social distancing measures cannot be implemented”. Please remember that the fines for non-compliance range between €100 - €500.

bons

It feels surreal looking for flights to a place I usually go to for a summer holiday, in the middle of winter and in the middle of a pandemic.

BillBullock

If you have to come, you have to come. Winter hasn't started here in the Algarve: sunny all day and a little chilly at 21 degrees C.

bons

That's true. LOL It's been raining all day here and is blowing a merry gale! Probalby feels like 7 or 8 out there at the moment.

On top of everything, we normally travel in our campervan, it will be odd being dumped at an airport.

flatlndr

Thanks for the clarification. As I mentioned in an earlier post, when I was in Eastern Algarve in early Oct, I felt that people were being quite sensible, and already masking up when walking into town centres where things started getting a bit more crowded.

wellinever

Sounds like another good earner for the Police

BillBullock

The East Algarve is the place to be. I even see people wearing their masks whilst driving alone!