greeny
Well-known member
Ok I'm here!
Having a coffee on the balcony looking over the Arade. Boat's still afloat because I can see the mast about 1/2 a mile away in the marina thro the binns.
Mrs G says far too much to do in the house to let me go to the boat yet. But she's in UK and I'm here. Guess what? Later.
Ok down to the serious stuff.
Car hire to stansted went well - little traffic at 4.30 in the morning.
Stansted airport - you have to wear mask and gloves all the time you're in there. As you go into departures there's a 2 m distancing queue but not very long only 5 mins. As you enter you have to disinfect your hands and don the provided gloves and facemask.
Once inside you have to keep them on all the time. Only Boots open to buy anything but I didn't bother. Almost all the passengers in there were Portuguese workers and family going home for visits. A sprinkling of Brits but not many. The brits were obeying the distancing and ppe requirements but surprisingly and disappointingly the Portuguese seemed to be ignoring it in many cases and only wearing the ppe when officialdom was around. Distancing was poor.
The queue to the plane was the usual ryanair confusion. No clear priority queue, just one long queue winding back thro the airport with 2m distancing in place.
When I asked at the queue about priority everyone looked blank and shrugged their shoulders so I bypassed it and walked to the front. No staff there so spoke with other people and it seemed they were priority at the front but no separate queue. Then an announcement that no one could interpret. More confusion.
Eventually a member of staff came out and shouted the message out. Priority to the front, not 2 queues. Bedlam ensued with people repositioning themselves, Little social distancing at this stage but it was re established once the queue reformed.
Boarding the plane was fine. As you wet through the gate you were handed an A4 sheet with instruction in Portuguese on one side and English the other. It reads Welcome to portugal. Protect yourself and others. Tells you the symptoms of CV and tells you to ring the number listed if you develop any of the symptoms within 14 days. And that was all you got.
With the boarding they did their best but distancing was difficult. Middle seat was left empty in the row unless it was a family group. It seemed pretty well organised.
No drinks or refreshments onboard and very little interaction with the crew. Masks to be worn at all times. Apart from when eating or drinking your picnic.
Front toilet locked off but rear 2 toilets open for use. No handwash left and no towels by the time I went so take your own with you. Toilets were not being cleaned between passengers and there was no regular cleaning took place as far as I saw.
Plane landed, seat belt lights went out and so did social distancing. I hate to say it but the Portuguese seemed to think they'd left the virus in UK. I'd say 50 % still had masks on but the rest just didn't care. No politeness in the aisle, people just pushed to the front and the front end of the plane was packed.
Your choice, join in or sit to the end because no way were they going to keep their distance. They wanted off.
Airport was fine. Usual signs about CV and social distancing re -established itself because officialdom was back on the scene.
I picked up the only leaflet I could find around that was about CV. All in Portuguese, but on later translation it was about the state of emergency and the restrictions which are obviously out of date. Not really relevant any more.
As I went through immigration and passport control there was no check on Residence documents, no check on reason to travel, no check on where you'd been or where you were going. Totally as normal, pre covid. No questions anywhere in the airport of anyone as far as I could see.
I bit the bullet and maybe stupidly asked the passport control officer if I needed to do anything now I 'd arrived in Portugal, because of the covid rules, I asked if I needed to self isolate for 2 weeks. His answer was "Do you want to" and he smiled. I said "not really", he said " you don't need to, follow the rules for everyone" He spoke good english and understood everything I asked. His replies were clear. So was the message.
There seemed to be a place after passport control for temperature checks but no one there so everyone just walked through.
So all in all, very easy, minimal checks if any, no questions asked.
Taxis all lined up outside ready for passengers, some with masks some without.
I got the metro to the station. Masks obligatory but not always being complied with.
Station the same with regard to masks and distancing rules. Rules were generally being followed but only in the busier areas. Many people sat around with the masks round their neck or hanging from one ear.
Once on the train masks must be worn, but to be honest there were only 4 people in my carriage and we were well spaced out. Everyone took their masks off, only replacing them when the guard came down to do his ticket check.
Sorry it's so long winded but I've tried to tell you everything, The journey was of course a long one by normal standards but easily doable with no real problems along the way.
Now, off to lidl for suppli
es.
Having a coffee on the balcony looking over the Arade. Boat's still afloat because I can see the mast about 1/2 a mile away in the marina thro the binns.
Mrs G says far too much to do in the house to let me go to the boat yet. But she's in UK and I'm here. Guess what? Later.
Ok down to the serious stuff.
Car hire to stansted went well - little traffic at 4.30 in the morning.
Stansted airport - you have to wear mask and gloves all the time you're in there. As you go into departures there's a 2 m distancing queue but not very long only 5 mins. As you enter you have to disinfect your hands and don the provided gloves and facemask.
Once inside you have to keep them on all the time. Only Boots open to buy anything but I didn't bother. Almost all the passengers in there were Portuguese workers and family going home for visits. A sprinkling of Brits but not many. The brits were obeying the distancing and ppe requirements but surprisingly and disappointingly the Portuguese seemed to be ignoring it in many cases and only wearing the ppe when officialdom was around. Distancing was poor.
The queue to the plane was the usual ryanair confusion. No clear priority queue, just one long queue winding back thro the airport with 2m distancing in place.
When I asked at the queue about priority everyone looked blank and shrugged their shoulders so I bypassed it and walked to the front. No staff there so spoke with other people and it seemed they were priority at the front but no separate queue. Then an announcement that no one could interpret. More confusion.
Eventually a member of staff came out and shouted the message out. Priority to the front, not 2 queues. Bedlam ensued with people repositioning themselves, Little social distancing at this stage but it was re established once the queue reformed.
Boarding the plane was fine. As you wet through the gate you were handed an A4 sheet with instruction in Portuguese on one side and English the other. It reads Welcome to portugal. Protect yourself and others. Tells you the symptoms of CV and tells you to ring the number listed if you develop any of the symptoms within 14 days. And that was all you got.
With the boarding they did their best but distancing was difficult. Middle seat was left empty in the row unless it was a family group. It seemed pretty well organised.
No drinks or refreshments onboard and very little interaction with the crew. Masks to be worn at all times. Apart from when eating or drinking your picnic.
Front toilet locked off but rear 2 toilets open for use. No handwash left and no towels by the time I went so take your own with you. Toilets were not being cleaned between passengers and there was no regular cleaning took place as far as I saw.
Plane landed, seat belt lights went out and so did social distancing. I hate to say it but the Portuguese seemed to think they'd left the virus in UK. I'd say 50 % still had masks on but the rest just didn't care. No politeness in the aisle, people just pushed to the front and the front end of the plane was packed.
Your choice, join in or sit to the end because no way were they going to keep their distance. They wanted off.
Airport was fine. Usual signs about CV and social distancing re -established itself because officialdom was back on the scene.
I picked up the only leaflet I could find around that was about CV. All in Portuguese, but on later translation it was about the state of emergency and the restrictions which are obviously out of date. Not really relevant any more.
As I went through immigration and passport control there was no check on Residence documents, no check on reason to travel, no check on where you'd been or where you were going. Totally as normal, pre covid. No questions anywhere in the airport of anyone as far as I could see.
I bit the bullet and maybe stupidly asked the passport control officer if I needed to do anything now I 'd arrived in Portugal, because of the covid rules, I asked if I needed to self isolate for 2 weeks. His answer was "Do you want to" and he smiled. I said "not really", he said " you don't need to, follow the rules for everyone" He spoke good english and understood everything I asked. His replies were clear. So was the message.
There seemed to be a place after passport control for temperature checks but no one there so everyone just walked through.
So all in all, very easy, minimal checks if any, no questions asked.
Taxis all lined up outside ready for passengers, some with masks some without.
I got the metro to the station. Masks obligatory but not always being complied with.
Station the same with regard to masks and distancing rules. Rules were generally being followed but only in the busier areas. Many people sat around with the masks round their neck or hanging from one ear.
Once on the train masks must be worn, but to be honest there were only 4 people in my carriage and we were well spaced out. Everyone took their masks off, only replacing them when the guard came down to do his ticket check.
Sorry it's so long winded but I've tried to tell you everything, The journey was of course a long one by normal standards but easily doable with no real problems along the way.
Now, off to lidl for suppli
es.
Sorry, see you mention the metro so it must have been Lisbon.
