It's nice and warm here in Portugal, to where I flew last Monday with 20 other people on an EasyJet flight from Luton. The airport wasn't overly busy and the flight left and arrived early. The car hire was off airport and were a bit slow picking up but really, for €240 for 6 weeks you can't complain. (Well, I have a Citroen C3 so I suppose you can, but we'll be doing not a lot of miles!).
My experience so far in large and small supermarkets and Decathlon is that everyone, that's everyone, wear face masks in the stores. And they wear them over both their nose and mouth. Quite different to the UK I know and love. If you don't the store staff or a fellow shopper take issue with you.
The bars are open and we've been to them (outdoors only) and they sanitise your table and chairs before you are seated and take the expected precautions, with all staff wearing masks all the time. I believe you can't just sit and drink (i.e. without a meal) after 8 but I can survive that.
Re insurance, I thought I'd previously explained how that works but maybe some missed it. I paid a supplement so that my regular insurance gives all it's cover even though we have travelled against FCO advice, except it gives no cover for whatever the cause of that advice is (i.e. COVID at present). Therefore we paid another just over £100 for an insurance from a Portuguese company specifically for COVID cover which covers us for treatment here and also repatriation costs etc. (As it happens the total of those two insurances is about the same as what the previous year of travel insurance cost me with a different provider!).
We've been out walking most days so far, even yesterday when it rained a little, and the rest of the day is spent around the house, mostly up on the roof terrace. We did go to the beach one day, which was virtually empty, so we hired a pair of loungers for the price of a modest meal for the day and I managed my annual dip in the (pretty chilly) sea.
I have to say on't think I am any more at risk here than I would be at home, and its warmer. There is plenty I wouldn't do as we have been fairly risk averse and cautious during this, and the journey was the part I was concerned about, but it has all gone rather well so far. The flight back is not until 7 Nov so I'm hoping that the second wave will be past by then. (Portugal is also having one but apparently it's affecting mainly Romanies and care homes at the moment)
Last edited by: smokie on Sat 3 Oct 20 at 23:51
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