Vamos! We’re off to America – the long way.

In which Sid and Doris come up with a road trip plan that is complicated even by their standards.

Our friends in America have come up with some fabulous plans for Sid and Doris’s visit this summer, involving activities on both the East and West coast.  Cars, boats, and family events are being organised, plans for a west-east coast road trip are coming together, but the key obstacle remaining is the US/UK government Covid travel restrictions.

Hopes were high as in early June the transatlantic travel giants put out a slightly motivationally-suspect press release “Joe Biden and Boris to discuss travel corridor during G7 summit”.  A discussion which we suspect went something like: “Hi Boris.  I am sure that you are working hard to fix the mess you’ve made of the Irish agreement, let me know when that is resolved.  Ah, M. Macron, good to see you.”

Air Force One jetted off for a slightly-more-trustworthy conversation with Vladimir Putin and as the days after the G7 summit ticked silently past, Sid and Doris had to conclude that another solution would be needed.

Careful re-reading and re-re-reading of the Presidential Travel Proclamation showed that entry to the US is NOT forbidden to all UK nationals, but merely to UK nationals who have been in the UK/Schengen area in the previous 14 days.  So… if a route to the US could be found that took more than 14 days, via a non-Schengen country, which would also let a pair of double-vaccinated but notoriously germ-laden Brits in, we’d be allowed in to the States.

Bermuda, some small bits of the Caribbean, and Mexico seemed to qualify.  Sitting on the beach for a fortnight is not what Sid and Doris do, cruising between islands in the Caribbean is terribly complicated right now, and so – why not go to Mexico?  Well, why not?! So on the 27th of June we booked a flight to Mexico City to set off just a week later, on the 4th July.

And the good news is that it is possible to get medical insurance that includes cover for “FCDO Advises Against All But Essential Travel To These Countries” – which includes Mexico and the US and, well, pretty well everywhere actually.  However no UK travel agent will organise any Non-Essential travel, so the organisation is up to us.

A week of intensive checklist-processing followed, leaving only a few loose ends to be resolved en route, mainly in the category of Where Do We Go And When.

So here for you, our fabulous and treasured, even if by now slightly-bewildered reader, is the Vamos! timetable in all its current detail:

Vamos! Part 1: Mexican Adventures: Mexico City to Cancun.  4th-19th July

Vamos! Part 2: Boats, Planes and Automobiles: Baltimore to Oregon: 19th July – 7th August (approx)

Vamos! Part 3: Across America in the Jolly Green Giant: Oregon to Maryland/New York via Monterey Week: 7th August – 4th September (approx)

PS No, we have no idea what the rules will be around returning to the UK in September.  Almost certainly not the same as at present.