As international travel reemerged in 2021, tourists were generally asked to show one or more of the following: Proof of vaccination Recent negative test Proof of recent recovery
But a trend has emerged quietly over the past month: countries, throughout Europe especially, have been getting rid of their Covid entry rules altogether.
Two months ago, every country in Europe still had Covid restrictions for travelers. Today, the following eight countries have entirely scrapped any pandemic travel requirements. No test, no proof, no problem.
🇬🇧 UK 🇮🇸 Iceland 🇮🇪 Ireland 🇷🇴 Romania 🇳🇴 Norway 🇲🇪 Montenegro 🇸🇮 Slovenia ðŸ‡ðŸ‡º Hungary
And over the next month or two, expect this group to double in size if not more.
At this point, if you’re a vaccinated American, there are just two countries in Europe that require you to also show a recent negative test: Serbia and Poland (temporarily).
International travel is still down 30-40%, in large part because of uncertainty about border restrictions. The trend towards countries removing these (as the World Health Organization and others are urging) will certainly boost international tourism. But until the US removes the requirement for all arrivals—regardless of vaccination status—to show a negative test, overseas tourism will stay depressed.
WARNING: The BA.2 variant is on the rise in England and may appear here in the States in just a few weeks. So still look out for warnings or changing schedules or entry rules. COVID is still around and still deadly. Safe Travels!
For followers of the blog, you may know that I am a film maker and theatre director. I am very pleased to announce that my short film that I just released to the international film festival circuit just a few weeks ago has already won an award in one festival and is a finalist in another.
(There is a link to the film at the bottom of this page.)
REALE FILM FESTIVAL IN MILAN, ITALY
A Cost of Freedom was a short film conceived in 2004 and shot in 2005. The story is based on a short story by Italian writer, Luigi Pirandello, called War. Pirandello lived from 1867 to 1934. Pirandello’s basic story is a group of parents riding on a train after World War 1 all talking about how their sons died in the war. Some are proud, some are hopelessly sad, some are just hopeless. The story when I first read it in college has always provoked deep emotion in me about the futility of sending young men and women to war, while the makers of war never seem to fight themselves.
PRISMA FILM FESTIVAL IN ROME, ITALY
I was moved to make the film when I read about young men and women who were not US citizens but grew up in the States legally (green card holders) that volunteered to the various services when we were attacked in the 2001 World Trade Center attack (9/11). It has always been the policy of the US Armed Services to give full citizenship to these green card soldiers if they die in combat allowing them to get a military funeral and their families the few benefits that the armed services give out. Yet, when the Iraq War was started by the Bush administration they needed a lot of new soldiers because we were now fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq at the same time. President Bush got the law changed to now not only offer US citizenship to the dead soldier but to their immediate families as well. A lot of young green card holders saw this as a way to create a pathway to citizenship for their families so they joined the war effort. I took Pirandello’s story and mixed it with the stories of young non-US citizens fighting for us in Iraq to make a film which I felt paid honor to those sacrifices but also laid bare the hypocrisy of this system of using non-US citizens to fight in our wars.
ACTORS MORRIS SCHORR AND THERESE MCLAUGHLIN
Yet when I started to make the film, I found different people reacted to my little antiwar film script in very different ways, especially when I needed a real army uniform for one of my characters. The actor I chose for that part was actually a reserve officer but to use his uniform he had to get permission from his commander. To my everlasting surprise, the commander not only approved the use of the uniform but also gave us access to many other unit elements like official flags and posters and emblems.
ACTOR JOSE ANTONIO
And that has always been the reaction to the film. People have seen past my limited view of my own film to the human elements of love and grief and pride in these real life stories and Pirandello’s brilliant original short story.
ACTOR ABRAHAM CHAIDEZ
The film came out in 2007, a time where there was really no place to view short films. There were festivals back in the day, but it was an expensive and time consuming effort to get your films around the country and the world to be viewed with no real idea that it would be screened. So A Cost of Freedom just sat on a shelf for almost 16 years until a young film editor named Tal Anderson re-edited the film for me and updated the sound and some minor effects. Since its re-release, the film has won a Best Drama award at the Reale Film Festival in Milan, Italy and is now a Finalist at the Rome Prisma Independent Film Awards Festival (in Rome, Italy).
I want to congratulate my cast and crew from back in 2005 especially my producer, Vivian Best, who is now a famous feature photographer, plus my new film editor in 2021 for their hard work and efforts. The praise and accolades should have been there long ago, but at least people are now seeing and enjoying this story told by a lot of very talented people. There is a link to the film below –
Yours, James Carey – Filmmaker of A Cost of Freedom!
I am sorry for the delay in my short feature on Zion National Park in Utah. The final article is coming soon.
Online Virtual festival dealing with films that are about the Pandemic and its effects.
I have been taking care of the overwhelming response that my short film, Divorce During Pandemic has generated. In the last 3 weeks, my film has been accepted into 5 festivals and been invited into over 300 more. Now films have to pay a fee when you submit to a festival but when get accepted there the possibility of awards plus notice and the opportunity for other work if people like your film. So to be invited to over 300 festivals is very rewarding but also time consuming to read about each festival and decide to attend or not plus stay within the festival budget for a small film with no stars, just very good actors.
Famous festival based in La Jolla, California
The logos that you are seeing as part of this article are the laurels that you receive from a festival when your film is selected as an Official Selection. If you win an award, then you get another laurel stating what you won. The laurels may not seem like much but they are what the industry uses to let people know that this film is doing well or worth seeing. Many more films receive no laurels than get one.
Festival promoting film work in south Georgia, USA.
So this platform will return to travel related articles very soon, but as the progress of this film continues, we will also let you know about that as well.
Festival in Istanbul, Turkey
Thank you for your continued support and understanding.
Yet another festival in Istanbul, Turkey.
James Carey, Senior Writer,Tripswithjames.com and Director of Divorce During Pandemic.
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