Why it doesn’t have to be doom and gloom for travel – even with contradictory quarantine rules

Simon Calder could fly from Gatwick to Dublin, quarantine free, after heading straight to Northern Ireland on arrival. It was a strange experience, but it felt far more familiar than he expected

The foreign office has relaxed its advice on ‘essential’ travel (EPA)

After months in which travel hopes and dreams have been crushed by coronavirus (abetted by the crushingly inept performance of the government, in terms of travel at least) today we get back to normal.

Don’t be ridiculous, you may reasonably respond. The rail industry is doing its utmost to persuade travellers to avoid trains, while the aviation business is convincing exactly nobody that flying is compatible with social distancing.

Well, I have spent the past couple of days negotiating a tricky course between Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The looking-glass rules on quarantine are boggling: I could fly from Gatwick to Dublin, quarantine free, only if I promised on arrival to head straight to Northern Ireland. Which I did on bus X3 to Derry/Londonderry (as the city must be called). Once there, I could walk straight back across the border into the Republic, and – as an arrival from Northern Ireland – avoid two weeks of self-isolation.

Furthermore, I was legally able to buy a drink, which I gladly did (along with the mandatory €9 purchase of food) at the Treehouse pub, just on the right side of the border, on Thursday evening.

By midnight it was once again feasible to stay in a hotel in Derry after 16 weeks of closure, and I checked in to the Bishop’s Gate.

Yes, it was strange to liaise through a Perspex screen, for the TV remote to be wrapped in cellophane and toast at breakfast to be served all wrapped up. Yet the experience felt far more familiar than I expected. And having travelled across Northern Ireland by bus and train, I saw precious few masks but lots of respect for fellow travellers – plus copious hand-washing. By the time I reached Belfast airport, I felt almost habituated – and, happily, enthused about the journeys ahead. I hope you are, too.

Yours,

Simon Calder

Travel correspondent