If Biden is elected, can we expect that the EU will let Americans travel there again?

[CTyankee]

It's not anywhere near to top of my list to see happen when, we trust, Biden is elected. I wonder if his saner approach to Covid prevention and treatment, plus continued work on a cure, plus his general amity with the principles of the EU, will make it feel more like letting us come again to their countries.

Yoohoo, DFW, if you're out there, give us your thoughts on this!

[sfstaxprep]

1. Not At Least Until We Get The Virus Spread Under Control nt

[BlueMTexpat]

22. THIS!!!!

Absolutely this!

[DrToast]

28. Well, until they get it under control we probably shouldn't be visting there either

[Karadeniz]

2. Not until we're not carrying virus everywhere.

[Statistical]

3. No. Numbers matter and unless the red states stop fucking up

case counts are going to keep skyrocketing in the US. No country that isn't insane will lift travel restrictions when the US is plague central.

[drray23]

4. they wont until we curb the epidemic here.

its not political. its based on our out of control pandemic. Once Biden gets it under control im sure europe will reassess. They are themselves struggling right now with a second wave. I think its going to be another year at least

[Sherman A1]

5. At some point certainly

Many countries in the EU are experiencing big upticks in Covid 19 outbreaks themselves so I don't think it will be on the top of anyone's list of places to go for the immediate future.

[Big Blue Marble]

6. Only when our Covid numbers are under control.

Now that we have community spread at high levels of infection, it most likely be
late next year after the vaccine is widely dispersed throughout the population.

[CTyankee]

13. I think we'll see a more serious approach to getting the vaccine with Biden.

I think the EU will feel relieved when Biden is President.

And I think the EU countries must be feeling the economic effects of that reduction of travel. Their budgets must have relied on Americans traveling in their countries as one of the major sources of tourists.

[dem4decades]

7. 80% of the country can't come to my state, doubt the EU wants us.

[CTyankee]

14. Good point. Same here in New England.

[Eyeball_Kid]

8. I'd guess that it's the numbers that matter. If we control infections, the ruling may change. n/t

[Doreen]

9. I think we need to get it more under control first.

More than likely we can enjoy our EU friends sooner with Biden in office than with donny.

[Denzil_DC]

10. If you're worried about COVID, most of Europe isn't a great place to visit right now.

Even relatively competent governments are struggling, and there's no end in sight. But at least they're seriously trying.

[BlueMTexpat]

25. This is also true!

In Switzerland, we hovered around 31,000 infections and 2000+ deaths until September.

Since September, numbers of infections have skyrocketed to 127,000+!

Fortunately, the death toll has not increased by much.

But restrictions were tightened last week.

Moreover, there was a huge run on flu vaccinations and no more are available in my area until end Nov-beg Dec.

I have my name on waiting lists at several pharmacies AND at my doctor's office.

So I won't be traveling internationally anytime soon. My major excursion is a weekly trip to the supermarket, mainly to restock fresh fruit, veggies, eggs and dairy products.

[Denzil_DC]

30. I'm in Scotland.

The UK as a whole hasn't fared well because Johnson was too slow to act in the spring and has been slow all year to take initiatives.

The English test and trace system is appallingly mismanaged, and it and other major outlay on PPE etc. have been channelled to Tory donors and cronies who've been paid vast sums and have generally failed to deliver.

Things are a bit better in Scotland - we at least have a government that takes the threat seriously and an autonomous health service and test and trace system.

The Scottish Government, like Wales and Northern Ireland and some of the English regions, would have liked to be more proactive in terms of lockdowns and other countermeasures, but Westminster holds the purse strings for any sort of employment support, so that hampers efforts, and internal travel spreading infection is among many problems.

The UK logged 24,701 cases and 310 deaths in the last 24 hours. It's going to be a long winter.

[BlueMTexpat]

34. Yes, it will

be a long, hard winter, I'm afraid.

Not only is Johnson a tRump clone, you may soon have the original headed your way!

Hang in there!

[BannonsLiver]

11. It will no doubt help

But as someone who can’t spend enough time in Europe because I enjoy it so much, I’m not even thinking about leisure travel until 2022, and likely the second half of the year. The virus situation everywhere is quite grim.

[CTyankee]

15. I had plans to go with my daughter to Spain. She's never been there. I have but didn't make it

to Barcelona. However, I just shrugged and said "Oh, I'll go in a couple more years."

Ugh.

[DFW]

24. Barcelona is THE city to visit there, too!

I lived there when I was a teenager, learned to speak Catalan, etc.

I know at least two Americans that visited as tourists in the last 2 years, Speak neither Spanish nor Catalan, and put in formal residency requests, they loved the place so much. I can't even fathom trying to move to a country where I didn't speak the language, but they were so blown away by Barcelona that they immediately started the process (no idea how far along they are). But that is how incredible that city is. Keep trying, you won't regret it once you get there!

[CTyankee]

26. Yes. I loved Pamplona (why I was THERE and not Barcelona I dunno). It was quite diffferent from

my only idea of the place being where crazy men run with bulls in the streets to a stadium where the bulls will end up dead. A godawful tragedy for those poor bulls.

I think it was just the itinerary. I liked the people there. they were extremely formal people, very conscious of dressing well.

[BlueMTexpat]

27. I went to Barcelona in March

to meet up with some US friends there. They had traveled to Madrid and Bilbao before meeting me.

We were able to visit the Sagrada Familia on Thur, Mar 12 and Monserrat on Fri, Mar 13. But the Sagrada was closed definitively on Fri, as were most museums, all were closed by Sat. There were no more day trips to Monserrat possible after Fri. We all returned to Switzerland together on Sun, Mar 16, just before both Spain and Switzerland closed their borders on Mar 17.

My friends had planned to spend a couple days here with me and depart on their regularly scheduled United flight on Thu, Mar 20. We didn't push our luck by going into Geneva City but I gave a driving tour of the international organizations area and some other sights. We mostly just stayed inside or on my terrace outside (I have a great view!) while they rested up from their visit to Spain before heading back to what was then a nerve-wracking experience to return to the US.

One friend was not allowed to board her return flight on Thu as one of her connecting flights had been cancelled. She was rebooked for the Fri United flight instead and made it back without too much hassle. Fortunately, none of us contracted Covid.

But the United flight on Mar 21 represented the LAST US airline flying from Geneva Airport. NO US airlines have arrived or departed from Geneva since that flight/date. There are also no direct flights from Geneva to the US at all, which has NEVER been the case before.

Swiss is the only airline in this country flying directly to the US right now, but those flights leave from Zurich.

[CTyankee]

29. I'm so glad I made it to Bilbao to see Frank Gehry's Modern art museum there!

It is fabulous. I was able to catch Cy Twombley's peony series and it was mind boggling.

I was giddy with happiness that day...

[BlueMTexpat]

35. I look forward

to traveling again, but it won't be for a while. I'm glad that you enjoyed Bilbao!

You will indeed LOVE Barcelona! I hope to return there someday!

[Voltaire2]

12. Not anytime soon.

The current situation is going to take a long time to get under control. Republican governors and legislatures will obstruct compliance with federal regulations. The Supremely Fucked Court will side with them.

Expect a long shitshow.

[bdamomma]

16. not until

we have new leadership in Jan 2021 (hurry up) and have Drs. and scientists muzzle free to listen too. I'm sick of this madness, we need to end this nightmare. A vaccine is very much needed, and Drs./Scientists are working towards that.

Then we will be able to join the world again.

[Fiendish Thingy]

17. EU just stopped allowing Canadians, so it will be a long time before US is allowed. Nt

[SidDithers]

19. Jinx...

you owe me a coke



Sid

[SidDithers]

18. EU just closed travel from Canada, because we've got 2000 new cases a day...

You've got 80,000. No way do they open travel from the US until you've got the virus under control.

Sid

[Bev54]

23. And most of our 2,000 per day are coming from two provinces.

[DFW]

20. Live and in color from France (this morning and afternoon) and Germany (now).

I have no answers from on high, but here is my suspicion:

Covid-19 infection rates in the USA have to come down DRASTICALLY first. Then. Covid-19 infection rates have to come down here too.
THEN the Europeans will ease their restrictions, just as the USA will on Europeans visiting the USA.

I belong to a very small group that can travel back and forth due to a few scraps of paper and plastic, and my wife can, too, as she is married to one of those holders of said paper and plastic. But we are exceptions to a big rule, and it is the rules being changed that will start up our economies again, not the fact that my wife and I can go visit our daughter in Manhattan when we want. our daughters can travel, too, as they hold both passports, but their men can't, so they pass for the moment, too. Our elder daughter in NYC is married, but her husband only has a green card (citizenship scheduled for next year), and the younger daughter in Frankfurt is not married. Maybe as the father of her two young daughters, who are dual citizens as she is, they would allow him, but they have not tested it.

The EU will breathe a HUGE sigh of relief if Biden is swiftly declared the winner of the election, BUT, he can't undo Trump's damage overnight. I am not the only one to have observed that it takes only a second to blow up a building, but it takes a year or more to build it back up again.

[CTyankee]

21. Thanks, DFW. I'm not getting any younger and my retirement income, based on a combination

of investment "products" as I think they are called, are doing just OK enough for me to live a pretty good life. But I can't go to my daughter's house on Chappaquiddick Island this Thanksgiving or Christmas, nor should I. It saddens me greatly.

My "plague year" activity is writing another book on art history which keeps me busy and my mind engaged. Thank goddess I have that. I wonder how many books were written during plague years in history...

[secondwind]

31. Here in Dominican Republic, it is quite the opposite.

Beginning soon, there will be planeloads of people flying to this island, hundreds a week, heading for places like Punta Cana, etc. We are worried plenty about this.

This country relies on tourism more than anything else.

[Meowmee]

32. Not until covid is really under control

Which may be a long time considering how bad it is.

[KentuckyWoman]

33. Biden WILL win more votes.

Taking office after Trump's 9 zillion lawsuits is another thing.