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Hotel review – Comfort Hotel Runway, Oslo Airport

Prior to my flight to Tromsø, I parked up at Oslo Airport and stayed overnight at the Comfort Hotel Runway, a 10 minute bus ride from the terminal.

This is an airport hotel, designed for one night stays before or after flights and that is reflected in the facilities provided.

With that said, I was perfectly happy with the comfort of my room, which had a double bed, functioning air conditioning and a hot shower, which is all I really cared about for a one-night airport stay.

As a bonus, there was a nice view of the airport taxi ways.

I have to say the food was a bit of a let down. Guests have to option of dining at the restaurant belonging to a neighbouring hotel, but there is very little choice of food on site. I ended up dropping the better part of $20 on a microwaved taco and a soft drink.

Breakfast was limited with the usual bacon and eggs and the addition of a few cold cuts. However, the juice and milk had run out so I was stuck with water and black coffee.

Honestly, this hotel is a perfectly acceptable option for a one-night layover, but the catering is poor. I would recommend eating before arrival or choosing one of the similarly priced options on the other side of the airport, with more options nearby.

Destination guide – Tromsø, Norway

After four very enjoyable months in Stockholm, I decided to see a little more of Scandinavia and headed off to Tromsø, a little more than 200 miles North of the Arctic Circle.

Considering the distances involved, I decided to park my car at Oslo Airport and take an SAS flight to Tromsø, where I spent three nights.

Tromsø is a unique and truly breathtaking city, combining snow capped mountains, crystal clear fjords and the somewhat surreal phenomenon of the midnight sun.

My first experience of Tromsø was a stroll around the pretty harbour and across the bridge to the Arctic Cathedral.

The real highlight of the day was a ride up to the Storsteinen mountain ledge of the Fjellheisen cable car.

The cable car makes the 421m ascent in just four minutes and the breathtaking views are simply not to be missed.

The following day, I decided to take things a little easier and stroll along some if the beautiful fjordside paths out to Tromsø Folkeparken and the Southern Beach.

As it was amazingly 27°C on the day of my visit, the beach was too crowded for me to get any photographs, but suffice to say it is a unique experience, with views across the fjord to the snow capped mountains beyond.

The only regret I have about my visit to Tromsø was not managing to take the midnight RIB (rigid inflatable boat) cruise. These run for three hours from 10pm to 1am when the midnight sun shines on Tromsø. After two very full days and with an early start on the third day, my heart was willing but my body was not.

Flight review – SAS Oslo – Tromsø

As my tour of Scandinavia continued to the Arctic North, I decided to leave my car at Oslo Airport and fly to Tromsø, rather than take a three day drive each way.

There were several options for this route, including Norwegian and Widerøe. However it turned out that the best deal was on the direct afternoon flight with SAS.

The flight was quite expensive for a domestic one-way at €226 for the most basic hand luggage only ticket.

I, however, chose to upgrade to the SAS Plus fare at €270, including checked luggage and access to the SAS Domestic Lounge at Oslo Airport.

This proved to be a good choice, as the American Express lounge to which I would normally have access was located after customs controls and therefore not accessible to domestic passengers. It also allowed me to check in my small rollaboard rather than fighting for overhead bin space.

The lounge was pretty basic in terms of its food offerings, but offered wine and both draught and canned beer and provided a comfortable place to sit while waiting for boarding, so it suited me fine.

The on board experience was not up to the standards of even intra-European Business Class, in that middle seats were not kept free and refreshments were limited to a snack and drink. However, given the short length of this flight and the small premium that I paid, I was perfectly happy with it.

Overall, this was a nice, easy little flight and “upgrading” was worth it in my very specific case.

Destination guide – Stockholm, Sweden

Sweden has been the poster child of freedom throughout the covid panic, the only country in the developed world never to have had a lockdown or a mask mandate.

For this reason, I made Stockholm my temporary home for a total of 8 months out of the last two years.

Here is an introduction to the beautiful capital city of the country that kept its head while all around them were losing theirs.

SIGHTS

From a multitude of museums, many of which are very inexpensive or even free to visit, to picturesque parks and gardens, relaxing waterside walks and a lively nightlife, Stockholm truly has something for everyone.

GETTING AROUND

First of all, Stockholm is not a city for drivers. The high cost of fuel and the eye-watering parking prices (if you can even find a place to park) convinced even a dedicated petrol head like me to ditch my wheels.

Furthermore, the public transport system is one of the most efficient I have come across anywhere in the world. You will very rarely need to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes for a bus, tram or metro train. Fares are very reasonable at 39SEK (£3 or $4) for a single ticket. Passes are also available, ranging from 165SEK (£13 or $16) for 24 hours to 970 SEK (£78 or $95) for 30 days.

Personally, I feel that the best way to see Stockholm is from the water. Options include the Oceanbus amphibious vehicle and the many boat tours, both of which are fun choices. My recommendation, however, is the commuter ferries which criss-cross the city and are included in the excellent value public transport passes.

OCEANBUS

FERRIES

TOUR BOATS

New mask free destinations

Further to my previously published guide to mask free destinations , a number of countries have joined the freeface bandwagon and abandoned the face covering dogma of the covid years.

Costa Rica 🇨🇷

The tropical paradise of Costa Rica is now fully unrestricted. There is no vaccination or test required for entry and tourists are no longer forced to buy overpriced health insurance to cover quarantine expenses.

Furthermore, mask wearing is now entirely optional in all settings.

Latvia 🇱🇻

Latvia has now joined its Baltic neighbour in abolishing the mask mandate for public transport, meaning that all everyday settings are now mask free.

Austria 🇦🇹

Following months of dragging its feet, Austria has suspended the mask mandate for shops and public transport, meaning that there are now no mask requirements in everyday life.

This, however, comes with a few caveats.

FFP2 masks (bird beaks) are still required in medical settings, which barring incidents most tourists will not need to access.

The Austrian government has backtracked a number of times on promised relaxations of the mask mandate and has explicitly stated that the present relaxation is only for a period of three months. Therefore, I have to advise treating this announcement with a modicum of scepticism. However, as I stated in my Lake Constance review, the new freeface culture has been almost universally embraced. I am therefore hopeful that the mask mandate will not be politically expedient to reimpose later.

Italy 🇮🇹

I was unsure whether to include Italy in this list, as the mandate is still officially in force, but is very widely expected to lapse on June 15.

After this date, the mask mandate for public transport and all businesses will expire, meaning tourists can go about their daily lives unmuzzled.

Italy is perhaps the most surprising addition to this list, as it has been an avid bastion of mask zealotry for the last two years.

I very much hope I don’t have to publish a retraction of this section after a hurried U-turn in the next 48 hours.

EDIT: In the few days since this article was published, the Italian government has backtracked and extended the mask mandate for public transport until September 30.

Trip review – Lake Constance

Lake Constance, nestled between Germany, Austria and Switzerland, encapsulates the contrast between the rugged landscape of the Alps and the gentle serenity of the lake waters. It is truly area of stunning natural beauty and I consider myself privileged to have lived there for nine years.

However, over the last two years, the region has been subject to some of the most brutal covid restrictions in Europe, leading me to spend much of that time away from home. Those restrictions ended in Switzerland several weeks ago and on June 1, Austria finally let go of one of the last hangovers of the covid panic, the mask mandate for public transport and everyday shopping.

I decided to fly down from my temporary base in Stockholm to see how fully this new found freedom was being embraced. I was pleasantly surprised.

My trip started with a flight to Zürich on Swiss, which no longer forces passengers to wear a mask. The airport in Zürich was also mask free, as was the 80-minute train journey to my home in Bregenz, Austria.

During my visit, I checked out the situation in all three countries bordering the lake, beginning with a walk along the Austrian shoreline, from Bregenz to Lochau.

This section is one of the more picturesque walks in the region and hugs the shoreline for several kilometres.

The rigours of the last two years seemed a lifetime away.

My next stop was the Swiss lakeside town of Rorschach, an easy 35 minute train journey away. The journey was entirely mask free and there were no formalities required to enter Switzerland.

Rorschach was exactly as I remembered it from the pre-covid days.

I then headed off to visit my former workplace in Lindau, Germany. This is a relaxing one-hour cruise on one of the famous Lake Constance ships, which ply many routes around the lake to ports in all three countries.

Lindau was as charming as ever, with the rigours of the last two years seemingly forgotten.

Technically, the Bavarian mask mandate still applies to the first five minutes or so of the train journey back to Austria, but I observed only around 50% compliance and zero enforcement by the Austrian train crew.

On my last day of the trip, with one of the infamous Lake Constance thunderstorms rolling in, I headed off on the excellent new Swiss InterCity train to spend the day in Zürich before my flight back to Stockholm.

Overall, this was a successful and enjoyable trip. Switzerland has been restriction free for several weeks now and has returned entirely to pre-covid normality. Austria has now returned to every day normality and Germany seems not to be far behind.

However, it remains to be seen how long the new found freedom in this region will last.

Switzerland has generally been the least restricted of the three countries throughout the pandemic, and I am now reasonably confident that they, at least, have finally emerged from the panic and will not slip back into the restrictions.

Austria and Germany, however, have been somewhat stricter throughout and witnessing first hand how fully the restrictions were accepted and even embraced on a societal level was unsettling, to say the least. With that said, there seems, at least currently, little appetite in the general populations for a return to those restrictions. I remain optimistic, at least for the summer months.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend a visit to this stunning region, to which no written account can do full justice. Unfortunately, I did not have time on this short trip to enjoy the many other delightful areas of the lakeside, such as the pretty sailing town of Langenargen, the castle and wine region around Meersburg and the eponymous historical town of Konstanz. Hopefully I can cover those areas later in the summer.

Your guide to mask free destinations

After two years, it appears that more and more countries are finally coming to their senses and ditching their mask mandates.

Here is a list of all countries, where you can enjoy fully mask free travel.

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Following several months of indecision, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 has been mask free for some months. In recent weeks, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 and Northern Ireland󠁧󠁢󠁮󠁩󠁲󠁧󠁢󠁮󠁩󠁲 have finally fallen into line.

Ireland 🇮🇪

Ireland kept its mask mandate for public transport until quite recently, but is now fully mask free in all public spaces.

Switzerland 🇨🇭

Switzerland is now fully mask free, having dropped the requirement on public transport from April 1.

Sweden 🇸🇪

The poster child of freedom throughout the covid panic, Sweden has never had a mask mandate for any public place, indoors or out. Many Swedes do not even own a mask and you will very rarely see someone wearing one.

Denmark 🇩🇰

Denmark has been mask free since February, when the country dropped all covid related restrictions. Since then, very few people wear masks in any public setting.

Norway 🇳🇴

Norway dropped the requirement to wear face masks in public in February and is now fully unrestricted.

Iceland 🇮🇸

Iceland is another country which has been mask free for some time and has adopted a pragmatic approach to living with covid.

Finland 🇫🇮

Finland has now ended its general mask recommendation for public places, the last of the Nordic nations to do so. The country is now fully mask free.

Estonia 🇪🇪

Estonia has been mask free for several weeks in all public places.

Netherlands 🇳🇱

The Dutch scrapped their mask rules on public transport in March, the last area where masks were required.

Poland 🇵🇱

By all accounts, enforcement of Polands mask mandate was always patchy, but it has now been officially dropped.

Czech Republic 🇨🇿

Czech Republic ended its mask mandate for public transport on April 14.

Slovenia 🇸🇮

Wearing a face mask in Slovenia is no longer mandatory.

Romania 🇷🇴

The requirement to wear a mask in public buildings and transport expired in March.

Bulgaria 🇧🇬

Face masks are recommended, but not mandatory, when using public transport.

USA 🇺🇸

The USA no longer has a federal mask mandate, since a recent court decision overturning the CDC’s mandate for air, rail and bus travel. However, travellers are strongly advised to check any local mandates.

If you have any questions or know of any other mask free countries, please feel free to join our forums, where further updates will be posted.

What does 2022 hold for travellers?

Nobody can dispute that 2021, just like 2020, has been a tumultuous year for travellers, particularly those based in Europe. After a summer of partial freedom in many countries, the shutters are now coming down again and restrictions are springing up across the continent like wild mushrooms.

If you are vaccinated, you do at least have travel options, although most of Europe is a rather unwelcoming place at the moment, with covid passports being demanded to access the most basic of goods and services. If you are unvaccinated, the majority of Europe is quite simply a no-go zone. You will either be denied entry altogether or subject to draconian restrictions throughout your stay.

My personal feeling is that this situation will continue at least throughout the remainder of the Winter and probably into the Spring and Summer. Having spent time in several European countries during 2021, I can clearly see that most of the continent is simply not ready to move on. I would not be looking to commit to any bookings in this region for at least the first half of 2022 and would advise travellers to delay making any plans for the second half of the year.

Notable exceptions to this are England and Sweden, which have – at least so far – not been drawn into the “papers please” mentality so prevalent in other European nations. It remains to be seen whether this freedom will continue to exist in these countries, although I have recently noticed more positive signs in England.

Looking further afield, it is still very clear that the Asia Pacific region generally is not the place to looking for a relaxing break. Many countries in the region still have very onerous entry requirements, including quarantines and multiple tests. In my view the number of hoops which need to be jumped through is simply not worth it.

Africa is a possibility, with many countries now keeping their borders open, notably South Africa which requires only a negative PCR test for entry. Strict indoor and outdoor mask mandates, however, are still in place once there.

Certain Latin America destinations, specifically Mexico and Costa Rica, remain the easiest countries to enter, requiring no proof of vaccination or negative tests, although Costa Rica requires unvaccinated travellers to purchase a health insurance policy. These two countries are, without a doubt, the best options for unvaccinated travellers seeking some Winter Sun. An important caveat, of course, is to check the conditions that your home country will impose on your return. Certain countries have restrictive or even effectively preventative measures in place in regard to unvaccinated travellers seeking to leave or return.

Last – but by no means least – is the USA. With borders now open for vaccinated tourists, my advice is that the USA is the place to be if you meet this requirement. In many parts of the country, such as Florida and Texas, the covid panic is a distant memory. Of course some states and counties still mandate masks in indoor environments, but many do not. The beauty of the USA is that these things are decided on a county or city level. If a particular municipality bring in a policy that you find unacceptable, you can simply move on to another county.

Overall, my assessment of prospects for freedom seeking travellers in 2022 is cautiously optimistic, as long as you are willing to be flexible. Whilst much of the world is still obsessively restricting people’s lives and seems unable or unwilling to move on, there are still options and that will continue to be the case.

Please share your thoughts, tips and questions on the Covid and Travel forum.

UK tightens restrictions again

27 November 2021
by thebouncer

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has today announced that anyone entering the UK will be forced to take a PCR test within 2 days of arrival in the country and self isolate until a negative result is received.

Furthermore, the “red list” requiring 11 nights forcibly confined to a hotel room at a cost to the traveller of £2,285 has now been extended to arrivals from 10 Southern African countries. More countries will undoubtedly follow.

Additionally, face coverings will once again be mandatory in shops and on public transport throughout the country, unless a medical exemption is claimed.

Clearly, the UK is following continental Europe into the vortex of panic and is once again pulling up the drawbridge.

These measures will not be the last to be announced in the UK this Winter.

Feel free to discuss these measures on the UK forum.

Protests across Europe

Announcements of tightened covid restrictions in various European countries have been met with large scale protests across the continent.

I personally attended demonstrations and marches in Vienna and Bregenz, Austria, both of which were very well attended and focused heavily on Austria’s recently announced lockdown and the country’s unprecedented announcement that covid-19 vaccinations are to be made compulsory in the country from 1 February 2022. Heavy fines will be levied against those who do not comply and jail sentences are threatened against those who do not or cannot pay. Germany looks likely to follow suit, with Health Minister Jens Spahn quoted as saying that the majority of Germans would be “vaccinated, cured or dead” by the Spring.

Both of the demonstrations I attended in Austria were well organised and peaceful. The large crowds were extremely well behaved and I did not witness any violence, threatening behaviour or heavy handed police action at either venue.

I will post pictures and videos in the Austria forum shortly.

Protests also raged across Italy, Croatia, Belgium and The Netherlands, with one in Rotterdam sadly turning violent.

As I wrote earlier, the Winter lockdown season is well and truly under way in Europe. Additionally, governments across the continent are ramping up the pressure on citizens to accept a vaccination, with more and more basic rights and freedoms being removed from dissenters. As the continent moves deeper into the Winter, this situation can only deteriorate as panic spreads over rising case numbers. Restrictions will become tighter, lockdowns will be extended and protests will inevitably continue to erupt.

Europe can be a wonderful continent to visit during the winter months, with ski resorts, traditional Christmas markets and New Year concerts.

Sadly, this Winter is not the time even to think about enjoying any of those things.

Join the discussion on our covid forum.

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