Covid rules exact timings

gowgowuk

First of all, please forgive me if this is asked before. I cannot find the info using the search engine or on any other webpages.
I am travelling to France (2 weeks), then to Belgium (10 days). Coming from Belgium (to Scotland) and being double-vaccinated, I thought I would only need a pre-travel test in Belgium+ a 2 days post travel test in Scotland. However, I realise that the timings of my travels makes my stay slightly shorter than 10 days (9 days 23 hours or so), so technically, I would then need to do a quarantine (having been to France in the previous 10 days). It's all down to the exact timings and if they consider departure time in the country of origin or arrival time in UK (or Belgium). Do you know which is it, or can you point me to a site where I can the info? Many thanks!

CKhalvashi

The rules are quite clear.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england#amber-list
If you have been in France in the 10 days before you arrive in England, you must follow the standard amber list rules, even if you have been fully UK vaccinated. You must quarantine for 10 days and take both the day 2 and day 8 tests.

You will therefore be required to take day 2 and day 8 tests and isolate at home for 10 days.

It's not down to exact timings. The day you arrive in Belgium is day 0 whether you arrive at 00:01 or 23:59. I would assume that local time (so CET) would be sufficient.

onashoestring

It’s not about hours it’s the 10 calendar days before the day that you arrive in UK . 

gowgowuk

Thank you both. I see that my mistake was considering a day as a "24 hours" period. Oh well, I better change my flights, or hope that France will be removed from that amber-plus list. 

CKhalvashi

gowgowuk said:

Thank you both. I see that my mistake was considering a day as a "24 hours" period. Oh well, I better change my flights, or hope that France will be removed from that amber-plus list. 

I was actually thinking that when writing it. There should be cheap flights or trains between France and Belgium, so as long as you're not on a ticket where you'll lose any future bookings it may be cheaper to book a new flight for 2 days earlier than to amend any bookings. This may also be the case with Ryanair when attempting to change your booking (the change fee is often more than booking a new flight as you won't have the price for new customers even though the airline doesn't make this clear), even on their free change offer, so remember to check this too.

gowgowuk

yes, thank you. I think I'll be fine. As you say, I booked flights with Ryanair very cheap without any luggage (will add them last minute, when I'm sure I'll take it), and for the travel to and from Belgium, I have flexible train/flight tickets. 

CKhalvashi

gowgowuk said:

yes, thank you. I think I'll be fine. As you say, I booked flights with Ryanair very cheap without any luggage (will add them last minute, when I'm sure I'll take it), and for the travel to and from Belgium, I have flexible train/flight tickets. 

Not sure how it goes with AF/KL, but if you have luggage this may be a cheaper option.

I work a lot in Eastern Europe and actually find LOT/Austrian to be cheaper than Wizz on certain dates (hand luggage only) if you need a larger bag. Ryanair was only mentioned due to their specific policy, but they do have a large network from France to Charleroi.