I would note that my wife has been tested twice and my daughter once (all different test locations) here in Los Angeles and all of the results took more than 72 hours to receive despite promising 1-2 days turnaround (one was over a week). Presumably some test locations are catering to travelers who require time sensitive results but I wouldn’t necessarily trust the CVS on the corner to return your results in time.
Agreed. I think we’ll go for one of the RT-PCR tests (not antigen) which aren’t free or covered by insurance, but come back in less than 24 hrs.
Can you please take elaborate on the ground feedback??
Leaving for Italy (Rome/Florence) and Greece (Northern) at the end of June. One week in each country. We are on one of the COVID Delta flights to Rome which, as of right now, requires a PCR test 72 hours before departure day, a rapid test at the gate and another rapid when we arrive in Rome. There is a possibility some of these requirements will go away when the Italian government updates their travel restrictions like Spain, Greece, etc. Have made all of my dinner and tour reservations without any issues…
We’ve booked flights to Milan for end-Oct
We did do 8 weeks in Hong Kong in February this year and getting tested was easy. We came to the airport (SFO) the day before our flight, got our rapid testing done there, received our negative results after 1h wait (along with various important print outs certifying the nature of the test), and went home. The next day we flew to Hong Kong to spend 3 weeks in a hotel room unable to open the windows or set foot out the door, but that’s a different story 
Yes, and the cheap tests don’t have as low a false positivity rate. Triple the community infection rate (from 1% to 3%) and triple the false positive rate (from 0.5% and 1.5%) and you are still at 40% chance of it being an incorrect positiive result.
Bottomline, the recommendation to get an extra inexpensive test prior to the required test doesn’t seem like a good one given that rate of false alarms.
Varies by destination.
Hawaii is 72 hours from SCHEDULED DEPARTURE. Not arrival, and not actual departure. Both are major differences, be sure.
I think you have to go into the FAQs to find the “scheduled” aspect.
Flyertalk has detailed discussions with more data points than you will get here.
As of now, the best experiences are from folks using the ID NOW test at Walgreens. Not available in all states, but based on reports, absolutely worth an hours drive vs. a CVs nearby. Results come back very quick, reliably.
That’s up to you. Pretty soon testing won’t be required at all for vaccinated people and it will be a non-issue.
In Los Angeles, there is a facility in Terminal 6 at LAX which gives reliably results quickly - you can get it in an hour for one price, 6 hours for another. I had to cancel some plans to go to Hawaii, but I was going to make an extra trip to the airport on a Sunday morning (for a Tuesday evening departure) because of it’s reliability (based on first hand reports in Flyertalk). I know folks who cancelled their trip to Hawaii because the results didn’t come back in time, other that were miserable but went to the airport anyway and had their results come right before check in.
We’ve had some friends and colleagues comment that some places are not open or have limited hours, some restrictions and curfews may still be in place (or limitations in travel between regions, etc.), it may be difficult to find rental cars in some markets, some flight schedules may be unpredictable and/ metal swaps common, false positive tests could delay return to the US, slow vaccination rates in certain locations, etc. Just too many variables currently - may try for something in the late fall is some of these clear up. Otherwise, we will wait until our spring 2022 trip.
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My wife and I are in Cabo now, having elected to come here rather than go to Hawaii or Greece. Two hours from LA, no quarantine and a $30 antigen test at the hotel the day before we return to Los Angeles.
Activity in San Jose del Cabo seems very much like it was pre-pandemic. The only difference we see at restaurants is a temp check before entering, guests wear mask until seated, staff wear masks all the time, and QR code menus.
It’s great to feel free (or almost free) from the pandemic. We feel closer to normal than we have at any time since March, 2020.
Still waiting to see how Paris reopens before booking for the fall.
We’re headed to Croatia next week, transiting in FRA. Croatia is open if vaccinated, but we are doing a rapid test the day before we depart. I’m hearing conflicting reports about testing requirements for Germany, which is not generally open yet, and carriers flying to Germany that getting the test seems to be the safest route.
We are doing the emed.com online test when returning to the US.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/germany-travel-advisory.html
State says do not go, seems overly cautious.
State’s Advisory is based on CDC’s Level 4 Risk Assessment Level for COVID-19, but CDC also says
“If you’ve been fully vaccinated:
You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.”
Contradictory guidance is not surprising.
As Sarah requested, this is not a thread to discuss “if”, but more to discuss “how”
You would think the state department could provide guidance on what is required by the country you want to visit.
The State Dept page you linked to includes a link to the US Embassy’s web site which is very detailed on the requirements. The issue we have is we’re not actually visiting/entering Germany. We’re simply transiting in FRA from one non-Schengen country to another. The State Dept guidance and German requirements don’t apply in our case. However, we’ve heard that sometimes the airlines are enforcing the testing requirements as if all passengers were entering Germany and not staying airside to get to their next flight. It’s not clear how consistently the airlines (or the gate agents) are enforcing that requirement, but we’re getting tested just so it’s not a problem when we check in and board.
Good luck, hopefully not too much of an adventure.
Hah ! Travel is supposed to be an adventure, right ?