Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder.

We're on the move again as you might be acquainted with.

And the reason I'm going to Chinatown is because I would much, much rather be going to Hong Kong.

However, I can't get there before. The rules change that allow people

who are fully vaccinated to get in with simply a rapid antigen or lateral flow test within the 24

hours before your flight departs to Hong Kong. This has changed in the past 90 minutes or so.

You don't need to take a whole series of tests after arrival.

It's optional to complete the Health Declaration form

and I think Hong Kong is now pretty much on the same page as the US in that it only wants

vaccinated travellers but that of course they will need a test in advance I can see that

requirement falling away probably quite soon. And we can then see

how Hong Kong comes back to life. The government says that this is to fully leverage Hong Kong

strengths in connecting with the world. Well, Hong Kong has been hugely disconnected with the world

for a couple of years now. The special administrative zone, as it is called, so part of the People's Republic of China but not quite

fully within it has been one of the places which has had the most draconian COVID rules

all flights from the UK were banned two years ago, yes, December 2020.

Then in May and June 2021, they were allowed back in briefly, but then the following month barred until April this year.

And well, I was lucky enough to be in Alice Springs in Australia in, well, earlier this month actually.

And the big site at Alice Springs Airport is a very large number of Cathay Pacific flights.

Bear in mind, of course, that Cathay Pacific was one of the world's absolute Premier

League airlines and it had a hub in Hong Kong wherever you wanted to go particularly to

Australia and New Zealand. Cathay Pacific was absolutely a choice, not least because if you look at the map

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