Hello, I'm Simon Calder, welcoming you to my independent travel podcast, bringing you the latest

news on travelling, whether you're just dreaming of a great escape or actually away, and having

the time of your life, and hopefully planning to be back in the UK after 4am on Friday, the 7th of January, because that's when we go back to the

state of play in terms of testing for international arrivals to the UK, or at least England.

I'm still trying to find out that Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland will do the same,

the same as we had in, well, the last part of October and through November. The need for a

pre-departure test is going and I stress this is for arrivals after 4 a.m. So if you're on an

overnight flight from North America to the UK, then the chances are you'll

certainly be getting in after 4am, so you won't need that test.

Neither will you need the post-arrival PCR.

That is being downgraded to a lateral flow test.

And on top of that, the need to self-isolate is being removed.

Now, if you're arriving before 4 a.m. on Friday, you're going to have to do the whole caboodle as planned.

But if you're fully vaccinated and arriving after that time, then there is no need to go through these very onerous and

upsetting rules lots of hassle lots of cost lots of concern that you might test positive abroad

now had lots of people saying i bought my tests i can't get I'm so, so sorry, but I have been saying to anybody

who has been prepared to listen, look, this is how things are going to be. There will be sudden

changes. If you book more than, say, a day in advance, you are at risk of losing some money. And that is certainly the case.

But all I can say is if you've booked a test, a PCR test after arrival, then that's still

going to work. It will still count. It's just annoying that it's twice as expensive as your

lateral flow test would be.

And I'm afraid, well, we're waiting to hear from the big test providers, but for many of them,

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