Rush to England before quarantine: "I packed my bags in 30 minutes"

The announcement, late on the evening of Thursday, August 13, of a mandatory quarantine for travelers arriving from France, and the explosion in the price of train and plane tickets that followed did not get the better of the legendary British phlegm.

A few hours before the entry into force of this quarantine on arrival in the United Kingdom for anyone coming from France, in order to fight against the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic, there was no rush or jostling when boarding the Eurostar at the Gare du Nord in Paris, Friday August 14.

However, many Britons had to pull themselves out of the summer torpor and bring their travel date forward to return before 4 a.m. on August 15. This is the fateful deadline after which travelers from France, but also from the Netherlands, Monaco, and Malta will have to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving on British soil.

David Samuel thus started his long journey back at dawn from the city of Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France, 730 km from Paris, where he was spending his holidays.

"I absolutely had to go home before my forties so as not to find myself limited in my movements. Impossible to go outside, to work, to see friends or family, to play sports ... It would be really too inconvenient. ", explains the financial analyst to France 24 before boarding the Eurostar at 13:13.

Soaring ticket prices

Two types of passengers flock to the border post installed on the first floor of the Gare du Nord: those who had planned to travel for a long time on August 14, who have the feeling of having won the lottery, and those who had to buy a last minute ticket.

For the latter, the bill is salty. David Samuel thus paid his Eurostar 240 euros ticket, to which he had to add a last minute Aix-Paris TGV journey at 80 euros. It's still cheaper than flights to the UK, whose prices have also exploded with fares to 500 euros.

Several passengers who already had Eurostar tickets brought forward their travel dates. Unlike SNCF tickets, which can be exchanged free of charge until August 31 due to the health crisis, Eurostar passengers must pay to change their travel date.

This is particularly the case of Sophie Holmes, a Franco-British teacher who was visiting her grandparents in Orleans, 130 km south of Paris, when she learned of the implementation of the quarantine.

"Initially, I had to return on Saturday August 22, but I had heard about the possibility of quarantine and I had therefore already modified my tickets to take the Eurostar on August 15", explains the young woman to France 24.

"So I had to change my tickets a second time as a matter of urgency. This morning I packed my bags and left in 30 minutes. The quarantine may be justified but they should have given more time for the people who have to work can plan their return and avoid the two weeks of isolation, ”adds Sophie Holmes.

A quarantine to erase the mistakes of the past?

The establishment of a quarantine of all passengers from France was not unexpected. A similar measure had already been imposed by London on travelers from Spain since June 26, and Belgium since August 8. London is basing its decision on the latest health data, according to which there was a 66% increase in new cases of Covid-19 in France in the week of August 7 to 13.

But the fact that the announcement was made late in the evening is the straw that broke the camel's back for James Auger, a Briton who lives in Paris and absolutely has to make it to London this weekend.

"This announcement at 11 pm is a strange tactic of the government to make it more difficult to organize people who want to return before quarantine," said the father with his two children.

"If the government had taken the coronavirus seriously from the start in March, we would not have had this death toll [41,000 officially dead, Editor's note] nor this massive recession. And now, they are overreacting to make people forget the fact that 'they are incompetent,' adds James Auger, who plans to return to France in a few days.

Plans that could be further complicated by the French threat to impose a quarantine on people coming from the United Kingdom as a reprisal.

A British decision that we regret and which will lead to a reciprocal measure, hoping for a return to normal as soon as possible @Djebbari_JB https://t.co/6pA0qDQun6

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