Travelling to Spain 2

[BeachLife]

Hi All starting this thread up to discuss how things are in GA and Spain in General. Life under the decree's and impact of quarantines and how it is in general in "our" area.

Please - lets not discuss COVID and related theories / conspiracies and data. There is plenty of other sources for that kind of info and debate.

Having just returned I am really concerned about how the dynamics of a visit out there has changed, the mandatory masks make it pretty uncomfortable just to go for a walk around,lots of confusion still. I like to take a brisk exercise walk eah morning before it gets too hot and apparently I dont need a mask for "exercise" however if I am strolling thats not exercise and I need a mask on.

I have mentioned beaches before and how SP/Elche council have not done anything to re-instate the beach so its very narrow in places - also the overspill car-park has been closed and roped off (the big hill opposite the island by Millas) so there will be pandemonium for parking even without UK tourists this August

[John H]

Nice one BeachLife, thank you, this subject, information about the local area, is exactly what this forum is all about....the internet is full of information on the virus and other related topics, but there's nowhere to go to find out what it's like in GA at the moment.

Regards all

John

[chris and jackie]

Hi Beachlife, did you go further afield to Santa Pola etc as interested to learn what beaches were like there and if any facilities like beach bars, toilets etc open anywhere.

[BeachLife]

Yes - we went up to Albir and stayed for two nights. Highly recommended, largely Dutch and Belgian expats on holiday and judging by the cars parked up loads had driven down rather than flown. Drove into Benidorm on the way back which was really quiet (just before the UK quarantine so it will be worse now)

Beachbars - there aren't any really locally. There are two on the coast road one is called "Rockys" and it a dog friendly beach bar and "on the beach" a bit further down the road. Only Spanish using them and On the beach in particular wasnt using much social distancing. Driving down towards Torre - we used the Guardamar beach. That was good, parking was OK but had to be a few blocks back and the beach was fine no issies getting on and finding a safe space, the bars and restaurants were all open on the prom so it was nice.

We did not go further south than La Zenia again quiet streets but fairly busy beach.

Back to Santa Pola - all the kiosks are open on the East road out and the beaches are quiet and parking even on the front line road was pretty easy.

Best for us was our days on Urbanova beach (there wasnt that much aircraft traffic to bother you) - There are sunbeds there but you have to have them well back from the waters edge to allow for the Polica Local to come past on their Quads !

Nice bars at the back are all open. Parking difficult at the weekends but not bad in the week - This may be changed now that august is here

[Spurs]

I went last week the beaches were open but only allowed to park for 4 hours  . I didn’t see a beach bar but the restaurants and bars are ok basically you have to wear a mask as soon as you leave house ,in a car if anyone else is with you , in all the shops bars and restaurants, you can take it off when sitting down but must put it back on to go to bar or toilet etc. Didn’t see any public toilets open anywhere.
Airport was fine except from the masks for 5 hours end to end no restaurants or bars were open in Alicante airport but take out coffee bars were and some shops Paperwork to arrive and leave was easy , temp check on arrival and on leaving and another one at Stansted . Now in day 8 of my quarantine

[Spurs]

Interesting but good to see someone is checking a mate of mine who returned from Spain a few days ago got a phone call from the home office today on the landline number he gave on his uk entry form to check he was there and in quarantine. I’m 10 days in and haven’t had one yet so I guess they are random ,but good to know they are taking it seriously

[Derek]

Call divert surely makes this a nonsense.

Derek

[Spurs]

Maybe call divert dosent help but they can also track your mobile and I guess as most people like myself will naturally abide by the rules I guess it’s better than nothing

[gaveteran]

Hi Spurs, Reading you review I wondered... no snark intended as I gather I am getting a reputation... how long were you here for? It just seems such a chore? If you read your summary back, it hardly sounds like a holiday...but perhaps you had business here?

[Spurs]

Hi GA veteran I only went because my neighbours reported I had a water leak from the tap in my front garden , it was a real pain I had to chop about a six inch square out of the wall to get a compression fitting on the pipe to seal it. . I wasn’t planning to go until Sept and now probably won’t go again til Oct or nov When I went there was no quarantine but they imposed it while I was there. I was happy to accept the  change of rules as I suspected it might happen i weighed up the risks before going and figured it was probably ok. It was a bit of a relief to get there and see it was all ok as I had not been since early feb which is the longest I’ve ever left it in 20 years and obviously didn’t go in March April or June and July as we had originally planned.
I stayed 8 days only because the fights worked out cheaper that way so I guess not really a holiday but it was ok

[steve watson]

Hi all, has anybody heard of someone having any symptoms of the Covid-19 after flying home and quarantining From Alicante ??
Thanks

[Spurs]

Well I made it that’s my 14 days quarantine done . Been for a walk today it was nice. Steve in answer to your question I haven’t heard of anyone having symptoms after flying home and there been a few on here done the trip.
The infection rate around Alicante is very low compared to other places and in GA it is particularly low there were a couple of suspect cases while I was there but it seems it was 2 people in one house and they had been to a club in Santa Pola where there were some cases

[chris and jackie]

Anyone there at the moment like to say what it’s like there in terms of many people about, any tourists from outside Spain, are business still open etc?

[Alicante Holiday Villas]

GA is quite busy at the moment, but it is not as busy as it obviously normally should be at this time of year. But everything is open!

[wilson]

Hi all, has anybody heard of someone having any symptoms of the Covid-19 after flying home and quarantining From Alicante ??
Thanks

Steve the issue is quite complex, myself and the wife have both displayed the identified symptoms on 3 occasions since March, we have via the employers had the test on each occasion which has fortunately come back negative, a recent antibody test also negative. The mild symptoms are very similar to seasonal coughs/ colds even hay fever which complicates the issue, which is why even removing the worried well brigade that millions have been tested with only 10s of thousands being positive. Add onto that with more community testing of people not displaying symptoms coming back as positive, the latest review suggests up to 40% of positive people are asymptomatic. Lastly bar immediate family or trusted persons no one is aware that we were tested etc. I dont think people are advertising the fact they had it for obvious reasons.