People who are leaving Canada to travel overseas have to get tested for COVID at the airport. It doesn’t seem to matter if they are vaccinated or not. The test costs $200 per person. This means $800 for a family of four tacked on to the cost of the trip.
There are people for whom this is an insignificant sum and they will continue to travel as much as they used to. But for the majority it’s not insignificant. They will travel less.
Access to all forms of mobility – be they physical or symbolic – is one of the markers of inequality in liquid capitalism. Mobility is for the new nobility.
N.B. I’m talking about airports because you still can’t travel out of Canada in your car. That’s considered more dangerous than flying and hasn’t been allowed for over a year.
Clarissa's Blog 
I just came back from Italy.
My Covid-tested flight required me to bring a negative Covid test from the last 3 days, and to take a Covid test before the flight at the airport. When I arrived I had to take another Covid test before I could leave the airport. That’s THREE Covid tests before I could see Rome.
The first test was free from Walgreens. The other two were something like $20 – $25 each. I had to take another Covid test before I could leave, that’s $60 – $75 in Covid tests. There’s no excuse for making a Covid test $200.
Despite the misery at the airport Rome was lovely. I was told that the lines, even for people who had tickets like I did, were much longer pre-Covid.
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A friend of mine is also on her way to Italy. So is one of my colleagues. Why is it Italy, I wonder?
I’m really happy and also green with envy that you traveled.
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Italy had a very bad time with Covid. Almost everyone on the streets had masks on. In the open air!
I did that trick of putting my mask on only the lower part of my face (I’m vaccinated) until museum workers noticed. Imagine climbing all of the steps of the Colosseum in the heat and masked!
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“Mobility is for the new nobility”
I really get the impression that European governments (especially the British government) are in a coordinated plan to destroy the tourism sector (Great and Klaus hate that ordinary people can take recreational trips). Constantly changing plans and unpredictable new inconveniences are being thrown up all over the place – they’re obviously trying to send the message ‘travel – more bother than it’s worth’…
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You might be correct, the British upper classes hate the idea that working class people can go on cheap European vacations. The Daily Mail and other tabloids love to have stories about drunk and rowdy working class people on holiday in Spain or the Mediterranean, complete with pictures of fat guys or women with bleached blond hair and bikinis. It disgusts them that ordinary working class people can go on an overseas holiday, since that used to be exclusive for wealthy people
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“tabloids love to have stories about drunk and rowdy working class people on holiday in Spain or the Mediterranean”
To be fair I’m not crazy about British tourists, especially younger ones (loud, drunk and obnoxious with no idea of how loud and drunk and obnoxious they are) but now I feel like hugging the next one I see (and hoping they don’t vomit on me in return).
I’m kind of determined to go abroad this summer though I’m not sure of the timing or location yet. Right now Bulgarian Black Sea coast is in the lead (haven’t been in years and I’m unaccountably fond of it).
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Reply to “Prestige of Mobility”
The last time I ent to Canada, it was by train. Is that considered like a car or like a flight?
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Sorry…went to Canada.
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Only Canadian citizens and residents are allowed to enter Canada at the moment… our borders are still closed.
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We are citizens. But it’s weird because, apparently, you can’t travel between Quebec and Nova Scotia. It’s gotten so confusing.
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That’s a good question. I don’t know if trains have resumed. I need to find out.
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I’m glad I got to travel when I was young. It’s not looking good for ever getting that chance again.
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