Many Canadians still travelling during the pandemic despite headaches and obstacles

With the constant changing travels rules, taking an international flight during the pandemic has been challenging for most, but many Canadians are still going abroad.  

Including David Oulton who went to Mexico last year for vacation and will be going back to the sunny destination in just over a week. He says it’s difficult to keep up with the rules.

“You don’t even know what the obstacles are sometimes. If you leave on a Monday and come back on a Friday, the rules can change Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday," he said.

"There could be a new set of rules what day you come back.”

Despite the potential roadblocks, he says it’s still worth it for him to get away.

“I’m just excited to get out of here and get some vitamin D and warm weather,” said Oulton.

“It becomes a case of balancing safety and medical health with your mental health and so to me it’s important to find that balance and I’m willing to deal with the obstacles and put up with all the hassle of it for the sake of my sanity.”

Elizabeth Chorney-Booth recently returned from Scotland on business. She says luckily, her company did the heavy lifting to determine what protocols she needed to follow before arriving at her destination country. But that wasn’t the case for everyone.

“I think a lot of people are having a lot of trouble just finding out what they need to know," she said.

"When I was in line to check in, there were people who didn’t know you needed a PCR test.”

Jody Robbins, a travel expert who runs a blog called Travels with Baggage, says while its exciting for people to be able to go abroad for business or pleasure, some are forgetting that things still aren’t back to normal yet. She says it’s crucial people constantly check government websites and credible sources for information related to travel before they leave, during their trip and before then return.

“During this whole pandemic it’s like, you get these snippets, these little windows when you think it’s just safe to travel and it’s really who knows because the pandemic is not over and it’s very easy to get caught.”

She says a recent example would be when foreigners, including Canadians, got stranded in South Africa because of the Omicron variant. 

CTV News has been speaking to a representative with Canada’s women’s junior field hockey team who were stuck there and eventually had to receive a third-country COVID-19 testing exemption from the federal government to return home. 

For all Canadians returning from abroad, except for the United States, a COVID-19 test is also required when they land. 

Oulton says for people who do feel comfortable travelling, it’s better to accept that there will be challenges and just embrace it to minimize frustration.

“Years previous I’d go away and disconnect and whatever happens at home happens at home and you deal with it in two weeks time when you get back," he said.

"Now I’m just very much prepared every day to check, sometimes twice a day, check the news updates, check the rules, what kind of test do you need and what kind of time lines do you need.”

The Canada Border Services Agency is reminding international travellers to download and use the app ArriveCAN before coming to Canada as it is mandatory. The app enables travellers to enter their information like their COVID-19 test results and upload their documents to ensure travellers are adhering to the COVID-19 travel restrictions.