A sweaty, heaving dance floor, crowds of strangers pressing up against each other fighting to get a drink at the bar – without masks.
Key points:
- EU travel is possible with a pass that proves if someone has been vaccinated, received a negative test result, or recovered from COVID
- Rapid antigen testing has allowed some venues to reopen while people wait to get fully vaccinated
- Experts say Australia is well placed being six months behind to learn from places like the US and EU
This is the level of “normal” Sybella Stevens returned to in Berlin after holidaying in Portugal and Italy earlier this month.
The 35-year-old decided to stick out the pandemic in Germany where she has been living since 2014, despite fears of an uncertain separation from her family in Sydney when the pandemic struck.
“It was a really tough decision because everything was so scary and unpredictable. I was on the verge of coming back,” she said.
Now, having been fully vaccinated since July, she is among the Australian expats who are living what’s been dubbed the ‘hot vax summer’.
She is having the kind of highly anticipated post-lockdown summer of freedom, filled with chance encounters, reconnections, restaurants and parties, that Australians on the east coast are dreaming of.
“Life is a lot more normal. In Lisbon, you just showed your COVID pass and it was all very relaxed. It was the same in Venice and Rome,” Ms Stevens said.
“It was very swift; everywhere you went they would just scan your QR code to validate it and then you would go through.”
European member states are allowing travellers to enter with a digital EU COVID Certificate, which serves as proof that a person has been vaccinated, recently received a negative COVID test, or is…