Icelandair aircraft in flight.
Icelandair
A double dose of Pfizer’s finest in her system and her wanderlust fit to burst, Tamara Freeland says she was “this close” to booking a long-awaited summer vacation to Iceland on June 21, when the Government of Canada announced that fully vaccinated Canadians would be spared from both post-travel quarantine and Day 8 testing as of July 5.
Requiring only a vaccination certificate to explore the volcano-strewn Nordic nation, which lifted all domestic COVID restrictions on June 26, there was only one thing standing in Freeland’s way: The enduring federal advisory to “avoid non-essential travel outside Canada until further notice.”
“On one hand, the quarantine changes suddenly made travel possible for me,” the 50-something resident of Oakville, Ont., says. “On the other hand, the government was telling me not to travel.” Throw in pandemic horror stories about stranded travellers, lost trip deposits and withheld refunds, and Freeland says she “didn’t know what to think.”
The turning point came when Freeland phoned Icelandair customer service later that day. In short order, she was directed to a barcode-based website for booking the COVID test she’s required to take before returning to Canada, and was informed that the airline would rebook her flight back to Canada, free of charge, should she test positive.
“At that point, it seemed rude not to visit,” she says, laughing.
Icelandair’s new rebooking policy, it turns out, is just the tip of the iceberg. Now that Canada has joined scores of other countries in gradually relaxing travel restrictions as vaccination rates rise, airlines, hotels, cruise lines and tour operators around the world are bending over backward to entice Canadians to dust off their passports.
No vax, no service
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