How Will Brexit Affect My Holiday?

I know many of us are a bit sick & tired of hearing about Brexit. There seems to be no escape. It’s on every TV news bulletin, all the newspapers and splashed all over social media. Even though we all have an opinion about leaving, remaining, deal or no deal for many it’s getting tiresome.

I have to say, however that many of the people I’ve booked cruises for over the past few weeks have asked the question of what will happen after Brexit? There is genuine concern out there.  Unfortunately I’m no political commentator and without knowing whether we will leave with or without a deal or even if we end up leaving at all it’s hard to say. There are things that definitely will change without a deal including your passport validity. Let’s have a look at the official advice from the FCO:

Rules for passports

The rules for travel to most countries in Europe change if the UK leaves the European Union (EU) with no deal.

After 12 April 2019:

1. You should have at least 6 months left on your passport from your date of arrival. This applies to adult and child passports.
2. If you renewed a passport before it expired, up to 9 extra months may have been added to your new passport’s expiry date. Any extra months on your passport over 10 years may not count towards the 6 months that should be remaining for travel to most countries in Europe.

The new rules will apply to passports issued by the UK, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey.

List of countries affected

The new rules will apply for travel to and between countries in the Schengen area. These are:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland

Travel to other EU countries

The new rules do not apply when travelling to Ireland.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania are not in the Schengen area. You should check the entry requirements for these countries.

Another thing to consider if we leave with no deal is that the EHIC medical card will no longer be valid. In reality everyone should travel with adequate travel insurance regardless of the EHIC agreement as it only covers for basic emergency medical care and not things like flying you home etc.

And what about mobile phone roaming charges? There’s currently a system in place so you can travel in the EU and won’t be charged extra for roaming – so you can use your mobile for calls, text and data like you would in the UK. If there’s no deal that wouldn’t be guaranteed any more, so we could see the return of roaming charges. If we do get a deal then the current system would stay in place until January 2021.

A couple of other things to consider if we leave with no deal. Your driving license may not be valid in Europe. You would need to purchase an International Driving permit (for a nominal fee of £5.50). Also any pet passports that are in place may also no longer be valid. Duty free limits would come back in to play, restricting the amount of tobacco and alcohol we can bring home PLUS any goods valued over £390.

Only time will tell what transpires over Brexit. My fortnightly blog means that the next time I write to you we SHOULD no longer be in the E.U. Watch this space…….