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6 NEW TRAVEL MISTAKES TO AVOID (Thanks To This Pandemic!)
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Jan 28, 2025
There are 6 brand new travel mistakes to avoid as a result of the pandemic, which has had an impact and changed the way and things we need to do when we travel, be it domestically, cross State and certainly internationally. Be it land-based, river or ocean cruising so much has changed and there are a number of travel mistakes that travellers could easily make. I review and talk about the key travel mistakes to avoid from here on - even of you planning to travel within your own state, country or internationally . Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video. Follow Tips For Travellers on: - Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge - Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers - Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge #TravelMistakes #CruisingTips #CruiseCabinTips 00:00 Start 00:40 Assume Things Same 02:18 Self Booking 03:55 Back To Normal Ways
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thinking of traveling whether it's
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domestically or internationally anytime
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in the next year there's a whole bunch
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of watch outs need to know
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and mistakes that other travelers are
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making that you need to avoid if you are
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thinking
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of traveling during this whole pandemic
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situation that we find ourselves in i'm
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gary bemidge this is tips for travellers
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i want to talk about things you really
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need to know some of the things i'm
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going to discuss
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include should you be using a travel
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agent or self
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booking how your whole packing situation
0:26
can change
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the big mistakes that people are making
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that you need to avoid
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and probably the single most important
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thing
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you need to think about plan for and
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know exactly what you're going to do
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when you're traveling in the current
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situation
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the first key watch out is when you're
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thinking of traveling is assume
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that everything will change and change
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really quickly so even if you can go to
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a certain country
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today or to a certain state today that
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could change
0:53
overnight and we've seen lots of
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examples happen where
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it's probably fine to fly to particular
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country like spain for example
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out of the uk but within hours all of
1:01
that could change
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so countries are constantly evolving and
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looking at what they see as
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safe places to travel whether you have
1:08
to have quarantine whether you go in
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whether you have quarantine when you
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return home
1:12
and it changes really fast i've had
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friends get on a plane heading off to
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spain for example they've arrived
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learned that the uk government was about
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to bring in
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quarantining at midnight they've got on
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the plane and come back because they
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didn't want to
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go into 14 day quarantine so when you
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think about traveling
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assume that things can change really
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quickly and it's really really important
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that you stay on top of all the advice
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you need to really stay well connected
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to the news what i recommend you do is
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try and book as last minute
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as you possibly can you also like to get
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really good deals
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nowadays by booking last minute so
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you're booking when you know that the
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chances of
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everything going smoothly is pretty
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smooth it's really hard now
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to book in advance because we just don't
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know what the situation is going to be
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secondly though if you book even if
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you're booking way ahead is ensure that
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everything is
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cancelable refundable or movable so if
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things change you can
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move things around without any penalties
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the good news is a lot of
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providers whether it's airlines or
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cruise lines or hotels
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are making it much easier to move things
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but absolutely critical
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make sure that things are cancelable
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refundable and easy to move so you can
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basically go with the flow the second
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big watch out
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is that if you do your own booking which
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i used to like to do i'd like to put my
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hotel separately my flight separately
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my accommodation separately whatever it
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was separately
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one of the things you might want to
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decide is don't do that and book it all
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through a travel agent
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the reason being that if you have to
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change things it becomes very
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complicated because it's four or five
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different contacts calls
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to change things if you've booked
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everything through a travel agent it's
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one call one email
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and you can sit back and let them get on
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with everything you don't have to sit on
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phone lines for five hours six hours to
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try and get through to change flights
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it takes an enormous amount of stress
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out and it makes things so much simpler
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so even if you're
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a sort of person that normally likes to
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pick and mix and choose your own thing
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i strongly recommend that you book
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through a travel agent i've
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seen examples now what i'm doing with
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all my travels
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over this period of time is using a
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travel agent to make it simple the great
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news is also particularly if you're
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abroad and you have connectivity issues
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or there's time difference issues with
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that one call that one email you can
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basically relax
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keep calm and know that it happens it's
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been a great plus in the past when i'm
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traveling when there's been lots of
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disruptions i've been able to contact
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the agency at that time was monday
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cruising i could then sit back relax go
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to the beach
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while everyone else was scurrying around
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and i knew that they were sorting out
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all my problems
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so seriously think about using a travel
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agent at this point of time
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they can manage all of the changes all
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of the refunds and
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basically very importantly link to my
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first point is
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make sure that you know exactly the
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situation as it changes
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they will keep on top of all those
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potential cancellations and changes in
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quarantine rules or whatever
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the third watch out that i have and this
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is a really really important one
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as well is don't assume that everything
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has returned to normal i think one of
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the big mistakes that people are making
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is they assume that everything
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see when it comes to travel is back to
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normal there are three critical things
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that you need to bear in mind first of
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all you need to absolutely
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check and make sure that everything is
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open just because the lockdowns are
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ending
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it doesn't just mean that everything is
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open some things may have even gone
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bankrupt
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or are just simply not opening because
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for whatever reason
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they aren't able to the government
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regulations that country aren't letting
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them open
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the beaches may not be open you may have
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to book to go to the beaches you might
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have to book a time slot at the pool
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the attractions may not all be open they
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or you might have to have certain
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restrictions before you can go in to see
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the sites of the museum that you wanted
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to see the theme parks may not be
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entirely open only certain rides might
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be open
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so there's a multitude of things you
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need to make sure that are open before
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you actually
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decide that is where you want to go
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because you may not be able to do what
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you really want to do
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secondly things may not run as you
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used to expect them to or maybe
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very different so for example many
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islands in the caribbean
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some states in the u.s some countries
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around the world require you to do a
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curving 19 test
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within 72 hours of heading there for
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example other countries
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so for example greece you have to
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register online 24 hours before you go
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you get a special
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qr code which you have to show when you
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check in so
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hundreds and thousands of people have
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missed their flights
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to greece because they didn't understand
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that whole process didn't get the qr
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codes
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or didn't do the paperwork correctly so
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you need to assume that things are going
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to run differently and it's going to be
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really different requirements
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and the third thing which is as
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important of all those is
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the protocols and rules may not suit you
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so for example even today that i'm
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recording as france introduced a whole
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bunch of new rules around paris and
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other parts
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of the country where you had to start
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wearing masks outdoors some countries
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require you to wear them on the beach
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whatever that may be so you might find
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some of the protocols
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just don't suit you because you don't
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want to wear masks you don't wear a mask
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or you don't want to spend money to go
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on a vacation where you need to wear
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masks
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there may be really different and
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complicated protocols one of the most
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dramatic ones we've seen that for
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example
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in cruising where cruise lines are doing
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things like they've removed buffets
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there's no
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self-service anymore you have to book to
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go into certain venues there's controls
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on how many people can be around the
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pool
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in some countries around the world for
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example spain you have to book a
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specific time and
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spot on the beach before you can go so
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you might actually find that the rules
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and regulations the protocols
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don't really appeal to you so you might
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be heading off on a vacation thinking
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it's how it used to be
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but the way it works is different you
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need to be absolutely sure that those
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protocols
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and the way it works you understand and
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suit the way that you want to travel
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another key watch out is around travel
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insurance or what it does and doesn't
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cover
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if you travel against the advice of your
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country so if your foreign office
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or your state department has recommended
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not traveling to a country and you
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travel there your travel insurance will
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be invalidated
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there are some places where you can take
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out specific insurance for that but it's
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very limited and quite expensive
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very importantly i also recommend when
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you look at travel insurance first of
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all
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make sure that it gives you covered 19
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covers if anything happens related to
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cover 19 you're covered
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also make sure that you take out travel
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insurance when you book
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so that it includes council for any
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reasons that's very important that you
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make sure you have
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in there that you can cancel for any
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reason but also make sure you take our
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travel insurance
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which covers longer than your initial
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period
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so if you were due to end your holiday
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on a certain date but something happens
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and you find you're quarantined
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in a country or you're stranded in a
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country for whatever reason or you can't
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move out of a country that your travel
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insurance is covering you
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and all of those things that are
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happening after your travel
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really important don't travel without
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travel insurance because the on costs
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with everything that's going on could be
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very very large
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the other aspect with travel insurance
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is with lots of bankruptcies and
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companies closing down having travel
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insurance should hopefully cover you
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if your car hire your hotel or the
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resort you're planning to go to goes
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bust
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and you can't go there so really really
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important when everything's so unsettled
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make sure you travel with travel
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insurance and you know what it covers
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another key watcher that i have and this
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is something that a lot of people
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encountered when they got caught up in
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the original lockdowns at the beginning
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is make sure that you have a good secure
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way to communicate with trusted people
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the most important thing is to make sure
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that you have
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a roaming plan for your mobile phone so
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wherever you're going to
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you're able to check online with data
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the latest news the latest advice
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but importantly you're able to
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communicate with your agent with your
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family with your friends
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or whoever you need to do really
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important that you have that
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cover because you can't necessarily rely
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on wi-fi where you are
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also what i would recommend is focus on
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trusted sources so a lot of people
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look at a lot of social media there's
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lots of misinformation so when you are
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abroad
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when you're traveling make sure that
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you're focusing on key
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new sites government sites so the latest
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information you're giving is genuine
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information not all the kind of hype
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that comes through social media
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the next key watch out is around packing
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and making sure that you're packing not
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just for your vacation
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but on the assumption that things could
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go wrong you might get caught up
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with in quarantining you might find that
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you have to self-isolate for whatever
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reason or you find things get canceled
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or you're kind of stuck in a place so
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make sure that you when you pack you
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think about what if i'm away for
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extended period of time there's some
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really obvious things
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that you should do so if you take
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prescription medicines make sure that
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you're covering yourself for many many
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weeks ahead
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or perhaps you can take a copy of your
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prescription so you know
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or you can work with doctors there with
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what you need also i recommend you take
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some kind of first aid kit where you
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pack all the sort of things
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that deal with daily upsets whether it's
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stomach upsets
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toothache headaches upset stomachs
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whatever it is
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that you normally may suffer from at
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home make sure you take first aid kit so
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if you have any
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bumps or scrapes you can deal with that
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critically important
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take with you a dental repair kit one of
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the things that happened when people
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away and it happened during the lockdown
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is dental practices were closed in many
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countries so if you broke a tooth or a
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filling fell out
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you basically had to wait and couldn't
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get any
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dental care so having a dental repair
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kit really really important
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it actually happened to me during
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lockdown where a tooth broke and i
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couldn't see a dentist for
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months and i was really reliant on a
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dental kit even at home but certainly
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when you're abroad
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traveling make sure you've got one of
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those again make sure you've packed lots
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of masks lots of hand sanitizer
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disinfecting wipes and also pack
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entertainment so if you've got a tablet
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or whatever packet full of books or
10:25
shows downloaded so if you do find that
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your holiday is extended or you're
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waiting around
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you're kind of well prepared for that
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situation for me one of the biggest
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watch outs and probably the
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most important issue of all is
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understand what will happen and what you
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will do
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if when you're away traveling you start
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getting symptoms of
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coronavirus and you find that you then
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forced into some sort of lockdown so
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understand for example
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if you're traveling into a country that
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requires cover 19 tests or a state that
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requires not cover 90 tests what
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actually happens
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if you fail that test will you have to
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pay for your own isolation your own
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medical fees if you're flying into going
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to a country that
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requires quarantining what sort of
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quarantining is it
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so for example if you're going to
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australia there are limits on who can go
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in but still
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you have to pay for your own
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quarantining in a government facility
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which is a hotel other countries you
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self-isolate
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if you're going on a cruise and you fail
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the cover 90 test or further health
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screening
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what happens who pays for what what do
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you have to do so really really
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important
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understand what happens if you get
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symptoms or you feel ill
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when you're away so you understand what
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your plan is going to be
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and you're prepared for that if you're
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planning to travel
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with its domestically within your own
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country between states or
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internationally
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travel has got much more complicated
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there's lots of mistakes people making
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lots of watch outs and need to knows
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before
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you plan hopefully this has helped you
11:54
give you a sense of the most important
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things
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that i think that you should be focusing
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on certainly what i've been focusing on
12:00
as i go out traveling i have loads more
12:02
travel
12:03
videos and cruising videos tips and
12:05
advice so why don't you watch another
12:07
one of those
12:08
right now
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