I just interviewed Christina Bernstein, an American vacationing in Paris, and discovered she caught Covid on her last day there. Fortunately, she’s fully vaccinated, boosted and had very mild symptoms. I asked Christina all kinds of questions and she was kind enough to share her experience, including how much extra she spent on Covid precautions. Below are some of her tips as well as her video interview. You can also listen to my podcast also embedded below.
“Americans traveling to France should be patient and plan to spend at least 100 euros per person on the pass sanitaire, antigen tests upon arrival and prior to departure, and random boxes of masks, wipes and sanitizer. Instead of bringing back fancy chocolates and wine, consider a box of 5 antigen tests for 20 euros as they seem to be sold out in the USA!”
Costs she incurred:
-$135 for a $2k trip insurance policy with covid quarantine coverage.
-$39 for a video call covid test prior to the trip.
-36 euros at the pharmacy to “convert” the California vax card to le passe sanitaire. You must do this right away in order to eat inside a restaurant, which is advisable as this week it is about 0 degrees Celsius at night.
-20 euros for a box of 5 autotests at the pharmacy, I purchased these just to be a good person and take a test prior to going indoors and meeting my friends everyday.
-29 euros to take the official pharmacy rapid antigen test prior to travel back and of course now I must wait five days or so and pay another 29 euros for the rapid test unless I can find a tent that doesn’t charge us non-French people. There are covid tents around the Louvre and near the Hôtel de Ville (Paris city hall) that I may check out.
There’s very good Covid information site from our US Embassy.
Good info, thx. The $135 for a $2k trip insurance policy with covid quarantine coverage is not a cost of her health issues in France. Even if she had no health issues, she would have incurred the insurance cost. But good she had it!