A nurse has hailed the "best present ever" after travel rule changes meant she could embrace her family after 20 months apart.
Elaine Burt, 55, was able to hug her sister and nephews after the trio touched down in Glasgow Airport this morning as some of the first to arrive in Scotland following the restriction change.
The rule easing meant that, from 4am this morning, travellers from the US and EU who have been double vaccinated will not have to quarantine upon arrival in Scotland.
“It’s been so long … it’s been really hard, but we’re here, we made it”, Mrs Bolger told reporters as she arrived in the country to visit her mother Jean, who has been unwell.
She said: “We booked the flight just a week past Monday. It’s been a rollercoaster trying to get here.
“We still have to test on day two but it’s great, absolutely amazing, I didn’t think I would see this day.
“We’ve done everything by the book just to get here and we’re just excited.”
Ms Burt, from Newton Mearns, said after the reunion: “It was an absolute relief, it just felt as if it was never going to happen and it’s just the best present ever.
“We never thought it was going to happen with all of the different restrictions, but we left it to the last minute to see what was possible.”
They were among the first to enjoy a relaxation of rules that changed as of 4am on Monday, allowing people who have had both jabs in the US and EU to travel to Scotland without isolating for 10 days.
The Scottish Government made the decision public last week just hours after UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the relaxation of measures for England.
Subject to countries remaining on the amber travel list, travellers will no longer have to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival in Scotland.
The change does not apply to people who have been in France in the 10 days prior to their arrival, due to concerns over the Beta variant of coronavirus.
Travellers need to show a negative test before departure and produce a negative PCR test result on day two after arrival.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel