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OBSOLETE COVID THREAD My Brain Hurts. Help with math?

OBSOLETE COVID THREAD

Anniesantiago

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My brain is fried and for some reason I can't figure this out.

We arrive in Madrid on April 13 at 9:15 am.
I am supposed to fill out that QR Code thing 48 hours before we arrive in Spain.
I am in Portland, Oregon .
Spain is 9 hours ahead of us so when it's 9:15 pm here it is 6:15 am in Madrid.
Soooo... WHEN do I fill out the QR Code paper in Portland before I fly?
Help?

::crying:::
 
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Don’t stress the “48 hours” part! The process takes minutes and simply needs to be done prior to checking in, so you have plenty of time to accomplish it and don’t have to do it the moment it becomes available.

But to answer your question, 12:15am in Oregon would be 9:15am in Spain.
 
Right, but so then I go back 2 days (48 hours) so 9:15 am on the 13th in Spain is 12:15 am on the 11th in Oregon? So basically anytime during the day of the 11th I can fill it out?
 
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Annie, I was doing exactly the same in Sydney - trying to work out when I need to get a PCR test done so that the collection was within a 72 hour window of arriving in Lisbon.

Rather than messing with time zones, I found it easiest to use the flight itinerary using the flying time - I know it is 14 hours to Dubai, then 17 hours layover, then another 8 hours to Lisbon. So I added up those figures, plus the time to get the test done and reported, plus a few hours to get to the airport.

Now I've found that all I need to do is get a PCR test within a certain number of hours of getting on the first flight, so it is much easier.
 
The easy way to do this is to first convert all times to UTC (Greenwich time) then do the sums, and convert back to the appropriate local time. Your phone clock usually has a function to give you how many hours you are behind or ahead of UTC. Or there are online converters.
 
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You will also be blocked from filling it out until you have a seat assignment on the plane. Just know that none of the pieces fit together as they were designed to and there is no recourse or way to make them work. Once you land in Spain, poof, everything falls into place. You can even fill out a paper one that’s sitting there on a table at Barajas if you want. A lot of to do about nothing it turns out. Hope this takes the stress off…
 
I do have my seat assignment so I'll fill the danged thing out later tonight at the airport hotel.
Thanks!
 
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Either use the weather app on your phone or world clock on your phone—you will be able to see current time at your destination
 
I hear you Annie! I am wondering the same.
 
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you will be fine do not worry. Remember one thing Anniesantiago. If I can do it ANYBODY and I mean ANYBODY can do it!!!! Buen camino perigrina. Which camino are you doing?
 
lt56ny said:
you will be fine do not worry. Remember one thing Anniesantiago. If I can do it ANYBODY and I mean ANYBODY can do it!!!! Buen camino perigrina. Which camino are you doing?
Click to expand...
Walking the Aragones (again) and then the Frances (again). lol! Spending Holy Week in Manresa.
 
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You made me laugh! I was doing the same calculation. We leave Ohio by train at 1 am on 23 April, spend some time in DC with our daughter, fly to Iceland, then to London (we are ending up in the UK at the end of our trip). Then we transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick and fly Vueling to Spain. We need to do the QR thingy 48 hours before the Vueling flight…. . I think we will try to do it once we land at Heathrow.
 
Anniesantiago said:
Walking the Aragones (again) and then the Frances (again). lol! Spending Holy Week in Manresa.
Click to expand...
Don't say anything to Perigrina2000 haha, we have been talking about my next camino. I was thinking of doing the Aragones, first time to the CF again then i switched to the Catalan to the Ebro (first time) to the Frances, then I switched to the Catalan to the Aragones to the CF, oh and by the way I am going to probably fly to Barcelona around November 15th. Now I have switched again thinking the Catalan and the Ebro might be too tough to find places to stay getting into December so I have switched again and I think I will do the Aragones to the CF. When I arrive in Barcelona I will take two days there and decide based on weather where I will start the Aragones. Somport, Canfranc or Jaca.
 
It56ny, ADHD mucho ? I think we must share some very distant DNA. I have some % Neanderthal, did they wander all over the Iberian peninsula?
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
The Aragones in late November/early December may be quite difficult, as snow will likely cover the route in Somport then and many of the Albergues will be closed. Doable, but difficult.
 
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Vacajoe said:
The Aragones in late November/early December may be quite difficult, as snow will likely cover the route in Somport then and many of the Albergues will be closed. Doable, but difficult.
Click to expand...
I am learning that it will be challenging for sure and will make any adjustments I need . I hope to be off of the Aragones by about November 23 or 24 at the latest. If I have to start below Somport than i will. I am not going to risk life or frostbite or being lost in a storm for anything. If something happened to me who will be around (besides their mother and she is too new age to say anything) to hassle my daughters to give me a grandchild??????? I have to take care of myself I want that baby even more than I want the Camino and that is saying alottttt. Thanks my friend. Buen camino y buen vida.
 
NINE HOURS difference?? I thought that it was 6 hours.
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
West Coast, Best Coast! . That’s why I made sure to state OREGON in my response. . BTW, for newbie travelers, Spain shares a time zone with France and Germany, NOT Portugal due to Franco’s alliance with Hitler. This makes for very late light in the evening and the reason Spanish nightlife doesn’t really get going until after the 9pm dinner time.
 
You can totally make up your seat assignment when filling out your form before you actually have a seat. Last year I chose 16B… I know I know but just saying.
 
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The betting is that almost for certain whatever you are deeply anxious about for European travel - no one will ever ask for or want a look at

Mostly in Europe - a lot of things are a shrug of the shoulders

If you look like a fleeing refugee atm with a strange passport or no passport atm - expect a few problems

If you look like a western tourist with papers - you’ll be told to go stand there with the boring people

I just went through 4 or 5 border stops in the last couple of days - couple of places they just saw the front of my passport and said - go through - didn’t even look

Had a major police roadblock between Austria and Germany - which put me in full cooperation mode - we were told to all get off the bus - snow on the ground coppers with auto weapons - the doors opened - I was first out the middle door and was yelled at by a group of coppers at the front door to halt - I said in my best frowning non co-operative German ‘WHAT!’

They said in half English - get back on the boooooossh

Eventually we got out of the front door and the first copper said a polite hello - looked at my passport for about 5 seconds and that was it

I had my Covid passport ready - my test certificate ready (48 hours) - didn’t even open it

Spain will be like France I reckon- don’t stress

Don’t stress - handle it as it arises
I got back to Burgundy and went to the supermarket this morning to find that I was about the only person on the planet with a mask - my, how things doth change in a month
 
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Pintohoo said:
The betting is that almost for certain whatever you are deeply anxious about for European travel - no one will ever ask for or want a look at
Click to expand...
The SpTH form is not the same as a EU Digital Covid Certificate or another vaccination certificate. It is mandatory for arrival to Spain by air for those without an EU Digital Covid Certificate.

Spain Travel Health

www.spth.gob.es
 
I fly to Spain fairly frequently and every time - every time! - they have checked and scanned everything when I arrived….
 

I’ve no doubt T

My experience here is that I’ve had about 2 bazillion mandatory things I’ve been told to have and about 3 have ever been asked for.

The only things I’ve so far come a gutser with have been unexpected

Like a document you have and they say - get a newer one - we don’t like the colour of that ink

Pffffft!

I’ve taken on the French shoulder shrug with reckless abandon these days. Just deal with stuff as it happens


99% of it is anxious scary stuff because it’s strange IMO, worry kills us - European administration rarely does

I’m far less anxious than I used to be about it all - mostly things happen in a very leisurely way
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
I've been told Spain does not require us to have a PCR test if we have our International vaccine certificate.
I fly on Sunday with Emirates and was worrying about getting the test on Good Friday. From Australia.
Great news for me.
 
Dennis Pack said:
Overthinking is not needed ... if you are flexible and prepared to "go with the flow.
The Camino provides. ❤
Click to expand...
Have you not been on a flight to a Spanish airport since 2020?

Everybody must enter the data of their flight to Spain in an online form. The option to finish this form and submit it appears only 48 hours before the departure of that flight (not its arrival in Spain). You fill in the rest of your mandatory data and you then receive a code in your email. If you don't show this code at the departure gate, there is no flight to Spain and there is no Camino.
 
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A couple of points since the Spanish airport code system and online form may stay with us for a while.

As others have said already, the mandatory SpTH (Spain Travel Health) app does not perform checks on all of your data. It does not check whether what you enter as your flight number for the flight to Spain, as your arrival date in Spain or as your seat number are correct and corresponds to the actual flight you booked and will be on. In particular, you can enter any seat number and you will obtain the code, provided your other data are plausible and fulfil the requirements.

The seat number is one of the few data that you can change AFTER you have received the code. Unbelievably perhaps <gasp> and <wry grin>, they rely on you being honest and cooperative. The overwhelming majority of passengers are.

The 48 hour window for entering your last personal details before departure, namely seat number and vaccination or test details, depending on what is mandatory for you, is not of the same importance as the 48 and 24 hour window for Covid-19 negative test results. As far as I can tell, the app releases the option to enter your remaining SpTH data 2 days before the date that you entered as your arrival day in Spain. And as others have indicated, once you have entered everything and pressed 'submit' it is then a matter of minutes before you receive the code by email.

You can start filling in the form as early as you want and finish it between 2 days and 2 minutes before you need to present your SpTH code for the first time at your departure airport in order to be allowed onto the plane.

Depending on where you fly from and what the Spanish requirements for you are at the time of your flight, you will have received either a Fast Control code or a Documental Control code. With a Documental Control code, you are more likely to be checked again after arrival at the Spanish airport than with a Fast Control code where you are more likely and even most likely to be waved through.
 
Last edited:
domigee said:
I fly to Spain fairly frequently and every time - every time! - they have checked and scanned everything when I arrived….
Click to expand...
Hi ya, I can understand that. The French can be the same, but one learns to stop stressing about it . I was lucky to meet a young friend a who races for a living. He’s Ozzie and for French visas for many types of visa one has to go for an interview in Sydney. Doesn’t matter if you are sitting on the steps in Paris - you have to have an appointment and you have to go to Sydney for it . The www site sounds very officious. But one finds out how things really work when something goes wrong or is missing - and that’s where one finds that the people are far more friendly than what the system sounds like.
The young guy got his interview about a week or 2 before the race and when they got to their interviews it was found that the type of visa application was the wrong one and a couple of other things were wrong - he said it was all redone and fixed there at the time and the visas arrived on the last day mail before their flights. After several years here now preparing for my residence permit each year - I’ve learned not to worry- that’s all, just don’t stress it up - everything happens in it’s own good time. I have not heard of any horrible stories about people being put back on the plane if they had a wrong bit of paper and the like for Spain or France - it would be a rare occurrence for someone from somewhere like America or Oz etc I’d say .
crikey - I’m glad my biggest worry is how to ride from Burgundy with just 2 litres of water capacity

I’d need a bottle of wine to understand everything you wrote.

Looking at all those rules - donkey travel is looking very attractive
 
Pintohoo said:
I’d need a bottle of wine to understand everything you wrote.
Click to expand...
Don't worry, you don't have to understand what I wrote. I did not write it with people in mind who live in France and ride from Burgundy. BTW, I had recently the opportunity to watch what happens when entering France from outside of the EU. Everybody's passport was checked. 2 out of every 3 people had their vaccination status checked. Checking was done by official French border agents and they used an app to check the validity of the travellers' QR codes. Lines were longer and moved slower than I remember them from 3 years ago.

So all these anecdotes of I did not get checked there or then or the other time, are just that: anecdotes. If I where to go on a long-distance flight to France, I would not rely on anecdotes that I read on social media. I would want to know what is mandatory for me and for my upcoming flight and I would be careful to comply. Makes life so much easier.

Oh, one last thing: Tourists don't get put back on the plane and sent home again, that is true. They are simply denied boarding in the first place when they arrive ill prepared or ill informed. No need to worry. It's just a few hundred dollars gone down the drain, and the Camino will provide.

Anyway, this thread is about requirements for flights to Spain and not trips on land from or to a region in France for people with EU certificates.
 
Last edited:
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what I wrote
Click to expand...
And I wrote it with two kinds of readers in mind: the very few who might happen to read it and get something useful out of it for their small and easy task of filling in their SpTH form right now, and for those regulars who might remember one or the other bit and can give a shorter helpful reply when similar questions are posted in the next few weeks.

Do any of you remember these weird stories where forum members were made to walk through security and back at their departure airport (in the USA, I think) because the airport staff did not know any workaround for the SpTH seat number issue? Sheesh ....



Also, the SpTH system is unique to Spain. I don't think that any of the other EU countries went for something like this.
 
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And I keep forgetting this: The brand-new and current rules for flights to Spain say that travellers who have an EU vaccination certificate or an equivalent (explanation of what this means are easy to find) do not need to fill in the online form and do not need to get the SpTH code.

So when the next poster says that there was nothing to be done before departure and there were no checks upon arrival, let's establish first whether s/he flew from New York or Sydney or whether it was a flight from Paris or London.
 
Pintohoo said:
I have not heard of any horrible stories about people being put back on the plane if they had a wrong bit of paper and the like for Spain or France - it would be a rare occurrence for someone from somewhere like America or Oz etc I’d say .
Click to expand...
They won’t put you on a plane back, no but they won’t let you get into their country either.
 
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Pintohoo said:
I’ve learned not to worry- that’s all, just don’t stress it up
Click to expand...
It is great that you have brought your stress levels under control.

I find that having reliable information, understanding it, and following the required procedures is the best way to reduce my own worries about travels.
 
Last edited:
C clearly said:
It is great that you have brought your stress levels under control.

I find that having reliable information, understanding it, and following the required procedures is the best way to reduce my own worries about travels.
Click to expand...

Arrh yes, would that not be wonderful.

Last year a few of us were due for our temporary residency to be renewed around the same time.
We all got our strictly specified documents together and 2 of us had our compulsory appointment for interview on one day - another couple had theirs about 2 weeks prior.

First couple went through as expected.

Then the day for the interview for the rest of us came - we dutifully turned up on time - to be told that we have to go away - they don’t do the interview anymore - it’s all online

Of course - they just don’t tell anyone - even people who have traveled hundreds of kilometres



The old shrug of the shoulders trick - Europe is very good at that . Seems to stress some people - one needs to relax to survive here, IMO

The permits came though very fast

But not for the first couple — theirs took almost 6 months - it was - in the system.
 
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@Pintohoo, I see that you recently joined the forum and have not walked a Camino in Spain yet it seems? So welcome and Buen Camino first of all.

Your practical experience appears to be linked to living as a foreign resident in an EU country and to crossing internal land borders. Indeed, compliance with Covid-19 has been largely merely expected of us citizens, without controls at our land borders or the threat of fines. Just as it was the case at the land borders between regions inside a country, for example inside Spain for many months in 2020 and 2021, as you presumably know. Sometimes, when reading forum posts during the past 2 years, I got the impression that international posters could not wrap their minds around the concept of complying voluntarily with legal requirements when they would not be controlled at land borders or when there were no big fines lurking in the background. Such thinking amuses me but makes me a little sad, too.

Flying, ie crossing what is called air borders, whether it’s is an internal international border, for example on a flight from Paris to Madrid, or an external international border, for example on a flight from London to Madrid or from New York to Madrid, is a very different situation in this respect than travelling on a bus from Austria to France.

Are you familiar at all with Spain’s SpTH Health Control Form and system mentioned in the first post of this thread? You may know that filling out this form is still a mandatory requirement for numerous international travellers who fly from a non-EU country to Spain. Without it, travellers will not be allowed boarding in the first place in their home country and even after arrival in Spain they will be shepherded into a dedicated control lane at Madrid airport and can expect random controls of their vaccination documents, as numerous forum members have testified, especially those belonging to the Documental Control category and not to the Fast Control category. You may know that the traveller’s Control category is printed next to the QR code that the traveller receives by email after completion of the online form.
 
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I’m familiar with quite a few things to do with control.
 
Pintohoo said:
I’m familiar with quite a few things to do with control.
Click to expand...
OK, so is it that you don’t know about the Spanish Travel Health form (SpTH) in any detail and you don’t like the name they’ve chosen for their form. FCS - Formulario de Control Sanitario?

Fair enough. I really don’t go much into philosophical opinion pieces, I am more a practical how-does-this-work kind of person. Which is why I must have started more than a dozen of such SpTH forms over the course of the last two years, fearless* that I am, just because I wanted to know how it works and so that I can share what I know with others, in the hope that concrete practical knowledge of the SpTH app might be helpful to them.

Edited to add: I’m not afraid of typing stuff into my computer and of pressing buttons on webpages and of what happens then. The worst that happens is usually that I say “Oops”.
 
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Soooooo… the worry about the QR Code turned out to be much ado about nothing. I filled out the form the night before I left Portland. I received my QR Code immediately. I printed out a hard copy and also put it in my Apple Wallet. I was asked to see it when arriving in Madrid AFTER going through customs. There was a little desk set up outside Customs before you go out the arrival door. They scan your code and you barely have to stop walking it goes so fast. They also asked to see it when boarding my flight from Madrid to Barcelona so don’t get rid of it just because you’ve arrived! Thanks everyone who encouraged me not to worry.

We’re in an apartment in Manresa now recovering from what ended up being a 36 hour journey with about 3 hours of sleep. A week here then on to Zaragoza!
 
Thanks for the info. I am very unfamiliar with these QR codes. So I was a little worried about my arrival in Madrid next month. This info allows me to understand what to expect upon arrival.
 
As an aside, I use the same phraseology - "my brain hurts" - particularly when it comes to numbers (your time problem described is exactly the kind of task I would try to figure out for 25 painful minutes, and fail), although the same thing happened when I tried to learn ASL and to learn tap dancing by Zoom. Whatever part of my brain that is.
 
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“Soooooo… the worry about the QR Code turned out to be much ado about nothing.”

Uh huh -
and that’s Europe generally.

Life will return to normal after a few days of somewhat normal sleep and food- have a lovely time
 
They looked at it with a scanner.
 
Is it necessary to have a PCR test if you have a vaccination certificate? I thought the requirement was one of:
- PCR test or
- Vaccination certificate or
- Proof of recovery?
Thanks
 
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JanedS said:
Is it necessary to have a PCR test if you have a vaccination certificate? I thought the requirement was one of:
- PCR test or
- Vaccination certificate or
- Proof of recovery?
Thanks
Click to expand...
It depends on where you are flying to/from.

Here's Spain's travel site:

Spanish Tourism | Tourist information on Spain | spain.info

Tourist information about Spain: art, culture, museums, monuments, beaches, cities, fiestas, routes, cuisine, natural spaces in Spain | spain.info
travelsafe.spain.info

And this site is very good for up to date requirements:

Visa and Travel Requirements for every destination

apply.joinsherpa.com
 
Thank you Trecile - that’s very helpful
 
Kanga said:
Now I've found that all I need to do is get a PCR test within a certain number of hours of getting on the first flight, so it is much easier.
Click to expand...
I too am travelling from Australia and my understanding is that a PCR is not necessarily required to travel to Spain?
The smart traveller website states either an international Vaccination certificate, or a recovery certificate or a negative PCR?
 
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While all these sites are helpful, the only way to be sure you have the right information is to go to the source. I.e. the appropriate government website for the country you intend to visit
Try this
 
JusWalkin said:
I too am travelling from Australia and my understanding is that a PCR is not necessarily required to travel to Spain?
The smart traveller website states either an international Vaccination certificate, or a recovery certificate or a negative PCR?
Click to expand...
Correct..... if travelling to Spain.... In @Kanga's message (post #4)- she writes that she is going to Portugal (Lisbon).
...
 
JusWalkin said:
I too am travelling from Australia and my understanding is that a PCR is not necessarily required to travel to Spain?
The smart traveller website states either an international Vaccination certificate, or a recovery certificate or a negative PCR?
Click to expand...
The TravelSafeSpain (government) website says:

If you are travelling from Australia, to enter Spain you must show a vaccination or a recovery certificate

Spanish Tourism | Tourist information on Spain | spain.info

Tourist information about Spain: art, culture, museums, monuments, beaches, cities, fiestas, routes, cuisine, natural spaces in Spain | spain.info
travelsafe.spain.info
 
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OzAnnie said:
Correct..... if travelling to Spain.... In @Kanga's message (post #4)- she writes that she is going to Portugal (Lisbon).
...
Click to expand...
oops obviously haven't read Kangas post properly.. Sorry
 
Reporting back - for entry to Portugal all we needed was our vaccination certificate. And a supply of masks, they are still required inside everywhere. The PCR test we did because Emirates wanted it but in the end no-one asked for it.
 
Did Emirates ask for it when checking in or boarding your plane?
 
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