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Comment by novaRom | Hacker News Reader

Germany here. Life of many children has become a nightmare. Good luck with any travel with PCR tests, 120 Euro each, and you need at least 2 per child. There's no vaccine for children under 12, and it's officially not recommended for those who is healthy under 16. Many families are now struggling. Even getting a non-PCR quick test which is free requires lots of additional time (this is required for any indoor activity).

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The context of the above was Netherlands, where there is no widespread quick testing-on-entry as there is in Germany. There is largely no restriction in day-to-day life in the Netherlands (and even less in the coming weeks), with or without a vaccine QR code; the code would apply for access to large events or travel. Also in Netherlands the government is paying for travel PCR tests through July and August. These countries have taken quite different approaches.

You do raise an excellent point that this vaccine system excludes children.

You can currently travel (and return) freely to loads of places without a vaccination, a test, or a document, or anything. Seems a bit disingenuous not to mention that.

Also, PCR tests are available for way less than 120 EUR.

That's not to say the past year wasn't particularly difficult to families with children and young people in general.

Can you name those destinations where you can travel to/from without tests?

If you have to fly, you have to do PCR test and again on return.

PCR tests in most cities are 80-130 Euro. Only if you live in Bavaria, you may do it for free.

For Netherlands, this is the list of safe countries that do not require you to test/quarantine on return:

https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/visiti...

Granted, it is more complex to check what countries require to accept a person traveling from the Netherlands.

Sorry, I was wrong -- I thought you can freely travel to e.g. Austria, but you do in fact need to provide a PCR test or be vaccinated on arrival (just not on return). So the list may just be three countries, the Netherlands, Spain and Croatia. Mea culpa.

At least Germany itself has lots of nice and diverse holiday destinations. That's what we're doing this year.

Italy, for one! If you ride by car, you don't need anything; going by train, you'll need an antigen test, which you could do in Munich, for free, before boarding the next train heading to the Brenner pass. On your way back, you don't need a test either way.

(Source: came back yesterday)

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