– We have been thinking about this Christmas for a long time, but with the new variant we are afraid that the entry rules will be tightened more, says Alexandra Harris (33) to TV 2.
– AFRAID OF CHRISTMAS: Norwegian Alexandra Harris (33) is afraid she and her daughter will have to cancel the Christmas celebration in Norway if her husband does not come to Norway before Christmas Eve. Photo: Private
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She is one of several Norwegians living abroad who are worried that she is facing another different Christmas. Last year, she was heavily pregnant and isolated in a house outside Denver, Colorado, USA.
She and her daughter even landed in Oslo at the end of November. It was the first time the grandparents in Norway got to meet the grandson.
But now it’s a joke for the trip to her American husband, who is still left in the US and who is struggling to get his vaccine passport approved in Europe, despite the fact that he has been fully vaccinated and will receive his third vaccine dose next week.
– KORONABABY: Alexandra and her husband became proud parents to a little girl in the middle of the pandemic. The grandparents first met the grandson at the end of November this year. Photo: Private
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– We would like to celebrate Christmas with my family as my daughter is their first grandchild, but if my husband is not allowed to enter Norway and the entry rules are tightened, then my daughter and I will travel back to the US before Christmas, says Harris.
– We will first and foremost celebrate Christmas as a new family of three.
Great uncertainty
TV 2 has spoken to several Norwegians in the USA, Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, Germany and Italy, who feel great uncertainty about their planned Christmas holiday in Norway. Several of them have not seen the family since the start of the pandemic.
– CONCERNED: Mother of three Ellen Mosebekk is afraid that the Christmas holidays will end if there are stricter entry rules for Belgium, where the family of five lives. Photo: Private
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– If it should turn out that Norway closes the borders completely or that we have to be quarantined when we arrive, the point is gone. After all, we go to meet family and friends, and to celebrate Christmas together, Ellen Sofie Mosebekk (39) tells TV 2.
She lives in Waterloo, Belgium, and hoped that the vaccine would ensure that the family of five could travel home to Oslo this Christmas. But if the rules change by December 20, a lot can happen.
– We are waiting and following closely how the corona situation develops here and in Norway, she says.
So does Tonje Lissandrin (46), who has already had to cancel previous trips to Norway due to the pandemic. She herself lives in Veneto, Italy, where Europe’s first corona death was recorded in February 2020.
– CONCERNED: Tonje Lissandrin (46) has lived in Italy throughout the pandemic, and now risks that the journey home for Christmas goes in the sink. During the shutdown, she wrote a poetic book called “Red Zone” about the experience of the shutdown in Italy. Photo: Private
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The planned summer holiday to Norway, where the family was to make a stopover in Amsterdam, went down the drain when the Netherlands turned red on Norway’s corona map and the family was quarantined on arrival.
– It was an awful lot of stress, she says.
– If we can not travel to Norway at Christmas, we must try to end the tickets again. I do not hope it happens or that the plane tickets are canceled.
Risks celebrating Christmas alone
Several Norwegian students abroad are among those who are worried. Mari Kastet (27), who studies at Georgetown University in the US capital Washington DC, risks celebrating Christmas alone if the return trip is canceled. At the same time, she is worried about what will happen if the United States changes its entry rules while she is at home.
– HOME FOR CHRISTMAS: Mari Kastet (27) hopes she can still celebrate Christmas with her sister in Asker. But the corona situation makes her uneasy. Photo: Private
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– I’m at university until December 14, so I can not go home earlier. I follow the development, but what I am most afraid of is that I will not get back into the US after the New Year, Kastet tells TV 2.
– If I have to cancel, I may have to be alone. Maybe the embassy has a plan, or I need to ask my former host family in Texas if I can come. But the plan was to go home to Asker to celebrate Christmas with my sister and her children, so it will be very sad if I do not get home, she says.
– Mari Kastet (27) outside Georgetown University in Washington DC in the USA, where she is studying. She to be left alone on Christmas Eve if the trip home to Norway is canceled. She is worried about what will happen if the rules for entering the United States after the New Year change. Photo: Private
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Homesickness
Her concern is shared by several, and on Facebook, several have expressed concern about the corona situation.
A girl living in Texas writes she struggles with homesickness: “I have not been home since 2018, and did not get to go on my own” graduation “because of the corona. I miss my family so much that it hurts, “she says.
Graduation refers to graduation from the university.
Another writes: “I am obviously worried and scared that both we and the family at home will have to miss another Christmas celebration together.”
A woman was so frightened after the government’s press conference on Tuesday that she immediately accelerated the flight home.
“I could not bear the uncertainty and would rather have the pre-Christmas period with the family than nothing,” she writes.
Another Norwegian living in Copenhagen, Denmark, uses humor, and says that he will have “insane pork chops on Christmas Eve”, but that the celebration in Norway has been replaced by a trip to Jutland this year.
New entry rules
At a press conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) and Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Labor Party) informed that they are reintroducing several coronary restrictions both nationally and regionally. Among other things, a test obligation will be introduced for all travelers coming from outside Norway.
– We must control this pandemic. It’s not over. We have been able to demonstrate this clearly this week, Støre said.
– NEW MEASURES: Prime Minister Jonas Garh Støre (Labor Party) and Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Labor Party) announced on Thursday that travelers to Norway have a duty to test regardless of vaccine status from midnight on Friday. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB
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The obligation to register entry for all travelers has already been introduced, but on Thursday the government came up with further measures.
– We have said we will take action immediately if the situation becomes worrying. Now we’ve got there. The situation is worrying, and we are taking action, Kjerkol said.
– TIGHTENING IN: Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Labor Party) says the corona situation in Norway is now worrying. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
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– Everyone who comes to the country is now obliged to test themselves within 24 hours of arrival. The duty will apply to absolutely everyone, both unvaccinated and vaccinated. This will also apply to people who have undergone Covid-19.
Travelers will be able to test themselves at border crossings, public test stations or by self-test, and if it is positive, they will be obliged to take a PCR test.
Furthermore, there are mandatory bandages for all travelers over the age of twelve until there is a negative corona test where it is not possible to avoid close contact with others. Checks are also carried out at the border.
The regulation enters into force at midnight, and will be reconsidered in two weeks.
Have faith
Nevertheless, not everyone takes the grief in advance, and many still believe that the journey home goes as planned.
Some joke that they are going home for Christmas even though they have to dress up as a spruce tree to sneak across the border, and others write that they are looking forward to stick meat with the family in Norway after being crowned abroad last year.
“In the worst case, I have to go to a quarantine hotel. I have to endure that, but I’m going home “, writes a Norwegian living in London.
So far, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not issued any special advice to Norwegians who are going home for Christmas.
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