Dispatch from Europe: What it’s like to travel during COVID

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Sign up for free.Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everydayCatch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everydayWant a daily digest of the top Denver news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios DenverWant a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des MoinesWant a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin CitiesWant a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa BayWant a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios CharlotteWant a daily digest of the top Nashville news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with the Axios Nashville newsletter.Want a daily digest of the top Columbus news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with the Axios Columbus newsletter.Want a daily digest of the top Dallas news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with the Axios Dallas newsletter.Want a daily digest of the top Austin news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with the Axios Austin newsletter.Want a daily digest of the top Atlanta news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with the Axios Atlanta newsletter.Want a daily digest of the top Philadelphia news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with the Axios Philadelphia newsletter.Want a daily digest of the top Chicago news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with the Axios Chicago newsletter.Sign up for Axios NW ArkansasStay up-to-date on the most important and interesting stories affecting NW Arkansas, authored by local reportersWant a daily digest of the top DC news?Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with the Axios DC newsletter.A technician in PPE performs COVID tests next to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris this morning. Photo: Glen Johnson/AxiosPARIS — Pharmacies from Italy north to Paris are offering cheap, quick COVID tests as countries try to preserve their holiday traditions and economies.Why it matters: Europe has been ahead of the U.S. in suffering the effects of Omicron.Glen’s family trip over the past 10 days offers lessons for the U.S.:You get in virtually no restaurant without proof of vaccination. For Europeans, it’s a digital pass via a QR code on their smartphones. For Americans, it’s showing their CDC vaccination card — and occasionally a passport to prove it’s their card.A pre-departure test from Italy required a three-hour wait in Milan’s chilly Piazza Duomo. Then Swiss border guards never asked for the certificate or the country’s mandatory pre-entry registration form.In Paris, pharmacies and even the Champs-Élysées had pop-up test centers. They offered rapid tests — with certified results emailed directly to digital pass holders or verified with a paper certificate — that are good for air travel. It cost €30 (about $34).What we’re watching: Packed sidewalks and cafés in Paris, and crowds for a full-moon tour of the Coliseum in Rome, show people are trying to resume normal life.Plenty of people aren’t wearing masks, but many are. In Rome, police outside the Pantheon were telling visitors to pull them up over their noses.Strategies that have worked: Masks indoors and outdoors, except when away from crowds; eating outdoors when possible and away from others when indoors; traveling by van to avoid airport and airplane crowds; wearing N95 masks in Paris.The bottom line: Travel is possible — even overseas. But you have to be flexible and ready to spend time and money.For the Johnson family, that included showing a vax card, game ticket and passport (to prove the ticket was theirs), to enter famed San Siro stadium in Milan to watch Inter Milan beat Serie A soccer rival Torino. The crowd of over 50,000 all wore masks.It also means one more test today. Six people are hoping for negative results so they can avoid cancellations of flights taking some east — and the rest back to the Sneak Peek editing desk.