Travelling to UK After Brexit – Insights And Details

More than anything else, a trip to London is all about having fun. Whether you’re into shopping, culture, entertainment, history or food and drink, London has got more than enough to keep you entertained no matter how long you stay. Being able to stay relaxed, have fun and enjoy everything this wonderful city throws at you, depends upon making all of the right arrangements in the first place. Work, plan and arrange the logistics of your stay before you leave for London, and everything – including accommodation, currency, insurance cover etc. – will be in place from the moment you set foot off the plane, boat or coach.

One of the issues many people are currently concerned about before planning a trip to London is the impact which Brexit is likely to have on their travel plans. For those who somehow managed to miss the news, UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum held in 2016 and after four years of debate, argument and uncertainty, UK officially left on January 31st, 2020. The first and most important point to bear in mind is that, for the duration of 2020, absolutely nothing has changed. The debate around Brexit has been heated on all sides, and so it’s possible that you may have read or heard some coverage claiming that free movement ended the instant UK left the EU, and that this means you’ll now have to apply for visas and extra health cover. This may have been alarming enough to put you off making a trip to London, but this would be a huge mistake since, for the next 12 months and possibly beyond, the conditions of entry and travel to and around the UK from the EU – and indeed the rest of the world – remain exactly the same.

What this means in practical terms is that, throughout 2020:

• Flights will continue to come in and out of the UK just as they did before, and the same applies to coaches, the Eurostar and ferries
• You won’t need to apply for any kind of a visa to enter the UK from the EU
• The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) will still be valid throughout 2020, entitling holders to access the NHS while staying in the UK
• Despite EHIC still being operative, it’s still vital to take out travel insurance when travelling to the UK during 2020
• The data roaming rules introduced by the EU, which mean that the cost of making calls, sending text messages and using the internet is the same in the UK as in the EU, will still be in place throughout 2020

The plan is that by the end of 2020, UK and EU will have negotiated a deal, or series of deals, which will cover the position of travellers in the UK after December 31st, 2020. Although it’s difficult to predict exactly what the details of any deal will be, the importance of European tourism to the UK economy means that there are likely to be very few changes to the current situation. Although the cover offered by EHIC may end after 1st January 2021, the advice to take out travel insurance remains exactly the same as it does now, and this will cover any health charges incurred during a stay in the UK. To summarise, travel to London and the rest of the UK, even after Brexit kicks in properly following the end of the transition period, will remain very much the same as it is now, with the only change likely to be the need to fill in one or two more pieces of documentation. Given everything that London has to offer, this is an inconvenience which is more than worthwhile.

If you do decide to visit London – before or after Brexit – then the accommodation offered by London Backpackers hostel is the best possible choice. As well as a clean, comfortable, secure room to sleep in, we offer perks and extras like free Wi-Fi and access to cooking, washing and laundry facilities. Our location close to central London transport links makes us the perfect base from which to explore this fantastic city, and our friendly, cheerful staff are always on hand to help you get the most out of your stay.