Tripsters: Foot-and-mouth outbreak has little effect on plans

By COLIN MOORE

Herald Tripsters are taking the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain in their stride. Tripsters who planned to visit Britain and Europe this year are undeterred even if it means altering part of their itinerary.

Says Jan Gow: "Anything can happen to your special holiday and you just have to make the best of it. In 1992 we were in England for eight months. Halfway through this time I fell down some stairs and broke my ankle. I was mobile as soon as I could be and have some great stories about travelling the Underground and in taxis complete with leg in plaster. I just did things a little differently.

"Last year we were in England when the petrol strike was on. We were in London in the first week and, by the time we began to travel around, there was some petrol and it really did not make much difference.

"So I may have to make different plans, but I may find that I then see something fantastic that I would never have thought of."

Brian Giblin has been to England twice this year. The outbreak did curtail plans for a walk through fields in the country on a nice day and ruined his hopes of spending some time in the Lake District.

Graham Beattie is already in Europe and is soon to visit Britain. He says the outbreak has not affected his plans.

Travel asked our Tripsters whether, in their experience, New Zealand border controls were sufficiently rigid. Most considered the controls needed to be more stringent.

Roland Stoltz says he met some visitors last week from Ireland. They had boots, golf shoes and clubs all ready in a bag to be checked but there were no inspections at the airport.

Michael Sinclair had a similar experience when he collected friends arriving from Britain. He is surprised that MAF is not using sanitised foot mats at the airport.

Mike Allen remembers the days when all aircraft were sprayed on landing.

Several Tripsters believe that our border controls rely too much on the honesty of the declarations of arriving passengers, and consider there should be more routine inspections.

Others noted that foot-and-mouth disease is endemic in some countries, such as China, so border controls should be more stringent as a matter of course.

Beverly Wilson wondered whether everyone's shoes should be disinfected, even if they had not been near a farm. And Michael Archer went so far as to suggest that it should be compulsory for all people entering New Zealand to go through some form of decontamination.