Since my last international trip to Uganda and Kenya in July, the rules for USA travel have changed. They are a bit challenging so here’s what you need to know.

For return to the USA for US residents, you must be fully vaccinated AND take a COVID test that shows you are negative for the disease.

The fully vaccinated part is easy. Just have a copy of your vaccination card with you and/or a photo of it on your phone.

The COVID test is a bit more challenging, as you must show that you tested negative one day before your return.  The test must be one that is monitored with results shown to an online live person.

Kelly did the research to figure out which test we needed. A photo is shown above. We planned our last day in Madrid for taking the test and getting our results. Here are a few tips for making it easy.

Before your trip, be sure to download the Navica app. Sign in and get it set up so it will be ready to use when you need it.

When you are ready to take the test, set up your phone against a glass or other stable object so it is sitting vertically on a hard surface. I didn’t know this in advance and spent several minutes with the monitor trying to find something in my hotel room that would be stable enough for my phone. I finally used a jar from the mini-bar and a washcloth for it to sit on. And the monitor’s English wasn’t the best in the world so it took me a while to understand what she was telling me to do. The monitor will ask you to hold your test kit behind your phone so she/he can see the expiration date and the QR code on the box.

Then, you will be instructed to open the test kit so she can see what you are doing. Next, you take the swab (a long-handled que-tip) out of the protective paper. You will put the swab in one nostril, twirl it around five times and then using the same swab, do the same thing in your other nostril.

Then you will insert the swab into the little cardboard package. You hold the swab horizontally and insert it into the large hole. Next, you’ll take the small vial of liquid and drop six drops onto the small hole.

On our trip, there were three of us, Kelly, Lynn and me. When you buy the test kits, they come in packages of two kits. Luckily, we had a total of four kits. When we did our tests, Lynn’s test had no liquid in the bottle. My extra kit saved the day.  So, if you have two people, you might want to buy an extra kit so you don’t get stuck without liquid. I really don’t know how often this happens, but it threw us for a loop – momentarily at least. And we were very happy to have that fourth kit so all three of us could be tested.

After you do all of the above, you’ll have to wait for 15 minutes to get your results. You’ll see a window on the cardboard package that shows you two lines for positive and one line for negative. After the wait, another person will come on the line and look at your results. They will then tell you that the results will be sent to your email address.

When I got my email, it was password protected with my birthdate. I simply sent that PDF document to United Airlines and thought I was good to go. I knew they had my birthdate, so figured they would be able to open the PDF. No. That didn’t happen. I kept getting messages from United that my documents were not OK.

Finally, I took a screen shot of the results after I had opened them. (On the i-phone, you press the on/off button on the right and the volume button on the left at the same time.)

That gave me a screen shot that I saved to my photos.

Then I re-sent the photo to United. Hurray. I was approved.

United then labeled me “travel-ready” and I was good to go.

If you’re not too computer savvy, this may be a struggle. You can always look for a testing facility near the departure airport and get tested there. But after we figured out all of the testing procedures, it really wasn’t too difficult.

Safe travels!