Update on my son's trip preps.
TL
R version:
emed covid tests take much longer than they say - set aside at least 2 hours. Might take less - but 2 hours is close. All the other websites/forms were straight forward.
Longer version:
Registering with the spanish health service and getting the vaccine id QR code for travel was easy.
Doing the covid test with emed binax antigen tests.... not so great. Packaging and website said appointments last 20 minutes (telehealth observation of self administered test.) He tried yesterday - when he logged in it said 57 minute wait. He gave up after 1hr 10mins because there was a party with all his friends that had already started. He promised he'd do it when he got home because 'there wouldn't be as long a wait, late at night.'. He didn't. I woke him up at 8:30 this morning and the app/logon said 62 minute wait. That was pretty accurate. Telehealth person comes on but he couldn't hear her - so she puts him back in the queue. An hour later he gets another telehealth person. That person confirms his identity and instructs him how to do the test over video conference. Test has a 15 minute wait to read so the first guy starts the clock and he's back in a 15 minute queue. (They can monitor video this entire time to make sure you don't mess with the test. New person comes back on when the timer is up , confirms that it's the same qr coded test kit that he started with, and confirms the negative results.. The results are loaded to the Navica app and sent in an email from emed.com. Definitely set aside a LOT of time if you go this route. He has said he will spend all day, if necessary 2 days before he leaves Europe, and not give up.
Once he had the covid test done he did the UK paperwork. Filled out more paperwork for American Airlines and British Airlines. That was all straight forward. I had him print out all the qr codes just in case he kills his battery along the way.
While he was doing all this - I was just quietly folding his laundry so he could see what he had to pack. (I don't fold his laundry - or do his laundry... haven't for years, but he was getting overwhelmed and this was something I could take care of while he dealt with bureaucracies.)
He's packed and leaves tomorrow morning on his month long eurail adventure. It's so warming to know Spain (where he is flying to/from) has been upped to a level four travel advisory (US gov. saying 'don't go there') because of the delta variant spreading like wildfire. He assures me he will be masked up. The hostel they are staying in when he gets there has single rooms so he could, in theory, quarantine there, if he flunks the test when he's ready to return.
Fingers crossed he has a great time, doesn't get covid, and builds memories.