A question I haven't dared ask for the last few years: What are your travel and vacation plans for the rest of this year? Are the pent-up Covid restrictions leaving you travel-desperate? Is this the year you are going to make up for lost time, canceled excursions, or that trip of a lifetime that sank beneath the waves of disease?
Or, has the experience of the last few years permanently altered how you approach the idea of getting on planes, cruise ships, trains, or even an extended RV or road trip? Has the prospect of various variants varied your mindset?
If judging by the reports of packed airplanes and long lines at airport security I would think your answer is, Yes, we are hitting the road again." Even with higher than normal plane fares and talk of fuel surcharges due to a tripling of jet fuel costs, there does not appear to be much damping of the demand. Eevn car rental costs that are as much as the plane fare aren't keeping millions of us at home.
After losing a month-long cruise to New Zealand and and first-ever visit to Quebec in 2020, Betty and I were itching to go somewhere. We did make it to Kaua'i last September and Disney World a few months ago. She wants to go back to England and Ireland in the next few years, so long distance travel is still part of our planning.
One major, change for us involves crusing. The thought of being on a floating petri dish for weeks at a time, with the very real possibility of having some sort of infection drastically affecting the experience, has soured us on that type of travel. I'm afraid the trip to Tahiti, Fiji, and New Zealand will only be a "what if" memory.
For the rest of this year, the only firm plan is a 4-day family trip to the White Mountains of Arizona. That 5 hour drive and stay in a cabin in the woods will be a nice, if all too brief, break from the July heat at home.
As you know from an earlier post we did finally buy a new car. Speaking of high prices! That vehicle cost twice as much as our first home as a newly married couple. That decision makes us hesitant to take another big vacation trip this year. The investment account will need a little time to recover, especially as the markets are particularly nervous at the moment.
What about you? Has Covid been just a temporary bump in your vacation travel road? Does the pentup need to see, explore, and experience need to be satisfied? Are you figuring that time does not stretch out ahead of you forever, so you want to do all you can while still healthy and have a strong desire to add to your memories?
Or, have two years of restrictions and very real health scares combined to make you rethink the need for excursions? Have you found yourself content with home and your local area? Are you willing to give the various vaccinations and boosters a bit longer to take full effect?
Time to tell us!
Alan and I have been cautious throughout the pandemic. We're fully vaccinated and boosted, but still mask up inside buildings and keep sanitizer in the cars. When we choose to eat at restaurants, it's always at off hours when they're not busy. Or we pick up take out and eat at our favorite picnic table in a park on the river. That being said, we never stopped traveling, although we did postpone a cross-country trip to the Oregon coast in 2020. Because we travel with a self-contained RV, we have our own bedroom, bathroom and kitchen at the ready. Our only necessary public appearances are at gas stations and grocery stores - which we would need to access at home, anyway. We've continued to enjoy our favorite outdoor activities like biking and kayaking, but we have missed various opportunities to experience museums and other attractions over the past two years. Still, we managed six delightful weeks of camping at State Park campgrounds within our state in 2020, and a cross-country camping trip to Idaho in 2021. Additional RV travel is planned for 2022 and beyond, but cruises remain off the list, as do airline flights, for now. You hit the proverbial nail on the head for us, Bob: We are acutely aware of the sands sifting through the hourglass of time, and acknowledge that there will come a time when we are no longer willing or able to travel extensively. We continue to travel cautiously, but intend to take complete advantage of every opportunity to do so. Although we're not happy about higher gas prices, the additional cost won't deter us from enjoying the retirement we saved our entire careers toward. We're now in the midst of packing and prepping the travel trailer for this year's camping season, and I can't wait to get back on the road.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised in the least that one of the loves of your life, RV travel, was your outlet during Covid. I am interested to learn that State Park campgrounds were open during this period. I would have guessed they were shut down, if for no other reason than lack of staff.
DeleteTime and the state of our health will two major motivators for us,also. The trip to the U.K. is likely to occur next year, unless we roll the dice and make that our 50th anniversary present to ourselves in 3 years.
I liked cruises; I am sorry they are likely off our plate forever.
Safe travels, Mary and Alan.
We love our local beach community, but we will never stop traveling. I am in fact typing this response from our travel trailer, which is parked atop a bluff in Malibu, CA, looking out over the Pacific Ocean.
ReplyDeleteLike Mary above, we continued to travel by RV during the pandemic, and actually traded up to a slightly larger travel trailer in the middle of it. Aside from Malibu, we've also been to Palm Springs and San Diego this year, and have a five week central CA coastal trip scheduled for the fall.
We leave for Germany in a month, where we'll stay with our daughter and family for five weeks. No testing proof needed currently for Germany, which is a relief, but we will be purchasing specific COVID travel insurance which I imagine will be a staple of our foreign travels going forward. Prior to the pandemic, we did not purchase travel insurance unless required.
We have a Caribbean cruise out of Tampa Bay next February, our second since the pandemic. The first was out of Los Angeles, where we could easily drive there and back should anything go wrong at boarding or disembarkation. Choosing another US city for our second cruise was deliberate in that we are still nervous about dealing with the changing COVID protocols internationally.
And we have rebooked our trip to Spain to walk 225 miles of the Camino.
What we are not yet back to doing are organized tours, and cruises departing from foreign ports. Too many moving pieces to navigate still.
With regard to pandemic, I am relatively comfortable with it's current status of becoming increasingly endemic to do the above. Time will tell when the later two become feasible again.
Thanks for mentioning organized tours. Betty and I still prefer independent travel, but see the allure of having someone else make everything happen in our future. Unfortunately, at least for now, being with a group for an extended period doesn't feel safe.
DeleteWe plan on our second booster this fall. This will give us an extra sense of security in our travels.
Group tours: My sister-retired RN and her bestie-retired ER doc, are going on tour of Greece soon. I'll let ya'll know their assessment of risk when they return. They are immunized, boosted and mask wearers so have done what they can but being 72 and 76, they don't want to put off travel further.
DeleteWe are looking at COVID as a bump n the road as far as travel goes. We had an Alaskan cruise scheduled for May 2020 and it got cancelled along with every other cruise at the time. We just booked it again for August 2022 and can't wait. We went on one cruise last August and it was great, it was at about 50% capacity with most everyone vaccinated. We were very comfortable with it. We plan on venturing out a little more as time goes on unless the pandemic comes roaring back.
ReplyDeleteOur last cruise was to Alaska; it was spectacular, though the obvious loss of glacier ice was obvious and distressing.
DeleteMaybe a smaller cruise line would make us feel better. 3,000 passengers and 2,000 crew members is overwhelming.
We were avid travelers until the pandemic. We are thinking now of trips within Canada, preferably driving trips for now. Cases are currently rising where we are so we are being cautious and masking up everywhere.
ReplyDeleteWe feel much safer with road trips at the moment. If we could have foreseen Covid, we likely would have held onto our RV. The self-contained nature of that type of travel would have worked for us.
DeleteI don't care for your characterization of cruise ships as "floating petri dishes". I think that's quite unfair given that everyone on the ships must be fully vaccinated and produce a negative COVID19 test result not more than 2 days before boarding. If you're concerned about "petri dishes", you should probably avoid supermarkets, bars, restaurants, schools and churches, because in all those places you have no idea who's been vaccinated and/or tested
ReplyDeleteWell before Covid, cruise ships had problems with rapidly spreading flu-like illness and intestinal infections that left large number of people on board quite ill.
DeleteIt is likely that the cleaning systems and change in buffet-type dining have made the spread of any disease or infection a little less likely.
But, any time you have several thousand people in a confined space for several days or weeks, the odds of illness increase.
The kinds of places you mentioned are not comparible in this sense. That said, you are certainly entitled to object to my petri dish reference. There is quite a lot about the cruising experience I like. For now however, I will pass.
Gerry, cruise ships are absolutely petri dishes whether you like it or not. They have been for years with their disease outbreaks consistently making national news. Covid adds a serious illness to the list.
DeleteYear 1 Covid restrictions cancelled 3 planned trips and 4 concerts for me. Year 2 after being fully vaccinated I took 2 trips requiring planes. I boosted in November and I just returned from a plane trip going to the Pacific Coast and enjoying some waves for the first time in 3y. I have booked a 2 week trip to the SE.
ReplyDeleteAs a retired OR RN, I continue to wear a mask in stores, in airports and in airplanes. I will not be stopping this best-practice (a phrase from healthcare research).
Cruising? Took one 5y ago and hated it and the ridiculous expense we incurred (my sister selected for a 65th birthday celebration so that set the pricing) so that doesn't interfere with my desired retirement plans and activities.
We've gone out to eat when we felt like it. Cautious but not paranoid. I've observed practices in those places we've tried and some we didn't return to (the infection prevention practitioner in me).
Overall, my covid endemic life now resembles my pre-covid life with the addition of masking in populated buildings and the loss of my local quilt shop and the 2 quilting groups that were based there. As well, I will continue vaccine boosters but I will choose when. We will both get our next vacc about 3weeks before that trip in August in order that we will have maximum immunity while there.
Your approach sounds like mine at the moment: proceed with life but with a few extra cautions. At least for the next 6 months or so if we fly we will mask up even if most others don't. Otherwise, daily life is beginning to feel like pre-Covid times.
DeleteMaybe our area was lucky but few local businesses went under. Our favorite restaurants and where we shop for clothing and home decor remain.
We haven't got any big trips planned this year. I traveled to London/Southampton to see my DD and her family, including my new (now nearing 2 yo) granddaughter three times. The flights were relatively empty and I felt totally safe as they had a driver pick me up at Heathrow. My last return flight came through Atlanta and it was like stepping into another world. Jammed, most people maskless and just overwhelming after two years of Covid precautions. I'm not eager to get on a plane right now with all the stories that are circulating and now no mask rules. That said, I can't see myself or DH sitting home forever. :-)
ReplyDeleteOur of our kids and his family (wife and two grands) are living aboard their sailboat for a few years, and they just traded up to a larger boat that they bought in New Zealand. They would love to have us visit and we're thinking about it. But it's about 24 hours of travel to get there from here and we just got a dog. Neither of us is eager to board her until she's been with us for quite a while longer. But the lure of visiting them and staying on their boat in NZ is going to be tempting.
Oh, that does sound so inviting. When we were thinking of flying to Australia, a wise friend suggested stopping in Honolulu for a few days to break up the 14 hour flight ftom Phoenix to Sydney.
DeleteThe dog issue is a tough one. Some dogs tolerate kennels without too many issues. Others, do not. That will depend on your dog's personality and what kind of boarding situation you can find. For ours, we found a place where she had a room, not just a cage, and was exercised twice a day.
But, a sailboat in NZ is hard to beat.
Hi, always enjoy your posts, thank you very much for taking the time to put them up. My wife and I just booked a trip to Kauai in July our first major one since covid. We have been cautious and have had all the vaccinations and boosters and have been preoccupied with grandkids and other things. We kicked it around and finally decided that this would be a good way to celebrate our 40th anniversary. That, plus the fact that we honeymooned in Kauai helped our decision. We just jumped in, went to AAA and had them help us and have no idea if we got a bargain or just a place to hang our hats. Doesn't matter, I'm sure we will have fun.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thank you for all of your posts. Rich and Jorene
You may not know that Betty and I are investors in a radio station on Kauai. While there listen to Star 94.3, and enjoy your 40th! Kauai is the perfect spot to relax and enjoy the beauty of the islands.
DeleteThanks for your kind words, Rich and Jorene.
We just returned from a trip to Salt Lake City----the day after masks were not required. We decided to just go with it and did not mask, although we had them with us. Husband was in a Master's Olympic Weightlifting competition...Our trip took us through DFW to change planes. Guess time will tell if our 2 shots plus booster are doing their jobs at protecting us....we are approaching 79 years old and have been totally compliant----till now.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Salt Lake for a time in the late 70s-early 80s...a city I always enjoyed.
DeleteFully vaccinnated and boosted means you should be fine...fingers crossed!
I came home Saturday night from visiting my sister. She had her family over for a BBQ Friday. Nephew's girlfriend/her daughter tagged along. They both tested positive last night about 8pm. Both vaccinated and GF boosted, 16yo not yet.
DeleteA friend's husband traveled for work 2w ago-first time since C19 began. He is at the corporate level of medical sales. Fully vacc and boosted. Symptomatic the night he got home. He is having fairly severe respiratory symptoms and still can't walk more than 1.5 miles without fatigue.
There are too many covid mutations for our vaccines to fully protect. We are all now susceptible to variants but over 99% chance of NOT needing treatment.
Sigh...so I am canceling dates with friends this week and possibly a wedding Saturday. I have notified the bride of my exposure so she can decide on our attendance if asymptomatic. I'm totally bummed. She is 41 and this is first marriage and she is over the moon.
I am so sorry to learn of the problems with family and friends. Your experience proves the point that no vaccine, no shot, no course of action can fully protect all of us from something that mutates so quickly. Even the yearly flu shot can't guarantee we won't get the flu.
DeleteTaking precautions and being quick to change plans is all we can do. Here's hoping you can make the wedding.
We have a 20 months old (first and so far only) grandchild outside Seattle, so that has been a huge draw for us. Whenever we go, we add a few days in the surrounding area and there is so much beautiful country to choose from, incl. Canada which is finally open to us again. We ventured to Sedona last May and are going to Montauk in May this year to see our youngest daughter, so you could say we are traveling! Being in North Texas and road tripping means that unfortunately even after 2.5 hours on the interstate, the scenery hasn't changed at all. We are no-go for RV or cruising and luckily we moved at the end of '20 into our newbuilt downsized home and are very happy to stay put as well in our neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteApropos New Zewaland, in lieu of a cruise have you considered flying over and doing an all inclusive tour? We did that in October of '19 working with a boutique travel agent in country it was wonderful.
Stopping in Honolulu to break up the flight, and then using a tour company is a viable option. New Zealand, particularly the South Island, looks incredible.
DeleteI understand about the driving to get to a different looking area. From Phoenix it took us at least 6 hours in the RV If we went west, and a full day if we went north, to get out of brown. East? Two days!
Our next move will be to a retirement community sometime in the next 6 years or so. But I love this house and being so close to family, so I am in no rush to move.
Seattle and Long Island...could your kids live any further apart!
We never stopped traveling. We've been to 17 different countries since Covid came on the scene. We followed all the rules of the various countries we've been in. It's been really interesting seeing how the different countries do things differently regarding masking and mandates. There's no consistency at all.
ReplyDeleteI'd say you have been quite lucky. As Elle's story above makes clear, all the shots and precautions in the world don't give us total protection. As you note, consistency has been nonexistent.
DeleteThanks for your input because it shows some folks have managed to keep their lifestyle intact.
I am getting my second COVID booster shot this morning, and then next week it is off to a dream roadtrip of I don't know how long. Looking forward to getting back on the road again...
ReplyDeleteSafe travels, RJ. We hope to see you in Phoenix in a few weeks.
DeleteTamara mentioned COVID-specific travel insurance, which prompted me to share this family story . . . About a month ago, Alan's sister and brother-in-law traveled to Sicily with a small group through a well-established and well-respected tour company. They are older than we are, have been very cautious during the pandemic, and are fully vaccinated and boosted. All members of their group were vaccinated, as well. The night before their return flight, Alan's sister tested positive for COVID, and was required to quarantine for a week in a hotel room in Sicily. Her husband tested negative, and she insisted that he fly home, as planned. Subsequently, at least half of their group of ten tested positive, including our brother-in-law. I'm not suggesting that people not travel. My point is simply that travelers should consider the ways a trip may be impacted by COVID (or other emergencies, for that matter), and be sure they have the protection of insurance (travel and medical) and/or the financial resources available to handle those possible impacts. Luckily, the tour company had someone on location to assist the travelers who needed to quarantine. Our family members had only mild symptoms, and Alan's sister flew home a week later after a negative test to everyone's relief.
ReplyDeleteInsurance or not, that must have been scary for those involved, Your point is spot on. Betty and I never travel to a foreign country without travel insurance that includes medical care and flights home if necessary. While not cheap, the peace of mind is invaluable.
DeleteIn 2020 we had our yearly trip to Hawaii all planned for June, which we, of course, canceled in terror. In 2021 we planned again in the lull when things looked better just before the first variant came on the scene. We did go but eating out was extremely difficult for various reasons, very, very long waits. But we still enjoyed outselves. Now we have a multi family trip to Hawaii planned for this July.
ReplyDeleteHusband and I, in our 70s, are vaccinated and boosted. Rest of family refuses, but that is their choice.
Like you, we feel the sands of time running out, but we have a different problem with traveling. We have two cats with complicated schedules and their "mommy", who is me, can barely stand to leave them as she is worried they will be lonely. Yes, I am almost certifiable about this. I do have someone who can feed them, and she will do this when we're in Hawaii, but it's not the same, is it? You are making me think I really need to reassess this, though.
Maybe your next column ought to be on travel for people who are overly attached to their pets?
If you want my personal opinion I would not travel anywhere with unvaccinated people. Yes, it is their choice, but it is also yours to not put yourself and husband at risk. As several comments above make clear, Covid and its variants can strike regardless, and being unvaccinated obviously increases the odds substantially.
DeleteThe pet one is a tough one. Your idea of a post is intriguing. Even if someone doesn't have a pet now, at various times in their lives they probably did. So, most of us have some thoughts on this subject.
Yeah, the unvaccination stance dries me into a rage, but I have given up on trying to change the ringleader. Unfortunately, they are the only family we have, plus this annual trip has been a tradition for some years and we adore being there with our grandchildren and we would really hate to give it up. They won't want to travel with us for much longer.
DeleteSo it's a really difficult situation in an imperfect world.
I am starting to write a post about pets and travel...should be ready in a week or two!
DeleteThe pet post will interest me. I lost my last (16 year old cat) one year ago but really now now want the companionship of pets again. (Possibly two dogs). But I have missed out on travel so much and want to start again ….. so when/if to get a pet. The cat was easier to leave but I want dogs more now. Just a comment, I’m a little concerned again about Covid, seeing a rise in our area (not large) but enough for concern. I’m a semi retired RN. My daughter worked on a major hospital Covid unit this past year, unbelievable horrors. For everyone that doesn’t want the vaccine “because they don’t know what side effects it might cause later” I have this to say. More information more recently has shown more post Covid/long haulers including post Omnicron where even the original Covid illness seemed fairly mild. I don’t think we really know what the long term side effects of Covid will be. On Easter my daughter-in-law’s sister (40’s) was admitted for a possible heart attack in severe pain. All testing point to a severe inflammatory response in her lungs… which they concluded was from her mild Covid a few months ago. There has been more regarding this on the news media.
DeleteSome high profile people are becoming infected even after all the protection. Of course, millions in China are in lockdown again, too. Covid is not going to leave our lives or the headlines any time soon.
DeleteThe pet post will be available next week.
We did fly from Canada to our house in Mexico throughout the pandemic. We closed on that house only one month before news reports started coming out of about a new mysterious disease--not the greatest of timing. But you know how houses are, leave them empty for any length of time and they fall apart. With that in mind we felt it was necessary that we still travelled there plus escaping the winters is an attraction.
ReplyDeleteWe did cancel a 2020 hiking trip to the Amalfi Coast in Italy and haven't travelled anywhere else since. We are so glad that we did our Australia-New Zealand trip in October-November of 2019.
Our travel hiatus change on May 30th this year when we leave for France so my wife can visit her sister (and only sibling) that she hasn't seen since 2018. After week there we are going to Spain for 2 weeks. We are 3 dose vaccinated now and will be getting our 4th dose mid-May so that will help. There is risk in everything but so far we have done well by masking and being careful when we travel. I hope our luck continues to hold.
So do I, especially so your wife can see her sister in France. What a great excuse to go to such a beautiful country.
DeleteYes it is beautiful there, her sister and brother-in-law moved there from the UK as their retirement relocation (pre-Brexit when it was easy to do for them). And while they live in the beautiful French countryside it is not easy to get to. It's a long planes, trains and automobiles trip for us to get to their "house in the country".
DeleteI, too, feel my time to travel, already limited, eroding quickly now, but my situation is a little different. After I made all his appointments, my husband is now vaxxed and double-boosted, but I was advised/warned by my rheumatologist, the immunologist he consulted, and my cardiologist that I could not vax because of the life-changing reaction I had to a prior vaccination. In addition, I'm immunocompromised by the medications I need due to the various auto-immune diseases I developed subsequent to that life-changing reaction. To protect me, my husband has sheltered more than he might have, even after his vaccinations, but he's the one who goes to pick up a Lowe's order, for example. In December, a new prophylactic, long-last biclonal drug for people like me was given EUA approval. It is not a vaccination, but for 3-6 months, it conveys some degree of protection against severe illness and even some protection against contracting Covid. It took me two months of constant calling, writing, emailing and contacting people via social media to gain access. The rollout has been a mess, but I and the people sitting (masked, six feet apart) in the one-hour observation area after our two-shot treatment was administered were ecstatic. We are still counseled to keep up our safe practices, as the pamphlet warns that very few people have had Evusheld. I won't be traveling via airplane. I won't be sitting in the all-seats-sold-out Long Center for the Performing Arts to watch a live taping of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" again. Negotiating family get togethers has been difficult because one of our adult daughters has the same situation I do, and has not chosen to take Evusheld, the new biclonal treatment. Her husband believes in natural immunity, so neither of her daughters are immunized, either. One of her daughters is deaf. She has cochlear implants but still needs to see our mouths in order to carry on a conversation. We all decide on our risks we're willing to take. What I will not risk for travel, I will risk to see my family. Our compromise has been that everyone tests the day of a gathering. I'm fully aware that's not a 100% guarantee, but with Evusheld on board, it's a risk I was willing to take in order to have immediate family gather here for my husband's 75th birthday, for example. Those, and two-hour trips around Central Texas to view public art or step into the small, never-crowded Wendish Museum, will be our "vacations" for now. I'm meeting inside with my book club now, four other people fully immunized, but I wear a mask. It's hard always being the odd one out, having to explain yourself.
ReplyDeleteYou have endured more than most during this tough time. My wife has several autoimmune issues also, so even with shots we have been careful. Fingers crossed for you that the new treatment works.
DeleteTaking extra risks when it involves family is completely understandable. And, happy birthday to your husband!
We have done two cruises already and felt very safe on them. We cruise NCL and it was 100% vaccinated. Staff wore masks and we did every place other than once seated in the dining room. They have hand sanitizer everywhere and expect it to be used. You have to sanitize (or wash in one location) before entering any dining area. They are wiping things down, tables totally cleared and all things cleaned before being set up again (think salt/pepper etc). We had two wonderful trips (both from the US, but did have flights), and then one canceled due to Omicron. We have another one in October and a number in 2023. I also flew to see family in September and again felt safe (masks were still required on flights). Just did a road trip in the camper with a friend and we have a major road trip this summer in the camper. The friend and I have another camper trip this fall. We wear masks in public and go through lots of sanitizer (did that before COVID as well). Take our chances with visiting family and friends, but we are vaccinated and double boostered, so hope that would help if we did pick it up. We also are pretty sure we had it back at the start (our Australia trip). It was before testing if you were not in the hospital, but the symptoms matched and our doctor figures it was COVID. Maybe with all that we are a bit protected.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to learn of someone who has not let the pandemic stop them from doing what they love! You have taken all the necessary steps and been lucky enough to have good experiences. Your feedback on cruising makes me feel a little better about doing that again sometime in the future. I do enjoy them.
DeleteWe did changes things A LOT during the worse of COVID and only did RV travel. Didn't see anyone other than our kids/grandkids (after they were out of school and home for over 2 weeks). Last year with vaccines started to see others when traveling (many picnics in the park for get togethers). Just starting last September have we moved back into more types of travel (got the first booster in early October). The September trip was not planned and was to help out family. We do wear N95 or better masks.
ReplyDeleteWe will get our second booster shot this month.
Delete