Anyone Considering Cancelling Travel

[ElizabethT]

+1

+2 The changing protocols are simply to stressful to make the overall trip appealing to us at this point.

Domestically here in the USA, however, we are much less stressed about changing protocols, and we have booked numerous RV trips, approx one week per month, over the upcoming six months. We are also actively looking to book a one month VRBO for next summer in/near Seattle in order to further explore the Puget Sound area. We just spent six weeks there in June & July via our RV and it wasn't nearly long enough.

And we are continuing to block out June 2022 for a one month trip/visit to Germany to visit our SIL, DD, and two young grandchildren. Which I know counters what I said above, but for them we will take on the stress of leaving one country's protocols for another's. They will be overseas for 2 and 1/2 more years and there is no way I can go that long not seeing the little ones.

 

[Surewhitey]

We love Sicily but that would require a flight.


If you are comfortable with driving, the drive into Umbria (Orvieto, Perugia) and southern Tuscany (Montepulciano, Montalcino, Abruzzo) is wonderful. Just pretty villages, wine, food, outdoor activities. Have you been beyond Florence in Tuscany?

Yeah, we've always wanted to visit Umbria after watching an oldish movie filmed there. I think that's where we're heading. Likely a train ride up & then rent a car if it works out that way.

We took a ride up the hill from Florence to Fiesole, but nothing more. It was a nice day trip & hike through some woods on the south side of town with views of Florence below. Very memorable and we were the only ones on the trail (in early March)...

 

[Gumby]

When we went to Umbria for a week, we just rented a car at the Rome/Fiumicino airport and drove there. It's an easy 1.5 hour drive on a good highway (E45 and E35) to Orvieto. No need for a train, and you're on your own schedule when you return.

 

[Bamaman]

So we canceled our Mexico trip and kept our eyes on alternate locations. Came across some non-stop air on AA for <$300 to Rome! We thought about it as their covid numbers were so low. Long story short, we got 2 r/t non-stop for <$900 & leaving in a few weeks...

Any off the beaten path spots you liked? We've seen some of Rome, Florence and Amalfi areas...

We just love the hilltown of Orvieto which is a 70 minute train ride north of Rome Termini. The incredible Civita is just south of there, and it's also quite unique.

We also stayed at the top rated B&B in Zagarolo called Olive Tree Hill. It's a 20 minute commuter train ride south of Rome Termini. We found the suburbs of Rome to have a number of very interesting travel sites. Our host drove us to the top of the mountain, and we hiked 1500 feet down to the pagan temple, Palestrina on 1500 year old walking paths.

 

[gayl]

I am far more concerned about traveling to other states than other countries. Have a Caribbean cruise, Florida trip. And planning northern Europe next year.

Oh and covid tests are still free and readily available here although you have to book several days ahead (which i will do before going to Florida)

 

[oiseux]

Yeah, we've always wanted to visit Umbria after watching an oldish movie filmed there. I think that's where we're heading. Likely a train ride up & then rent a car if it works out that way.

We took a ride up the hill from Florence to Fiesole, but nothing more. It was a nice day trip & hike through some woods on the south side of town with views of Florence below. Very memorable and we were the only ones on the trail (in early March)...

The drive from Rome wasn't too bad but I can understand the issue, some Italian cities can be harrowing (the further south you go, the worst it gets),

I'll third the Orvieto suggestion. I also recommend Southern Tuscany. Had a memorable stay at the Villa Granzianella outside of Montepulciano, about 70 km north. I really need to go back to the area.



(And I forgot you can take the train/ferry to Sicily)

 

[INTJ10]

We just completed a cruise. My wife tested positive the last day on the ship so we both had to isolate on board. She had to quarantine in the port city for 10 days. I flew home, because I couldn't see her anyway. I tested positive 2 days later. I think we have the Delta Variant based on the symptoms. In my state, the Regeneron (Monoclonal Antibody Therapy) is readily available (free, no referral or appointment needed). In my wife's location, it was much more difficult to get the treatment (costly, appointment and referral needed). For both of us (fully vaccinated) it has been like a bad cold. Miserable for about 2 days and then steady improvement. I think the Regeneron treatment eased the symptoms.

So my take away. If you travel, assume you will get infected. Consider where you will be quarantined and whether the Regeneron treatment will be available in that location.

 

[gattara]

Eek gads. Sorry to hear this, what a hassle. Glad you are both doing better. Thank you for sharing your experience, and for your advice. It solidifies my decision to take international travel off the table for a while.

 

[gauss]

Anyone else considering or has cancelled travel?

Not really. We are scheduled for a trip to Puerto Rico in December 2021.

We are fully vaccinated, and even if we weren't, we don't have any of the comorbidities for serious Covid -- and even if we did there are treatments for Covid now.

What would give me pause is all of the government responses to Covid at this point.

That's my perspective.

-gauss

 

[gauss]

Just for fun, I started poking at a repositioning trans Atlantic for November/December.

After the basics (picking a specific cruise, arranging specific flights), I started looking into the Covid side of things.

My flights are almost 30 hours, start to finish. And I need the PCR test to be "recent enough" when I arrive. The test must be witnessed by a healthcare provider of some type. Also, they don't accept the lateral flow antigen tests (that would be too quick and easy). So it needs to be a witnessed PCR test, and that usually means mailing off a sample to a lab, and taking 3 days. Well, that's 2 days too many!

I poked around, but nobody is saying they're doing immediate or quick PCR testing.

In the home testing thread, we talked about a home PCR-base test that was witnessed over the Internet. It had electronics and a heater/cooler to do the PCR work. I remember being amazed that they could do PCR in a throw-away test. It wasn't cheap, but amazing. I wonder if that would be sufficient for Canada and Portugal. I'll need to dig more into that.

ETA: Found it (see picture). Too bad they can't make 'em fast enough (out of stock), hehe!

Hmm. Not to split hairs, but just because the marketing material calls it "PCR quality" does not make it a PCR test.

"Lucira Check It provides PCR quality molecular accuracy"

It may be plenty good for travel needs, however. Thank you for the reference none the less.

-gauss

 

[Retired Expat]

We just cancelled our 2 week trip to France in October while full refunds are still available although one flight may take some time to get us the money back….

We are actually traveling and came to our summer home in New England after a stop in Brazil. I came down with a cold/allergies or Covid so quick got tested and all negative, Dr said mild cold but wicked Ragweed this year made it seem much worse. So for now we will limit travel to our own homes where we can quarantine or be sick in the comfort of our own place. The idea of getting stuck for a week or two confined to a hotel room and only room service, if we are lucky, makes me crazy.

 

[Sunset]

We just completed a cruise. My wife tested positive the last day on the ship so we both had to isolate on board. She had to quarantine in the port city for 10 days. I flew home, because I couldn't see her anyway. I tested positive 2 days later. I think we have the Delta Variant based on the symptoms. In my state, the Regeneron (Monoclonal Antibody Therapy) is readily available (free, no referral or appointment needed). In my wife's location, it was much more difficult to get the treatment (costly, appointment and referral needed). For both of us (fully vaccinated) it has been like a bad cold. Miserable for about 2 days and then steady improvement. I think the Regeneron treatment eased the symptoms.

So my take away. If you travel, assume you will get infected. Consider where you will be quarantined and whether the Regeneron treatment will be available in that location.

Wow.... thanks for describing your experience.

I keep thinking of taking a cruise, I keep getting more good sounding offers

Can you tell us what cruise this was, and the port city your wife had to quarantine in, what were the conditions of the quarantine.

Was she in a hotel, or government building or hospital , how did they know she didn't just fly home ?

Did the Cruise ship declare the number of covid cases (or as I am suspiciously thinking the rules allow x number of covid cases on a ship so business can run as normal).

 

[INTJ10]

Wow.... thanks for describing your experience.

I keep thinking of taking a cruise, I keep getting more good sounding offers

Can you tell us what cruise this was, and the port city your wife had to quarantine in, what were the conditions of the quarantine.

Was she in a hotel, or government building or hospital , how did they know she didn't just fly home ?

Did the Cruise ship declare the number of covid cases (or as I am suspiciously thinking the rules allow x number of covid cases on a ship so business can run as normal).

I hope the post was helpful. My wife asked to be tested because she had symptoms. Once the test was positive, CDC protocols kicked in and the cruise line took care of everything. We have no complaints at all. I am under no legal agreement to not disclose but I don't want to disparage the cruise line or port. I don't know anything about any other cases. The quarantine is a two room suite at a nice hotel.

 

[Scrapr]

We are at London Heathrow right now on our last leg home to Seattle. Once you figure out how all the paperwork works our flight out of Heathrow has been pretty easy. Using the VeriFLY app, we were able to satisfy all the requirements by submissions on our phone before we even checked in. We are flying business class on the way home but they offered us to upgrade to first for another $600 each. Yes the beds are much better and having your slippers and PJ put on by the flight attendant can be a 50-50 chance of being a good time but not worth 600.

My biggest fear was the lack of immigration officers when we had to do the one night layover here in London. A few weeks ago the lines were 5 1/2 hours long to get into baggage claim and they delayed unloading incoming flights because there was no room for people in the terminal.

In all it was an excellent time to come to Europe with far less than the usual crowds and a very low infection rate in the country’s we went to due to their constant checking vaccination records or current Covid test results.

By the way we had an unexpectedly easy time passing through immigration last night the officer was super friendly understood we were transiting and didn’t even ask for any paperwork for us I guess everything they needed was on the passenger locator record I filled out ahead of time online.

Thanks happyras. I have a London-Paris trip scheduled for Christmas. I have been watching the reports & things seem to be getting better for travel to the continent. We are staying a few days in London although we can transit also. Looking to see how the Oct 04 changes affect incoming tourists

Did you stay at a Heathrow hotel? I am thinking of staying one night then using Eurostar to get to Paris. Some reports of Verifly not accepting documents. Glad you got through OK

Safe travels

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Well, it's about a week out from DW and I heading to Mexico for a month. The 7 (and 30) day average is trending down for where we are and where we are going so we aren't too concerned. Nonetheless, we are flying non-stop in business class and have a private shuttle to a private home we are renting. We don't anticipate that we will be around a lot of people once we get "in place."

We are also starting a "pre quarantine" where we aren't really leaving the house. Last thing we want to do is get sick before getting ready to travel!

We are very much looking forward to the trip.

 

[Sunset]

I hope the post was helpful. My wife asked to be tested because she had symptoms. Once the test was positive, CDC protocols kicked in and the cruise line took care of everything. We have no complaints at all. I am under no legal agreement to not disclose but I don't want to disparage the cruise line or port. I don't know anything about any other cases. The quarantine is a two room suite at a nice hotel.

Sure, the post was helpful, but I wondered as we were on an Alaska cruise just over a month ago, and the fellow in the cabin beside us, sounded pretty sick about 5 days into the cruise. No idea what happened to him.

Wondering if we do another cruise, and get sick, could we expect/think the cruiseline would pay for the quarantine, in a hotel or was it totally on your dime ?

 

[INTJ10]

Sure, the post was helpful, but I wondered as we were on an Alaska cruise just over a month ago, and the fellow in the cabin beside us, sounded pretty sick about 5 days into the cruise. No idea what happened to him.

Wondering if we do another cruise, and get sick, could we expect/think the cruiseline would pay for the quarantine, in a hotel or was it totally on your dime ?

If he tested positive then he was moved to an "isolation area" like we were. It was pretty much the same cabin on a different deck. They "cleared the path" before they moved us to the new cabin. It was weird being escorted by people in hazmat suits.

In our case, the cruiseline paid for everything including the new flight home. I didn't ask about their policy before it happened. They were very gracious about it.

 

[HenryD]

Just booked to the UK on Icelandair to attend a family funeral. Same age as me. Cancer. Got an otherwise non-refundable ticket but paid $27 to make it flexible for medical reasons including COVID.

 

[Surewhitey]

Looking back on 2021 it seems we've been busier with trips to Alabama, Florida, Mexico, Colorado and soon to be Italy. And a couple weekend camping trips...

This is about standard for us pre-covid, so I guess we're kinda back to normal except we drove a couple of these. We only canceled our second planned trip to Mexico due to cases being worse than usual at the moment.

 

[Chuckanut]

We only canceled our second planned trip to Mexico due to cases being worse than usual at the moment.

That's about where I'm at. I cancelled two smaller trips this year because of Covid flare-ups in the area I was going to visit. Both, tend to be more rural areas with vaccination rates in the 30% to low 40% area. The last time I checked the fully vaccinated rate in my county is near 70% of the total population. Spending time in an area where the rate is 36% or even 42% seems to be somewhat risky, unless one will be outdoors all the time (hiking, camping, etc.). Due to my age I am considered high-risk though I don't feel like I am.

Earlier in 2021, I would not have worried about visiting a county with a low vaccination rate, but Delta was and still is a game changer.

 

[Montecfo]

Vancouver Island

Just booked a trip to Canada starting next week. Very excited to go to Victoria BC, one of our favorites spots, plus Tofino, Qualicum Beach and some other spots on the coasts. First trip outside US since 2019.

 

[gattara]

Just booked a trip to Canada starting next week. Very excited to go to Victoria BC, one of our favorites spots, plus Tofino, Qualicum Beach and some other spots on the coasts. First trip outside US since 2019.

Please keep us posted. That area is on my future travel list. Enjoy!

 

[Montecfo]

Please keep us posted. That area is on my future travel list. Enjoy!

Will do. This will be our 3rd trip-each more extensive than the last.

 

[gattara]

Will do. This will be our 3rd trip-each more extensive than the last.

The area that keeps drawing us back is Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. The hiking offers spectacular views. Can’t seem to get enough.

 

[Montecfo]

The area that keeps drawing us back is Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. The hiking offers spectacular views. Can’t seem to get enough.

Those are on our list.