Anyone Considering Cancelling Travel

[athena53]

We are sitting in Vienna

I'm jealous!

They ask one of the three gees when you go into a restaurant and we showed them our CDC vaccine card and all is good.

Geimpfed (immunized), Genasened (recovered, i.e., you've had it) and ___?

I got a letter yesterday from Overseas Adventure Travel, with whom I have trips booked for May (South America) and October (Eastern Europe) next year. I kind of ignore their current safety precautions- undoubtedly subject to change- but was happy to see that if you buy travel insurance through them (and I did), it covers cancellation if you have a positive test before departure and quarantine if that happens on the trip. That's a relief.

 

[Happyras]

ggggg tested negative within 24 hours

 

[Happyras]

John Cleese?

you get 5 points my friend!

 

[RunningBum]

Like was mentioned before if you are confident travel across the United States there should be no issue traveling into Europe or it’s actually safer?

In the US there's almost no chance travel between two places will suddenly be restricted, or that a restriction could be enforced. Internationally, you could suddenly be subjected to a quarantine or outright ban, if the US, destination country or intermediate stop takes action on international travel.

 

[Montecfo]

you get 5 points my friend!

Happyras,

Did you talk to him? Interesting guy but seems to have become soured in his autumn years.

Oh yes, and whatnot, great guess.

 

[Gotadimple]

I got a letter yesterday from Overseas Adventure Travel, ... but was happy to see that if you buy travel insurance through them (and I did), it covers cancellation if you have a positive test before departure and quarantine if that happens on the trip. That's a relief.

That's their arrangement with Allianz who is the insurer. This is Allianz' standard offering. Most every carrier today who sells a comprehensive travel policy offer trip interruption coverage that covers cancellation due to a positive Covid test pre-trip. Some do not offer quarantine coverage (meaning cost of accomodation while quarantined).

 

[whatnot]

Montecfo and Happyras,

Loved John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda.
Great movie.

 

[sengsational]

Booking Pain: PCR within 72 Hours

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!

 

[Scuba]

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!

Depending on where you live, there may be testing sites near your airport that provide quick results for travelers. Be ready to pay up though -$300 in our area.

 

[Surewhitey]

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...

 

[athena53]

That's their arrangement with Allianz who is the insurer. This is Allianz' standard offering. Most every carrier today who sells a comprehensive travel policy offer trip interruption coverage that covers cancellation due to a positive Covid test pre-trip. Some do not offer quarantine coverage (meaning cost of accommodation while quarantined).

Thanks- good info. I was on pins and needles before my Alaskan cruise because if I'd tested positive before the trip I would have lost the cost of the cruise.

And, also on the subject of cancellations, my scheduled road trip to SC to visit Dad and my siblings next week is postponed. Dad is in LTC and they're in lockdown again- an employee tested positive a week ago and another did yesterday. Window visits are miserable (we have to talk through phones and Dad will drop his or accidentally disconnect and forget how to reconnect) and DS tells me Dad's attention span is shortening. I never thought we'd still be in this mess now.

 

[retire-early]

Is the Canadian border open?

Compared to the 50 USA states + DC for Sept 15, 2021 ,
One of their provinces would be ranked #27 for Covid infections.
Two of their provinces would be ranked #37 and #38 for Covid infections.
And the remaining 10 provinces are doing even better than the best USA state Connecticut.
You don't want to be #1 Tennessee.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coron...vinces-rank-against-american-states-1.5051033

 

[sengsational]

Is the Canadian border open?

It looked like I could fly through Toronto when I checked yesterday, although I was a little confused. It required vaccination and a negative PCR test within 72 hours...that's easy to understand. But then it started talking about the differences between essential and non-essential travel. I'm not sure what they'd do if you landed and had a story that sounded less than essential to the border person.

 

[Out of Steam]

We're still taking several long trips by car between now and Thanksgiving, the longest about 500 miles one-way to a wedding. The location of the wedding makes us nervous, but we rented an AirBnB to be as self-contained as possible.

My wife will be flying to meet me during one of the other trips.

We've postponed a trip to the Southwestern US until early spring, at least.

 

[Montecfo]

Is the Canadian border open?

Compared to the 50 USA states + DC for Sept 15, 2021 ,
One of their provinces would be ranked #27 for Covid infections.
Two of their provinces would be ranked #37 and #38 for Covid infections.
And the remaining 10 provinces are doing even better than the best USA state Connecticut.
You don't want to be #1 Tennessee.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coron...vinces-rank-against-american-states-1.5051033

It is open yes. I'm planning trip.

 

[jcfradio]

Is the Canadian border open?

Compared to the 50 USA states + DC for Sept 15, 2021 ,
One of their provinces would be ranked #27 for Covid infections.
Two of their provinces would be ranked #37 and #38 for Covid infections.
And the remaining 10 provinces are doing even better than the best USA state Connecticut.
You don't want to be #1 Tennessee.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coron...vinces-rank-against-american-states-1.5051033

While Alberta would be ranked at #38 compared to US states, their hospitals are now almost completely full and they are approaching the point of having to triage ICU patients - not good. In fact, yesterday the provincial government backtracked and re-introduced more significant restrictions including limiting inside gatherings of vaccinated persons to 10 people and recommending no inside gatherings of unvaccinated people. So, Alberta is not on my current list of travel destinations.

 

[oiseux]

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 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?

 

[Gumby]

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?

Umbria is a really nice, quiet area, and you can see more of how people really live. There are ferries to Sicily; I don't know the Covid rules with respect to them.

 

[Happyras]

Montecfo and Happyras,

Loved John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda.
Great movie.

He mentioned that his wife he referred to as a fish because she like to swim a lot I think that was a pun intended against the movie.

 

[Happyras]

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.

 

[WestUniversity]

I am traveling and have continued to travel throughout the last year and a half. I’ve recently started traveling internationally again. Have another international trip coming up. The antigen rapid test is not that big of a deal IMHO.

Testing adds one more nuisance to “travel day” but the whole process has been somewhat painless. BTW, I’ve had COVID and I’ve been vaccinated…

 

[Aerides]

Umbria is a really nice, quiet area, and you can see more of how people really live. There are ferries to Sicily; I don't know the Covid rules with respect to them.

I learned from Stanley Tucci: There are trains that take the ferry to Sicily - the entire cars just get loaded on the ferry.

 

[retire-early]

BTW, I’ve had COVID and I’ve been vaccinated…

I guess it I had Covid and did not have anything "bad" happen, I would be more incline to do traveling.

The problem is I don't know how my own body will react.
The best case is asymptomatic.
The worse case is hospitalization and death.
That's quite a range.
I am fully vaccinated with Pfizer.

 

[Sunset]

I guess it I had Covid and did not have anything "bad" happen, I would be more incline to do traveling.

The problem is I don't know how my own body will react.
The best case is asymptomatic.
The worse case is hospitalization and death.
That's quite a range.
I am fully vaccinated with Pfizer.

There is still no guarantee, I read a news story of a person that got covid, recovered just fine, then got it again and died.

For travel, it's not the covid that stops me going to Europe, it's the regulations that change, the extra complexity and difficulty and the added expense of testing along with the very expensive possibility of denial of plane ride or entry due to some test botch up or covid result.

 

[JustCurious]

For travel, it's not the covid that stops me going to Europe, it's the regulations that change, the extra complexity and difficulty and the added expense of testing along with the very expensive possibility of denial of plane ride or entry due to some test botch up or covid result.

+1