Travel hopes 2021

goingtotravel said:
We are going to wait and see what happens also. We were going to go to Australia when DH retired this year (now postponed, the retirement) and Africa next year for my retirement. Still waiting to cancel the Australia tickets for a refund. Not even bothering to book Africa until we know their borders are open for travel. Thinking 2022 is going to be a very, very busy travel year for us to catch up - hopefully.
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Where are you thinking of going in Africa? DW and I did a safari in Tanzania (absolutely fantastic and saw literally thousands of animals) in fall of 2019 and can share some info if you'd like..
 
24601NoMore said:
Where are you thinking of going in Africa? DW and I did a safari in Tanzania (absolutely fantastic and saw literally thousands of animals) in fall of 2019 and can share some info if you'd like..
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What part? Was in the Selous the start of 1988...great...the animals there were totally non blasé around humans, compared to other areas, (Kenya, etc).
 
Nemo2 said:
What part? Was in the Selous the start of 1988...great...the animals there were totally non blasé around humans, compared to other areas, (Kenya, etc).
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We did several of the National Parks: Arusha (under-rated but safe to do walking tours as there are no predators - and we were able to literally walk up within 15 feet of a giraffe sitting in a field), Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti (Central and North). Finished up with a few days on Zanzibar to unwind.

Stayed in a combination of lodges (Tarangire, Ngorongoro) and "glamping" tents (Serengeti North and Central). Nothing like sleeping out in the middle of the brush with animals all around. One night, we had 4 Cape Buffalo decide to sit right outside our tent to eat..kept my wife awake half the night as she was listening to them munch on the grass. Hearing the lions, hyenas and other large carnivores during the middle of the night was a little unnerving at times, but am really glad we did it also..

Absolutely the trip of a lifetime.
 
24601NoMore said:
One night, we had 4 Cape Buffalo decide to sit right outside our tent to eat.
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Here are a few P.O.'d pachyderms in the Selous....we snuck up downwind, fine...wind changed...oops..one of them charged:


Our jury rigged tent...post storm:


In Kenya we underwent a situation similar to yours...guy bringing the pre game drive coffee couldn't get near our tent, (we'd chosen the furthest one out), since it was surrounded by elephants. :LOL:
 
My 81 year old mother was taking the family on a Douro river cruise in May 2020, cancelled of course. No idea when or if it will actually happen. By the time it is safe again she may no longer feel up to it.

Last week I put down a fully refundable $200 deposit for me and my husband on a Pacific Coastal 7 day cruise with Princess in September 2021. It’s roundtrip out of Seattle, so the pier is about 5 miles from our house. Easy to cancel if things don’t feel safe by then. Psychologically it feels good to have something booked.

In the meantime we have been tent camping in state parks a lot this summer. I got my husband a battery pack for his cpap, and it’s worked out great. Normally we would be spending a lot of free nights in local casino hotels, but that’s a big no from me for a while.
 
Nemo2 said:
In Kenya we underwent a situation similar to yours...guy bringing the pre game drive coffee couldn't get near our tent, (we'd chosen the furthest one out), since it was surrounded by elephants. :LOL:
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That's hilarious - we had the EXACT SAME THING happen to us in the N. Serengeti. Our camp always brought AM coffee within a minute of when they said they would. One morning, it was 5 minutes late..then 10 minutes late..we started wondering where the coffee was..

15 minutes later, the person bringing the coffee finally arrived and apologized profusely..our tent had still been surrounded by Cape Buffalo, and they apparently had to try to get them to leave by driving their trucks near them.

Ah, to be able to travel again..we both just ER'd last year and had planned to do at least one "big" trip a year. This year was going to be Costa Rica, New Zealand/Fiji or Scotland. Obviously not going anywhere, like most people..it's really bothering the wife but we're in no different situation than most other people so guess we'll just look forward to late 2021 (hopefully!) to get back out to new adventures..
 
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We are rebooking our Italian Dolomite trip for fall 2021. We would have been leaving shortly if our 2020 trip was a go. Funny thing we were credited twice for our missed trip, and we have until mid January to cancel, "no questions asked" for our 2021 trip.
 
DS graduates in May 2021. We are hoping international travel will be safe by then. Nothing is planned yet, but we are thinking about a family trip to Japan and Vietnam next summer.
 
NW-Reader said:
My 81 year old mother was taking the family on a Douro river cruise in May 2020, cancelled of course. No idea when or if it will actually happen. By the time it is safe again she may no longer feel up to it.
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We had Duoro cruise booked for Oct preceeded by Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Madrid but don't know when we will do it now.
 
I just pulled the trigger on a tour of Eastern Europe using my credits from Overseas Adventure Travel. Departure in late June of next year- Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. All "new-to-me" countries except Croatia. So far no out-of-pocket expense but that will change when I book flight even though I'm using AA miles- they charge $350 up front to redeem and apply another charge to to re-deposit if you cancel. OAT will allow change to another itinerary with no penalty up to 24 hours before the departure date and my credits are good through the end of 2022.
 
We are hoping for Ireland sept/oct 2021. There is a clan reunion we would love to go too. These reunions only happen once every 3 year so we hoping 2021 is our chance.
 
I just checked out a travel insurance policy that I thought might protect me if the tour company for my June trip went belly-up. Ha. This was from Allianz.

It does protect against insolvency of the tour company for specific airlines and tour companies. Grand Circle, the parent company of OAT, is on their list. You're covered if you buy within 2 weeks of booking your trip. So far so good.

Except that the company must still be on their list on the date your coverage starts. So, if they decide a week before my departure that Grand Circle is no longer on their list, travelers are SOL. No, thanks.:mad:
 
I have about a half dozen hotel and airline credits.

I'd like to use them next year though many of them are valid for 2 years.

But I don't know, unless vaccines and treatments changes the trajectory of the pandemic by the end of the first quarter of next year, I wonder about late spring and summer travel.

That would be ideal though if that happened.
 
If not for Covid, we'd be on our Alaska land/cruise tour right now. We rebooked for same time 2021.

What amazed me was how booked Princess is for the 2021 land/cruise. We waited about a week after cancellation to rebook and got the last cabin in our preferred category. Granted, it was one of the suites, but still. Given the reluctance of ER-org folks to get on a cruise ship any time soon, this really surprised us. Payment is due 3 mos. prior to trip and with only a $400 refundable deposit, why not.

Given what we now know about Covid and its possible ongoing serious effects, I'm not sure that even this far out, the trip will be a go.
 
Our first cruise (well, in a boat larger than 18 divers) was to be November 2020--Falklands, South Georgia, Antarctica; sandwiched between 6-8 weeks in Patagonia by car. Now have extremely tentative April-May in Patagonia (probably with Easter Island thrown in), and November 2021 cruise (bigger boat; about 120 passengers, I think). All depends upon whether the countries open up those options. If not, will depend upon what options are out there.

Managed to squeeze in Alaska for five weeks this summer, so won't be needing to do glacier hiking in the south at least!
 
Although I want to get back on the road and chomping at the bit to take some trips I’m just not even thinking about any travel in 2021 at this time.
 
I cannot see ant travel for us until late fall 2021.

The numbers are awful and going the wrong way. Listening to Dr. Fauci and others speak about the upcoming fall and winter was depressing. Ditto for the prospects of a safe, effective, and widely available vaccine for this year and q1/21.

We were waiting for the release of several travel guides. Two have been moved from this month to Sept 21. Makes sense but still discouraging.

At least we are safe and in good health.
 
TrvlBug said:
If not for Covid, we'd be on our Alaska land/cruise tour right now. We rebooked for same time 2021.

What amazed me was how booked Princess is for the 2021 land/cruise. We waited about a week after cancellation to rebook and got the last cabin in our preferred category. Granted, it was one of the suites, but still. Given the reluctance of ER-org folks to get on a cruise ship any time soon, this really surprised us. Payment is due 3 mos. prior to trip and with only a $400 refundable deposit, why not.

Given what we now know about Covid and its possible ongoing serious effects, I'm not sure that even this far out, the trip will be a go.
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I noticed when looking at rebooking, that Princess is not feeling any price pressure.
I was thinking so many folks that got cancelled, just reserved for next year, since the refund policy was enhanced.

I'm really unsure, as even with a vaccine in 2021 and even if it's 100% effective and safe, there are going to be shortages like the Shingles shot. So it could be into 2022 before everyone can get it.
 
Sunset said:
... ...

I'm really unsure, as even with a vaccine in 2021 and even if it's 100% effective and safe, there are going to be shortages like the Shingles shot. So it could be into 2022 before everyone can get it.
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Those are my thoughts also. We might do some drive trips next year but I have my doubts about the Alaska cruise. Thinking 2022 most likely for that or any international trips. We still have a few items on our travel bucket list so are anxious for things to get back to normal.
 
Yes, all of our trips this year were pushed towards close to the same dates next year.
I am thinking realistically, it will be 2022.
 
Funny you asked. We just booked tickets RT from east coast to Montana for 10k aa miles a piece. Fully reinstatable no fee

Crap shoot on whether we can go but it’s on the calendar for next July.
 
Dream on ...

Having just cancelled our two-weeks Hawaii summer vaca a couple of months back, we have scheduled our one-month Hawaii summer vaca in 2021. If by chance that gets cancelled, we will work on a two-month Hawaii summer vaca in 2022 :D <sort of kidding, but at the same time, not ... I need my Hawaii fix ! )

Also, have a couple of planned driving getaways in 2021 as well ...
 
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