Travel hopes 2021

Re: unsanctioned activities for people in their 90s - if I make it that far, I'm going to have dessert at lunch AND dinner!

As far as 2021 travel goes, I'm hoping to do some east coast road trips (MA/PA/MD) and figure out where our next home will be. DH and I have been discussing Southern Italy for 2022, but I'm honestly not looking forward to crowds of frustrated travelers like myself, all trying to make up for lost time. ;)
 
Boose said:
Re: unsanctioned activities for people in their 90s - if
I make it that far, I'm going to have dessert at lunch AND dinner!
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heck, when I'm 80, I'm taking up cigars, but only really expensive ones
 
Boose said:
Re: unsanctioned activities for people in their 90s - if I make it that far, I'm going to have dessert at lunch AND dinner!
)
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At 94, my MIL does not want to eat, complaining of indigestion. My wife had to force her to eat, because she keeps losing weight.

I remember my grandmother also refused to eat in the later years, also complaining of indigestion. When my grandmother developed dementia, she forgot about that indigestion, stopped complaining, and ate more.
 
I just finished up part of our travel reservations which will begin next Sat. 4/17 we will be camping in Ms., LA, Tx, Ar, Mo, Ky, Tn, NC, Ga. & home, some time around the end of May. We want to be back before my DW birthday and our big 50 anniversary in middle of June. We have already been in our camper more nights this year than we got to use it last year so we are hoping to wear it out this year!
 
Boose said:
... DH and I have been discussing Southern Italy for 2022, but I'm honestly not looking forward to crowds of frustrated travelers like myself, all trying to make up for lost time. ;)
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Forget Italy, or any Western European country. You know it's going to be shoulder-to-shoulder with tourists jamming every attraction.

For less crowded places to visit, you can peruse Youtube travel videos by "Bald and Bankrupt". He covered many interesting places far off the beaten path. Heck, one may have to make his own path. ;)
 
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explanade said:
Italy is doing it to some of their islands like Capri and Ischia but that is alienating people in nearby Naples and so on.
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I have a cousin in Sicilia who can get you vaccine for your entire family. The good stuff too! He will toss in a few Arrancini di Riso also. Mangi!

Restarting an industry that has been shut down for over a year will be tough. 'Adventure Travel' may get an entirely new meaning.
 
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Chuckanut said:
I have a cousin in Sicilia who can get you vaccine for your entire family. The good stuff too! He will toss in a few Arrancini di Riso also. Mangi!
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Does he mix up his own in the back?

Like that gypsy Madame Rue who can make you a shot of "Love Potion #9"?

 
Chuckanut said:
I have a cousin in Sicilia who can get you vaccine for your entire family. The good stuff too! He will toss in a few Arrancini di Riso also. Mangi!

Restarting an industry that has been shut down for over a year will be tough. 'Adventure Travel' may get an entirely new meaning.
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Actually there are criticisms about the vaccine rollout in Italy.

There is a higher percentage of people in their 20s and 30s vaccinated than people on their 70s. The regional govts allowed a lot of line jumping.

So Italy has more deaths in recent weeks than France.
 
Venturer said:
I just finished up part of our travel reservations which will begin next Sat. 4/17 we will be camping in Ms., LA, Tx, Ar, Mo, Ky, Tn, NC, Ga. & home, some time around the end of May. We want to be back before my DW birthday and our big 50 anniversary in middle of June. We have already been in our camper more nights this year than we got to use it last year so we are hoping to wear it out this year!
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Did you have trouble getting campground reservations? I was wondering if the campgrounds are really crowded? Where in my state of NC are you camping?
 
harllee said:
brett, I agree about cruise ships. Getting trapped on a cruise ship with a bunch of sick people would be a terrible nightmare. I am definitely avoiding cruise ships for a long time.
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I didn't vett the article, but I just read that cruise bookings are loading up with few discounts. DW and I were once/twice-a-year cruisers pre COVID, but still way too soon for us as well.
 
harllee said:
Did you have trouble getting campground reservations? I was wondering if the campgrounds are really crowded? Where in my state of NC are you camping?
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Most of my reservations were COE campgrounds with 2 state parks and 2 commercial campgrounds. The hardest part so far has been the COE and state parks on weekends. But that has always been the case ever since online reservations opened. As far as this trip I will be traveling a little farther from Tx. into Ar. than I wanted to but I was able to secure a weekend spot in Degray lake state park resort by calling when the web said they didn't have anything available. I (DW) prefers something with at least a water view, but some times beggars can't be choosers. In NC I plan to stay somewhere in or near Maggie Valley/Waynesville/Cherokee. From there it will be down to NE Ga. mountains, then home!:dance:
 
martyp said:
On April 1st Thailand reduced the quarantine requirements from 14 days to 7 (or 10?) days for vaccinated travelers. There is a plan to eliminate the quarantine for a limited number of destinations. However, as of today there is a 3rd, more serious outbreak, here. Many venues being shut down and the UK variant is now spreading. I don’t think travel restrictions will ease much more this year. Most tourist destinations are not much fun anyway with the business closures.
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martyp....can you give some insights into the covid situation in Thailand? Also in Malaysia and Vietnam if you have knowledge. Are the numbers as low as we have read, etc, etc and has the covid situation been going the right way?


We are hoping to spend next winter in the area.
 
brett said:
martyp....can you give some insights into the covid situation in Thailand? Also in Malaysia and Vietnam if you have knowledge. Are the numbers as low as we have read, etc, etc and has the covid situation been going the right way?


We are hoping to spend next winter in the area.
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Between May - December, 2020, Thailand had essentially zero cases of internal transmission. The cases that were detected were in the 14 day quarantine of inbound travelers. Late last year we started hearing about an outbreak in Myanmar. Then cases were detected in a province on the southwest border of Bangkok. It was among Myanmar workers. It was a big outbreak. There was a hard lockdown in that province. Immigrant workers don’t travel much and there was progress in containing the outbreak. Then last week, just before the Thai New Year Songkran, there was a new bigger outbreak in nightclubs in Bangkok. Nightclub goers do travel around and now it is spreading quickly.

I worked and retired from the US Department of Energy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. I spent half my career at the Joint Genome Institute DNA sequencing facility. I follow the news here closely. They have good scientific advisors and the government takes the epidemic seriously. I trust the numbers more-or-less. Note that the numbers reflect contact tracing which you can do when infections are low. There is no widespread regular testing. However, there have only been 97 Covid deaths and that, by itself, is indicative of the low rate of infection in the population so far.

The government has been trying to open up the tourist economy. Part of that plan has been to depend on high rates of vaccinations. However, Thailand, as a developing country, has not received much in the way of vaccine deliveries. 2-3 million doses of Sinovac and small shipments of AstraZeneca so far. There is a plan to receive 26 million doses of AstraZeneca in June and to produce their own AstraZeneca starting in June. It may be reasonable to expect those dates to be delayed. It is hard to see that most of the population would be vaccinated by the end of the year.

The plan that they are currently implementing is to vaccinate the population in tourist islands like Phuket and Samui to create tourist havens. No quarantine required. Whether they stick to that plan in the midst of the current outbreak is anyone’s guess. So travel here next winter? I would give that a qualified . . . maybe depending on your travel destination.
 
Thank you martyp. Interesting to hear from someone in-country. Stay safe!
 
Just booked an all inclusive scuba package in Roatan the first week of September. St Croix for the USMC birthday in November. Staying at the "Fred" on the water in Frederiksted. Also going to the USVI in Feb 2022 but there is a different thread for that year. Safe travels to you all.
 
flyingaway said:
Flying 95 years old FIL to Mexico? I hope I did not read it incorrectly.
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That’s correct.

Pre-Covid we took him along on our trips frequently to Mexico and Costa Rica. He’s a great and fun guy who often travels internationally by himself. His last trips prior to the COVID lockdown were a solo trip to China for a month and then right after a long weekend trip from California to France to represent his WW2 squadron at an event.

We are all fully vaccinated and are happy to be able to make our trip to Mexico a trio. Fun times ahead!
 
Well, I postponed my E. European trip a couple of days ago. It was to start June 26 with flights to Albania. I was to connect in London in both directions, staying overnight on the way there, and with recent UK requirements about quarantine unless you're coming from a country on the "green" list and the classification of countries subject to change, it was too iffy.

Pretty painless- Overseas Adventure Travel charged nothing except a small increase in the cost for the new booking, now in August. AA redeposited all my miles at no cost and I cancelled the reservations near connecting airports with no penalties.
I really hope the tour company stays in business and that my scheduled cruise (small ship, about 75 passengers with UnCruise) off Belize and Honduras in October goes as planned. I'm vaccinated and ready to go!
 
We got word earlier this week our reposition RV trip to Alaska had been cancelled for the year. This event is an annual affair by Great Alaskan Adventures who "moves" their new RV's from the factory in Elkhart to Anchorage by drivers who get what is close half price RV rental to drive the units. This is the second year they have had to cancel moving any new units to Alaska. They apparently learned their lesson last year when they had to refund everyone. This year they only took a deposit and held off on the balance so no refunds required.
 
United Airlines just cancelled my early June flight to Portugal. They still aren't open to non-residents a without a good reason, but I was hoping.

Looks like it will be a driving vacation this summer.
 
I think politicians are under big pressure to open up.

In Italy, there have been demonstrations by restaurant owners and hospitality workers.

So they're probably hoping that vaccinations will start to reduce spread. They have to I guess work on the mechanics of verifying vaccination and negative tests, at least get it read if by end of June things look good.

They have very low number of new cases last summer but of course variants are in the mix this year, along with vaccines.

But they're not paying people who own the affected businesses or the workers who've been furloughed.

They've also given bailouts to their airlines already and they're going to have every incentive to try to avoid propping up the tourism industry on their side.
 
explanade said:
I think politicians are under big pressure to open up.

In Italy, there have been demonstrations by restaurant owners and hospitality workers.

So they're probably hoping that vaccinations will start to reduce spread. They have to I guess work on the mechanics of verifying vaccination and negative tests, at least get it read if by end of June things look good.

They have very low number of new cases last summer but of course variants are in the mix this year, along with vaccines.

But they're not paying people who own the affected businesses or the workers who've been furloughed.

They've also given bailouts to their airlines already and they're going to have every incentive to try to avoid propping up the tourism industry on their side.
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Boy, I sure hope they’re under pressure to open up. Hope it works
 
We are no longer hopeful of going to Europe in the late fall.

Covid numbers are not good, this is far from over notwithstanding what politicians have to say about it.

I do not think anyone can predict covid at this point.

We are hopeful that we can get to SE for next winter though. As long as their current good numbers hold.
 
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I think SE Asia may be even further behind on vaccinations than Europe.
 
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