Travel hopes 2021

"So I shouldn't believe the temperatures I see here on the page that the Yosemite National Park website says is for "Yosemite Valley"? It says "extended forecast for Yosemite Valley"

All depends on who's forecast you're looking at! The Sierra mountains don't get 100+ degree weather simply because of the elevation. Lower elevations do though. Here's a forecast I'd be more likely to believe.
https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/CANPYOSE:13:US
 
TrvlBug said:
While we prefer to rent cars for long driving trips less than 2 weeks, we're thinking of getting a rental car here (SF Bay Area), dropping it off at the end and flying home. Not anxious to do that much driving and we'll see how that plays out. Our concern is that even if we can reserve a rental car at our destination, will it be there waiting for us?
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We have dropped off cars going 1 way in the fall to Florida, and the reverse in the spring; we encountered no drop off fee. Done it 10 times at least.

However, a few years ago, we picked up a car in Albuquerque, kept it a week and dropped off in Tucson. Significant drop off fee PLUS taxes. The agent in Tucson told us that had we did it in reverse, it would have been $300 cheaper.
 
Regarding folks having trouble finding cars to rent over on Bogleheads someone said they were able to rent a UHaul van cheaper than renting a car for a few days. Might want to look into UHaul.
 
harllee said:
Regarding folks having trouble finding cars to rent over on Bogleheads someone said they were able to rent a UHaul van cheaper than renting a car for a few days. Might want to look into UHaul.
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DW takes a lot of luggage, but not enough to warrant a U-Haul!;)

We have since made alternate plans. Devil's Tower, Mt. Rushmore, and Badlands NP aren't going anywhere soon.
 
Winemaker said:
Tried to book 3 trips to various areas in the country; various times. Air fare relatively cheap, but available seats, plenty of hotel, motel, and VRBO rooms to stay, absolutely NO rental cars to get to any of these places once you land.
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I just booked rental cars for about 2 weeks in France, about $600 for one-way rental, suppose to be a smaller SUV with room for 3 large suitcases, though don't need that much space.

Price is comparable to what I've paid in past year.

So US rental agencies sold off their cars last year?

Then why are used cars so expensive? Because there's suppose to be a big shortage of them now, with also new cars delayed because of the chip production bottlenecks.

Seems like EU rental agencies managed their inventory better than the US rental agencies.
 
Breedlove said:
We hold tickets for Europe for early August . Our German friends seem to think things are about to open in the entire EU. Typical EU argue a lot but get it done at the last minute.
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Perhaps they argue a lot and might get a deal done that opens it up. However, individual countries still have the final say about who can enter their country and under what conditions. It is for that reason, I am not too exited yet. It all depends on where you want to go.
 
UnrealizedPotential said:
Perhaps they argue a lot and might get a deal done that opens it up. However, individual countries still have the final say about who can enter their country and under what conditions. It is for that reason, I am not too exited yet. It all depends on where you want to go.
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+1 And I would add it's also about one's expectations.

It's a bit dicey. I just read that the UK may not open up in June as planned. It might be delayed a few weeks from 6/21 to 7/9 thanks to the Delta variant. Imagine arriving in London on 6/22 for a two week stay thinking it will be very open. A few weeks ago, Rick Steves told his eager to travel customers that even late 2021 is very probably a no-go for him as he can't deliver the tour experience his customers expect. So, it all comes down to one's expectations.

FWIW, the Delta variant is here in the USA and it's share of infected people is doubling every week. Dr. Gottlieb expects it to hit 60% of all infections in a month or so. It's nasty and requires both doses of the mRNA vaccine to have very effective immunity. I have found Dr. G to be among those whose predictions are reasonably accurate.

We're not off the roller coaster yet.
 
explanade said:
I just booked rental cars for about 2 weeks in France, about $600 for one-way rental, suppose to be a smaller SUV with room for 3 large suitcases, though don't need that much space...Seems like EU rental agencies managed their inventory better than the US rental agencies.
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If I were to guess it would because so much of the EU is still shut down and there aren't many tourists. I would expect that when the tidal wave of travel starts in the EU, there will be similar issues with getting a car.
 
UnrealizedPotential said:
Perhaps they argue a lot and might get a deal done that opens it up. However, individual countries still have the final say about who can enter their country and under what conditions. It is for that reason, I am not too exited yet. It all depends on where you want to go.
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I agree. One of the reasons I moved my E. Europe trip, in addition to vague quarantine rules that would affect my transit through LHR, was that I'd be coming home from an itinerary that included Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and Slovenia. Any one of them could become a COVID trouble spot and make it hard for me to get back home without quarantining. It's unfortunate- I'm sure they're suffering from the decrease in tourism.
 
athena53 said:
I agree. One of the reasons I moved my E. Europe trip, in addition to vague quarantine rules that would affect my transit through LHR, was that I'd be coming home from an itinerary that included Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and Slovenia. Any one of them could become a COVID trouble spot and make it hard for me to get back home without quarantining. It's unfortunate- I'm sure they're suffering from the decrease in tourism.
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We are the same. There are those who think that simply because NA is opening up that all other countries should welcome us with open arms and with no restrictions. Not certain where this notion comes from or even why some people assume this. Could be a lack of informative, accurate international news (it does not come from tv news channels).

We are hoping to travel but will not make any plans until close to our travel date. Too much flux for us to do otherwise.
 
We long ago determined that our next international travel will not be until the second half of 22. And obviously, even that is subject to change.

The other thing we learned from all this is to never, never make any reservations that can't be cancelled without charge.
 
Wow. Reading all of this makes me think I'm just going to be glad that i have a 15 year old dog that is preventing me from making any extensive travel plans for now. I don't feel so bad/disappointed about not being able to plan much of anything in this chaotic travel season.
 
braumeister said:
The other thing we learned from all this is to never, never make any reservations that can't be cancelled without charge.
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Amen to that. It's generally been possible with hotels if you don't grab the lowest rate without reading the T&C but now even the airlines allow it as they pander to leisure travelers. I did get frustrated at AA- I wanted to swap my Business Class RT to Belize for a trip to Alaska for my rebooked cruise destination. Easy to cancel the Belize flight on-line and the credit showed up immediately but I couldn't apply it to the Alaska itinerary I wanted. The reason: ONE leg (Anchorage-Juneau) was on Alaska Airlines.

Heaven forbid they should hand over $200 of my money to a "partner" airline.:mad: I had to book that leg separately and pay out of pocket for it.
 
Pilgrimage with my church to the Holy Land is set for this coming January. I'm excited as it has been on my bucket list for awhile. Then, Austria/Czech Republic/Slovenia sometime in 2022 to visit old friends and conduct some genealogical research.
 
Here's a follow up to what I posted earlier today concerning the UK, the Delta variant, and the vaccines:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/vaccin...k-analysis-shows-11623690999?mod=hp_lead_pos1

Two doses of the Pfizer shot was estimated to reduce the risk of infection with Delta, first identified in India, by 79%, compared with a 92% reduction for the Alpha variant, first detected last year in England and also known as B.1.1.7. For the shot developed by AstraZeneca, the figures were 60% and 73%, respectively.
The Scottish analysis estimated the risk of hospitalization with Delta was reduced by around 70% after two doses of either vaccine.


U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday said a planned easing of public health restrictions slated for June 21 would be delayed for up to four weeks after cases of the Delta variant began rising rapidly in the country. Caseloads are currently averaging about 7,000 a day, three and a half times the rate a month ago, with most of those new cases caused by Delta.
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Of 33,000 Delta cases logged in England, 58% were in unvaccinated individuals, mostly in younger age groups, according to England’s public health agency. Of 383 people admitted to hospital, two-thirds hadn’t been vaccinated. A little over a fifth of those admitted, 86 people, had been sickened after only one dose of vaccine, with those fully vaccinated accounting for only 10% of hospital admissions.
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Assuming it's over and we can freely travel about the world over the next few months is still not a good idea.

FWIW, Gottlieb thinks the variants may not be able to change enough to evade our vaccines and still seriously infect us (no guarantees, of course). It seems that many of the changes that allow it to evade immunization also make it harder for the virus to latch onto our respiratory cells. It has to thread a needle to be successful, and there are only so many ways to do that.
 
We follow the Dutch news , the last 3 weeks have been very good for them with the last week only 800 cases a day . They say they are seeing things fall 38% in the last month . They have moved up stage 4 of the opening to June 26. We shall see....
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
If I were to guess it would because so much of the EU is still shut down and there aren't many tourists. I would expect that when the tidal wave of travel starts in the EU, there will be similar issues with getting a car.
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I worry about this. I’m headed there for the last two weeks in August. The rental company I’ve used in the past have closed all of their locations except for the airport location and there they have after-hour pickup for all cars, even during the day. They’re also more expensive than in the past.

I need to get a car booked soon. I’m not sure how much it’ll pick up in the next couple of months, but I think the demand will rise and rental companies have scaled back. It’s not clear how quickly they can ramp up, which could lead to higher prices.
 
Is anyone planning a trip and tour in Israel for 20201, or 2022? I have read that Israel plans to open for tourism fully on July 1. Wonder what issues people are finding as they plan for any Israel trips later this year or next year?

As I recall also, Israel and Egypt had pre-pandemic come to agreement to allow inter-country flight between those two nations. So, I wonder how a tour involving some sites in Egypt and some in Israel might work. Perhaps also some sites in Jordan.

Anyone with recent experience doing some travel research and planning?
 
JustKickItForward said:
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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Love it when a plan comes together. Heading out for our 4 weeks in Paradise very soon !!! ALOHA
 
For those of you hoping to take an international trip soon, make sure that the things you want to do will be available when you get there. I remember years ago when we had a trip planned to go to Scotland to play golf and that summer they had a big outbreak of "hoof and mouth" disease. It was not transmissible to humans so we went ahead with our trip. It was a bust. The golf courses and most other tourist attractions (like hiking) that we were interested in doing were closed.
 
Just read a story about a family that traveled to Hawaii, but their 72 hour negative Covid test results weren’t accepted because it wasn’t from an approved vendor even though it was from a large health care system, and their CDC cards showing fully vaccinated weren’t accepted either. They were required to undergo 14 days of quarantine in their hotel if they stayed, so they flew back home.

My point is, that you have to really make sure you meet all the non-quarantine requirements wherever you plan to go, including that the testing will be accepted by your destination. This will probably be going on for a while.
 
explanade said:
TMB?





In any event, if you didn’t book flights a couple of months ago, they’re much more expensive now.
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Sorry, Tour du Mont Blanc. Hiking circuit in France, Italy, and Switzerland.

Yes, our flights were booked some time ago. We used miles anyway. It’s looking promising. Just a week ago I had all but given up. Still have to learn the details of course.
 
audreyh1 said:
.......

My point is, that you have to really make sure you meet all the non-quarantine requirements wherever you plan to go, including that the testing will be accepted by your destination. This will probably be going on for a while.
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The difficulty in knowing what the rules will be in a month or two, helped me decide to pass on any multi-country long distance trip until next year.
 
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