Travel hopes for 2022

[OldConch]

Enjoy this one! We stayed just a bit down the road from Chena in February 2021-- our last unvaccinated trip. Were a little disappointed with our planned 3 nights, then extended a day and hit the jackpot with the lights.

Thanks for the info. We've got 3 nights at Chena and a day before/after in Fairbanks. Fairly good odds but you never know. We've not seen them before so really looking forward to the trip.

 

[flyingaway]

Couldn't resist the Black Friday specials and trying to make up for a very slow 2020. We try to get away once a month except in the summer when the weather is so nice in Eastern Washington. In 2021 we visited West Palm Beach, Tucson, Palm Springs, Death Valley, Puerto Vallarta, Vegas twice, Juneau UnCruise, Salmon River rafting, Kenai Peninsula, Seattle, Western Caribbean cruise, and a winter trip to Yosemite. Started traveling again in December 2020 with a very nice 2 week trip to the Big Island - prices were cheap and our AirBnB hosts very happy to have us. As a bonus, we were in Hilo when Kilauea erupted and felt the earthquake.


This has actually been a very good time for travel. Hawaii and Juneau were practically empty and our cruise on the Edge was at 850/2900 capacity and at fire sale pricing.

We tested prior to most trips and I got my J&J one-and-done on the Palm Springs trip. We're boosted and practice social distancing and mask when we can't except on planes where we double mask.

Love hearing about other people's travel plans!

We also travelled a few times in 2021, came back from Puerto Vallarta before Christmas. I don't actually worry about the virus itself, but I do worry about the possibility of getting tested positive in a foreign country and don't know how to deal with it. We had three shots already and I know that is not a guarantee for not tested positive.

As soon as the current surge abates, I am going to book trips to a few central and south America countries.

 

[OldConch]

We also travelled a few times in 2021, came back from Puerto Vallarta before Christmas. I don't actually worry about the virus itself, but I do worry about the possibility of getting tested positive in a foreign country and don't know how to deal with it. We had three shots already and I know that is not a guarantee for not tested positive.

As soon as the current surge abates, I am going to book trips to a few central and south America countries.

Testing positive prior to return to the U.S. is certainly a wild card. Our annual Allianz travel policy has an epidemic coverage endorsement that includes trip interruption benefits. We also brought additional test kits with us in case of an inconclusive result. We were prepared for two extra weeks in a quarantine hotel but thought the risk was low.

 

[Bamaman]

I've booked tickets to London for May. We'll immediately fly out of London to Finland, but I'm hoping to spend a few days in London before returning to the US.

After Finland, we're debating if we should go to Stockholm -> Copenhagen -> Berlin or Tallinn -> Riga -> Vilnius. Both are appealing and right now, I'm leaning towards the Nordic countries/Germany over the Baltic states, even though we might skip Stockholm depending on how much time we have and go straight to Copenhagen.

We visited the Scandinavian capitols and St. Petersburg about 5 years ago on a cruise out of Copenhagen. A cruise is the most economical way to travel to Scandinavia because the region is deadly expensive traveling on the ground.

We recently booked a 7 day cruise out of Copenhagen the end of May, 2022 for a ridiculously low price. Flying through Dublin is the least expensive flight to Europe with round trips in the mid $500's--depending on where you're flying from. From Dublin, Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Norwegian Air Shuttle and others fly ridiculously cheap to anywhere on the continent.

Getting back to your initial question about the region: Helsinki is a nice, but somewhat small city, and it'd be good to visit for one or two days. Tallin is a beautiful little town, and we really enjoyed the beer halls and green lush scenery there. Stockholm is a much larger, scenic city but it's pretty far north. We spent quite a few days in Copenhagen, and we loved the place. We flew over to Oslo and spent a day before taking a train and hydrofoil west through the fjords to Bergen, Norway. We found the locals in Bergen to be so nice and incredibly beautiful.

We also spent two days in St. Petersburg on fantastic city tour. It's simply one of most beautiful cities anywhere and we hope we'll be allowed to return in May--given current political climates.

We are going to stop back by London and introduce our granddaughter to the Bayswater/Kensington neighborhood we have stayed in many times.

You mentioned travel to Berlin, and we just returned from there in October. We found it to be a city of young people eating American fast foods. Some of their famous museums weren't even that good. We went down to Dresden and found it to be the real Germany--great German food and at one time the most beautiful, cultured city in Europe. Trains go from Berlin to Dresden to Prague and Vienna--all worthwhile places to visit.

 

[skyking1]

It seems like I hear something most every day that reduces my interest in traveling domestically in the US.

We have plans to RV across the country after retirement. That will still be palatable.

 

[Scuba]

Just booked flight to Venice in July. My BFF’s 60th is in July and she wants to celebrate in Croatia. Otherwise we would have chosen later timing. The plan is 4 nights in Venice, then board 38-passenger cruise in northern Croatia, end up in Dubrovnik and then explore more of Croatia for 4-6 weeks. Looking forward to it!

On second thought, we decided that we could reduce risk on this trip by avoiding border crossings if possible. Croatia has plenty that interests us so we are going to try to change our flights and skip Venice. We’ll do Venice another time hopefully.

 

[Out of Steam]

I've been doing more of that- but not by plane! I have found lower mask compliance on road trips- convenience stores mostly have signs saying something like "it would be nice if you wore a mask" and no one does. I get in and out as quickly as I can and bring a cooler of "road food" with me. I've been using mostly Hampton Inns where masks are optional for vaccinated patrons and staff, and again almost no one wears them. But, I use mine, so does anyone with whom I travel and so far, so good. It's a lot more controllable than plane flights- BF and I have occasionally walked into a crowded restaurant and walked out again if we're not comfortable with spacing.,

I haven’t flown since COVID began, but will go to Europe at some point. I’m at the point where I have to assume that the risk levels of the last 6 months are permanent.

Agree on convenience stores being pretty close to mask-free. As for hotels, I’ve stayed in them, but am more comfortable in AirBnBs. Our cars are also older than I am comfortable using on road trips more than a day’s drive from home, and a roadside breakdown seems pretty close to a worst case scenario for unavoidable virus exposures.

Overall, our long-distance driving appears to be winding down towards only that required to see family.

 

[Chuckanut]

Here's a source for a quick overview of the Covid expectations for different states:

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-advice/travel-planning/travel-restrictions-by-state/

Like many elements of travel, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on domestic travel. Constantly changing restrictions and guidelines leave many travelers unsure about how to travel between states and what will be required of them upon arrival. To help clarify the situation, InsureMyTrip has aggregated recent data from reliable sources and condensed it into maps, which will be updated as necessary, to reflect the latest restrictions and guidelines for each state.

Here's a sample using the state of Delaware:

Delaware As of January 21, Delaware has no statewide travel restrictions. We recommend that travelers continue to follow the CDC’s travel guidelines and comply with mask mandates.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Here's a source for a quick overview of the Covid expectations for different states:

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-advice/travel-planning/travel-restrictions-by-state/

Good map, but the only thing I figured out in regards to "covid expectations" is to expect the UNexpected.

 

[Sojourner]

DW and I have decided to go ahead with our trip to Colorado early next month for some long-anticipated skiing. The case numbers are falling there (fairly rapidly), although they might still be higher than the peak of the Delta surge while we're there. We are both fully vax'd and boosted, so our thinking at this point is that being able to get out on the slopes again is worth the not-so-bad risk of getting mildly sick with Omicron for a couple days. And even if that happens, missing a few days of skiing due to Omicron means we'll have really good, "boosted" protection for all our travel and other social activities for the next several months, if not longer. So, it's kind of a win-win, in that sense!

 

[Ronstar]

Canceled our April NYC trip. NYC doesn't look like a safe place to visit now. Still have a late winter Arizona road trip and a summer Yellowstone/Glacier NP trip.

 

[Trailwalker]

Going to road trip to southern New Mexico and southern Arizona. Have a couple of airbnb's lined up in Las Cruces and Bisbee.

 

[Christine]

I am currently on holiday in Gran Canaria (Spain). Masks everywhere. And a covid passport required to get into Spain (from Norway). And then Norway require me to do a DIY test after I get home again.

Apart from that it's nice to finally be traveling again.

With Omicron everywhere - which I'm going to be infected by no matter what I do - my reasoning was that it might as well be now when I'm recently triple jabbed. I'm not actively looking to be infected or anything. I would be more scared of getting infected with the almost gone by now Delta.


Most people seem to be masking up but there is always someone sticking out occasionally.


Going out for dinner soon.

We had a very nice trip!



On the plane back home my friend got a runny nose. And he tested positive the next day. And I tested positive one day later. No symptoms for me so a mild covid so far. We are both triple jabbed.


Would have travelled even if we knew we'd catch covid. My friend is still working and many of his colleagues have catched omikron lately. So it's a fair chance he would have gotten it anyway. Infection levels in both countries are comparable.


We were both reasonable careful. Ate at restaurants etc. Wore masks all the time outside of the hotel room.

 

[Out of Steam]

Canceled our April NYC trip. NYC doesn't look like a safe place to visit now.

I suspect that cases there will drop quickly there as the winter fades. My wife is very cautious, but is leaving open the possibility of going to a baby shower an hour north of there at the end of February.

 

[rodi]

That's what I thought.

Nothing on their website indicates it is cancelled. But the email references my name and booking number. The message is less than informative


It then goes on to say money already paid will be a future credit that must be used to book by June 2022 (only 2 months later than this cancelled cruise)

Spent the day trying to claw back money from the canceled transatlantic cruise.

Backstory - had a planned trip - fly to Florida, visit BIL, then get on a transatlantic cruise to Genoa, hang out in Cinque Terre, then Milan, then fly home. The cruise line canceled the cruise so the trip fell apart entirely.

Got the cruise line to agree to refund both the deposit and the cruise insurance that I paid for but was denied payment from. They (the cruise line) cancelled the cruise. The insurance, which was booked through their website, denied the claim. They were only offering credit with super limited windows to book. Round 1 of phone negotiations, a WIN.

Then got hubby to pick dates to go visit his brother so I could use the alaska air credits for that trip (Our flights to Florida from the original trip). Again - had trip insurance for the flight - but the trip insurance denied the refund... I was able to use the credit for a round trip for hubby. Round 2 of phone negotiations, a WIN

Then I started on the trying to reuse the American Airlines ticket credit from our cancelled flight from Milan to San. We are going to Machu Picchu/Galapagos in the fall and the dollars and airline are just about right to repurpose for that trip. Got put on hold, then offered a call back for 2.5-4 hours later. Got the callback about hour 3... only to be told I can't use it for anything using dollars because the ticket credit was in Euros. Had the agent talk to his supervisor. No love. I have an email in to their customer relations (agent said this was the best way to deal with it.) Round 3 of phone negotiations... so far a LOSS. (Hoping the email works.)

Lessons learned - trip insurance may not be worth much if the carrier cancels on you, vs you coming down with a disease or death in the family. And make sure the credit you get when you cancel a flight is in a useable form.

It was a long day. I hate talking on the phone. I had to work really hard to be nice, grateful, obsequious to try and get them to do what is right.

 

[audreyh1]

Terrible! How could the insutydeny the claim?

 

[lajolla]

Heading out on Friday to ski this weekend at Mammoth in the Eastern Sierra. H and I are making up for our trip we canceled in early January when we came down with Covid. This is just our second ski trip of the season (we skied Utah before Christmas). We are getting excited for our big trip coming up 2/19 when we head to Taos, Copper Mountain, Winter Park, Steamboat and Crested Butte to ski. We also have stops in Sedona and Monument Valley. H and I really love our winter road trips!

 

[Ronstar]

I suspect that cases there will drop quickly there as the winter fades. My wife is very cautious, but is leaving open the possibility of going to a baby shower an hour north of there at the end of February.

Covid is not the cause of my safety concerns - its rampant crime.

 

[braumeister]

I'm currently enjoying a ski week in Colorado. 2.5 days to drive out here, very easy with little traffic. Conditions today were wonderful. I was pretty nervous because this is my first time on the slopes in three years, due to Covid, but it all started coming back to me within an hour. Talking with folks while riding the lifts, there are lots of us in the same boat, and we're all just deliriously happy to be here!

 

[dm]

We are canceling our planed trip to Arizona and Utah this spring. Going to Savanna and Charleston instead. Will reschedule the trip out west till late summer/fall.

 

[Souschef]

We are canceling our planed trip to Arizona and Utah this spring. Going to Savanna and Charleston instead. Will reschedule the trip out west till late summer/fall.

I tried sending you the link to our trip story, but I am having a problem.
I have attached the story instead.

 

[brett]

Watching air fares to Portugal and to Greece for May/June and/or Sept/Oct.

May/June fares in line with what we paid pre covid. Sept/Oct fares are up....about 20 percent higher. Odd. Same airlines.

Might be overly optimistic about May/June however one never knows. Still a long way off.

 

[camfused]

I have given up hoping for a Europe trip this spring, due to Covid. Instead, I think I will do a 2 week road trip out to the Black Hills SD area (I am in NC). Just me, since DW does not like to travel that much anymore (due to having to eat GF and DF, and other factors).

I'll probably also try to get in a couple of domestic flying trips to Tucson area and the southern Utah national parks.

But, Covid could still screw my plans over.

 

[truenorth418]

I travel full-time, without a home base, so travel is a way of life for me.

I’m on a cruise this week - Mayan Riviera - and enjoying it very much. Today is a sea day and I’m spending it working on an extensive 2022 travel schedule.

If all goes to plan, I’ll spend 100 nights on cruise ships this year. Overall I’m planning to visit 44 countries, including at least 10 countries I’ve never visited before, plus some old favorites.

Will I be able to accomplish all of this? I’m fully vaccinated, and boosted, and I’ve had covid (delta), so now it’s just up to the various countries and their travel restrictions. Many of my destinations, such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Morocco, Thailand and others are now taking steps to reduce requirements for travel, so I’m hopeful.

And if one of my countries isn’t open when I plan to go there, I’ll just go someplace that is open, such as Mexico, the DR or Florida.

 

[flyingaway]

I travel full-time, without a home base, so travel is a way of life for me.

I’m on a cruise this week - Mayan Riviera - and enjoying it very much. Today is a sea day and I’m spending it working on an extensive 2022 travel schedule.

If all goes to plan, I’ll spend 100 nights on cruise ships this year. Overall I’m planning to visit 44 countries, including at least 10 countries I’ve never visited before, plus some old favorites.

Will I be able to accomplish all of this? I’m fully vaccinated, and boosted, and I’ve had covid (delta), so now it’s just up to the various countries and their travel restrictions. Many of my destinations, such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Morocco, Thailand and others are now taking steps to reduce requirements for travel, so I’m hopeful.

And if one of my countries isn’t open when I plan to go there, I’ll just go someplace that is open, such as Mexico, the DR or Florida.

I also want to travel a lot this year. But at this time, some of the entry requirements, especially that of returning to the U.S., make me hesitate.
One day, I tell myself that I should go no matter what. On the next day, I may ask myself why bother for the potential troubles.
I can see that the restrictions are being loosened. I hope that the U.S. removes test requirements for vaccinated travelers soon.