Travel hopes for 2022

[Crewer]

DH loves cruises and I've often told him we should just postpone them until they are our only option. We went when he was working (own business) because that was his only true getaway but better internet on the ships even squashed that. Now he'll be much less likely to want to go, which is fine by me.

For 2022: three trips deferred from 2020 - tulip cruise from Amsterdam and as a bonus they are hosting some European expo in 2022 so we can add that in; Dordogne -escorted - to see reproductions of the caves; we were invited to Melbourne for a month and Sydney for a week and I think the invitations still stand. We also had been spending some time in Lisbon every November for a few years and had to postpone that so I hope that will be back on. And we have an invitation for a month in Dresden but schedule is still TBD. I also have a couple road trips I'd like to take in the US.

I don't think about these things too much but DH is so eager to start traveling that he brings them up often.

 

[Nemo2]

On that site, there are a few people that have over 100,000 posts! It must be a contest, because I have read their posts, and have absolutely nothing to offer.

I must be super efficient then, 'cause I've offered absolutely nothing here and it's only taken me ~8,300 posts.

 

[Finance Dave]

The other thing about those long cruises is that probably half the days will be "at sea" meaning not even anything to look at but the ocean. What a waste of (my) time, and no interest at all here.

What you say is correct, and I agree. But the other side of the argument is that many who go on cruises like the "simplicity" of them. No worrying about taxis, Ubers, driving after drinking alcohol, maps, train stations, damage to rental cars, etc. Also, while there is nothing but the ocean to see on the outside, the cruise lines usually offer all sorts of events such as wake boarding, how to juggle classes, euchre tournaments, art auctions, wine tasting, and the list goes on and on. You don't have to "organize" these events, they show up every day on a sheet of paper slipped under your door. This "simplicity" is appealing to many people.

Personally, I prefer to explore local culture, so I don't get much out of a cruise...but we do go on them to spend time with friends and family.

 

[Souschef]

There are people who love sea days and people who hate them. YMMV. When we were first married, we traveled with a vengeance.
However,after 12 years, 41 countries,500 travel days,and 17 cruises, we are done with lengthy travels.
On sea days, we set up our "day camp" on our balcony. We have our readers, with music saved and played through mini speakers, and lunch from room service.




[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

 

[bclover]

Going to try to do two trips in 2022
Singapore. My best friend and I. celebrating turning 60 and retiring.
Greece with my sons.

as with everyone else. it will depend on Mr. Covid

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

What you say is correct, and I agree. But the other side of the argument is that many who go on cruises like the "simplicity" of them. No worrying about taxis, Ubers, driving after drinking alcohol, maps, train stations, damage to rental cars, etc. Also, while there is nothing but the ocean to see on the outside, the cruise lines usually offer all sorts of events such as wake boarding, how to juggle classes, euchre tournaments, art auctions, wine tasting, and the list goes on and on. You don't have to "organize" these events, they show up every day on a sheet of paper slipped under your door. This "simplicity" is appealing to many people.

Personally, I prefer to explore local culture, so I don't get much out of a cruise...but we do go on them to spend time with friends and family.

This sounds like the folks who don't want to retire because, "what will I do all day?!?"

I get that a cruise might be appealing for all those reasons, but I loathe any kind of "schedule" and a cruise is all about the schedule. When I am traveling, once I get where I am going...I don't want to be a clock watcher.

 

[mn54]

It probably will be a go, but Canada is like Europe in regards to the vaccine rollout so watch it carefully. They make the USA look like champs in comparison.

canada's borders are closed for now. they are quite behind the US due to lack of vaccine.
right now they are vaccinating those 80 and older. just talked to cousin in manitoba. would like to go up there this summer but it doesn't look good for now.

 

[friar1610]

Some friends invited us to join them on a Viking River Cruise in France in Nov '21. After doing some soul searching we decided it was just a bit too early for us. Viking has not had a cruise in over a year and there are a lot of cruise vouchers that will need to be used IMO. If Viking is actually cruising, I expect the boats to be FILLED as soon as they open up. DW has had her 1st Covid shot. Me? I'm still waiting to get called...... We won't go on any international travels until there is a worldwide "all-clear" announced. Maybe 2022?

Viking fan here. We had soon-expiring vouchers from a missed port visit on a Viking Ocean cruise just over a year ago. Married them up with their current no-risk guarantee and booked a Rhine cruise for fall 2022. If things are iffy then, we can rebook until a later date with no financial penalty. If they cancel the cruise, we can either get a 100% cash refund or a 125% credit for the future. We were tempted to try booking for fall 2021 but decided that might be pushing it.

 

[explanade]

Invited?

Will they pay for your cruise tickets?

 

[Aus_E_Expat]

I doubt if Australia and New Zealand for leisure travel until 2022 and even then they will probably still require some form of mandatory quarantine.

Currently it is 14 days strict lock up quarantine - by 2022 it may change to home quarantine for 14 days but that is not going to work for foreign tourists.

I have been able to travel in and out of Australia on business travel but the 14 days lock up quarantine is not a lot of fun.

 

[whatnot]

Booked a Galapagos cruise for Mar 2022.
Feeling hopeful! Looking forward to traveling again.

 

[Chuckanut]

Alas, more negative news for potential travel to Europe later this year:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/europe...ine-hopes-recede-11615558520?mod=hp_lead_pos6

And, I have to assume that the travel industry in the USA had better not count on an big influx of Europeans willing to spend their Euros seeing the wonders of the USA.

Since this article is behind a pay wall, I will add some relevant quotes:

Contagion is rising again in much of the European Union, despite months of restrictions on daily life, as more-virulent virus strains outpace vaccinations. A mood of gloom and frustration is settling on the continent, and governments are caught between their promises of progress and the bleak epidemiological reality.

In Europe, however, new Covid-19 cases have been rising again since mid-February. U.S. infections and deaths, which were higher than the EU’s on a per-capita basis for most of 2020, have fallen below Europe’s.

But Europe’s efforts continue to suffer from the EU’s slowness in procuring and approving vaccines, production delays at vaccine makers, and bureaucratic holdups in injecting available doses.

Note that the exception to the above gloomy situation in Europe is the UK. The UK has a somewhat different way of doing things than the main continent. What was that apocryphal headline in the British press about a century ago?

Fog closes channel. Europe Cutoff.

 

[braumeister]

I try to look on the bright side. Our travel budget has grown so much last year and this year that I won't feel the least bit guilty about flying first class when the opportunity finally presents itself again.

 

[Chuckanut]

Hot off the AP website today:

The new Italian government says it aims to have 80% of the population vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of September.
<snip>
Just under 2 million people in Italy – or roughly 3% of the population – had been fully vaccinated as of Saturday.

To put the above into perspective, the USA has about 10% fully vaccinated, and about 20% have received at least one shot.

 

[grasshopper]

Still have our fingers crossed for hiking the Italian Dolomites in the fall, and are looking at the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece for the fall of 2022. Or push them both out when we can travel.

 

[skyking1]

We have a standing invite to visit friends in the UK. I think that 2022 we will give it a go, DW's work permitting. I don't care to do the jet lag and travel for less than 3 weeks and her work may balk at that. We'll kick the work to the curb in 2023 so we might have to wait.

 

[Souschef]

We have a standing invite to visit friends in the UK. I think that 2022 we will give it a go, DW's work permitting. I don't care to do the jet lag and travel for less than 3 weeks and her work may balk at that. We'll kick the work to the curb in 2023 so we might have to wait.

We fly from the West Coast, so it is a 10-11 hour flight for us. The thing that saves us from jet lag is to fly Business Class, especially on BA.
We get to the airport early, visit the Business Class Lounge for a light meal and beverage. The seats lay flat and DW loves it, as she can sleep on her side.
We arrive in London rested and refreshed.
It may be BTD, but well worth it, especially if you have miles or can get some sort of a deal.

 

[skyking1]

the flight does not induce our jet lag, but the actual clock change. Only really notice it on eastbounds, I even feel it coming back to the west coast from Hawaii. We get our butts kicked on the way to the UK but coming home is very mild.

 

[NW-Bound]

While Covid infection and death rate in the US are receding, Europe is still in bad shape. The US media does not cover this topic much, but the Czech Republic finds itself in big trouble. The country escaped harm last summer, while the pandemic was broiling in Western Europe, but it let down its guard and the infection suddenly surged in last November.

Czechia now takes the first place in having the highest infection rate and mortality rate. The country has been in strict lockdown.

I also read that Paris hospitals are getting full, and France is on the verge of a 3rd lock down.

It's so sad. If I can go to Europe in 2022, I will. I am not making any plan though. If the EU opens up, I will just jump on an airplane and go. I have much unspent travel money, so cost is not a big concern.

 

[explanade]

Actually, NY, MI and a few other states are seeing increases in cases.

Yesterday, over 1600 deaths after 1150 the day before.

We're not out of the woods either.

There is plenty of coverage of infections in Europe if you look for it. Spain and Portugal has their cases down but other countries are seeing it go up.

Meanwhile they approved some kind of digital vaccine passport for use by EU residents to travel to other EU countries after the lockdowns.

They may or may not open up to "3rd countries" like the US.

Yesterday there was a report that Biden administration may look to ease travel restrictions to Canada, the UK and the EU in mid May.

Of course, impossible to tell what those places will be like in terms of infections by then.

For that matter, same is probably true in the US.

 

[braumeister]

Now that Spring is finally here (as of yesterday), I found myself thinking of the Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

These opening lines just evoke the feeling that so many of us have about the coming of Spring moving us to want to travel to faraway places. It will most likely be a while yet, but the itch is definitely there.

When April with its sweet-smelling showers
Has pierced the drought of March to the root,
And bathed every vein (of the plants) in such liquid
By which power the flower is created;
When the West wind also with its sweet breath,
In every wood and field has breathed life into
The tender new leaves, and the young sun
Has run half its course in Aries,
And small fowls make melody,
Those that sleep all night with open eyes
(So Nature incites them in their hearts),
Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,
And pilgrims to seek foreign shores,
To distant shrines, known in various lands

We had to read it in the original Middle English in college, which really isn't that hard if you have some good vocabulary notes, so for those of stout heart:

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye
That slepen al the nyght with open yë —
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages —
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kouthe in sondry londes;

 

[NW-Bound]

^^^ It reads more like Irish or Gaelic than English, not that I know anything about the former languages.

 

[braumeister]

^^^ It reads more like Irish or Gaelic than English, not that I know anything about the former languages.

Actually, Middle English is closer to German, with some French (Norman) vocabulary added. It's far more readable than Old English (the language of Beowulf, which we also had to read in the original (ugh!).

 

[Puravida1]

Vaccine rollout is very slow here in Europe. Its looking like the fourth quarter this year for the UK and probably the first quarter in 2022 for most mainland european countries. The politicians are promising all kinds of dates that are only a couple of months away, but move the dates farther out every month. There is very little actual supply of vaccines and most places are still working on their elderly and health workers. Another problem is that there is a large percentage of the populations in each country that never get vaccines at all and are not planning on getting anything for covid. In some countries this is almost half of the population. Very few people get the flu vaccine each year and so people are not really used to vaccines. They still dont have the new shingles vaccine and hardly anyone is vaccinated against hepatitus etc. The politicians are wary of vaccine passports as they do not want to give extra rights to vaccinated people in case that is seen as discriminating against people who dont want to be vaccinated.

So far only 3.8% of the EU population have been fully vaccinated and the number of vaccines per day is less than half of that done in the US and the population is 35% bigger than the US.

So it is going to be ages here.

 

[Bamaman]

Of the above Italian towns, I know only of Assisi. I wanted to go there the last time I was in the Umbria region, but it was too far east from where I stayed, and I did not have enough time. I have not been to the Adriatic side of Italy other than Venice and wonder what's there, nor have I been to the Dolomites.

I surely hope to come back to Italy a few more times in my life, but my heart is set for the Scandinavian countries for the next trip. It was originally planned for 2020, and I hope to be able to do it in 2022.

I've been traveling to Italy for the last 50 years, and it remains most everyone's favorite place to travel to. And so many Med Cruises go into or out of Venice and Civitavecchia (Rome.) Unfortunately, the virus is raising its ugly face again in Italy and many other European countries.

In recent years, we've taken repositioning cruises from the U.S. ending in Civitavecchia. We also have taken a cruise from Venice to Malta and then the Greek Isles and over to Turkey--a really special cruise itinerary.

Our other best cruise was out Copenhagen to the great cities in Scandinavia and St. Petersburg. I would love to go back again.

Our Berlin/Dresden/Poland/Budapest trip was cancelled by our airline a year ago. And we're really bored staying home. But I'm sorry that we don't have much desire to do domestic trips any longer.

Western Europe did little to come up with a vaccine--letting the U.S. & U.K. take the lead (and expense.) Western Europe now is also not getting enough vaccines to vaccinate their citizens fully. For international travel to reopen, many expect it will take until 2022 until travel is adjusted to the "New World Norm."