Travel hopes for 2022

Not booking anything but certainly shopping. Hoping that the air deals we are seeing now will hold.

Just checked on two of our possibles:

Toronto-Casablanca/Lisbon-Toronto. Sept 7-Oct 18 2021

TAP economy. $481. CAD $400 USD this one is a bargain.

Calgary-Bangkok return late Jan 22. 58 days this is what we were paying four years ago.

AC economy $762 CAD $629 US

We are also seeing great airfares to Mexico or to Greece in the fall 2021.

Getting a fair amount of vacation, hotel, and resort offers. Some excellent but many with large surcharges (in fine print) on the days that we would ever visit. Often they are the lowest cat. rooms. I believe one needs to watch out for those surcharges and the 'upsells' when that category of room is 'sold out'.
 
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Travel writer and speaker Rick Steves opened up his 2022 tour schedule on Wednesday with advance notice to people who booked a tour with him in 2020 or asked to be notified about the availability of a particular tour in 2021. 24 hours later on Thursday, he reports 7,000 people have already signed up for a 2022 tour.

Obviously, many people are planning on going somewhere next year.
 
Chuckanut said:
24 hours later on Thursday, he reports 7,000 people have already signed up for a 2022 tour.

Obviously, many people are planning on going somewhere next year.
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Two of those people are DH and myself. :greetings10: Signed up for his Sicily tour, October to early November, 2022; our April, 2020 tour was canceled. I wonder what Halloween will be like there?
 
DW just came out of her Covid induced stasis. We are booked on a 15 day Hawaiian cruise leaving and returning to LA. NO airports.
Since we are in an aft suite, she has allowed that I can bring along a transfer chair to get to restaurants and the theater.
We found out that friends of ours that we met on our last Hawaiian cruise have also booked their cruise:dance:
The best part was we had credits from a cancelled cruise, so it will only cost us about $2 K for an aft Vista suite! Previously, we got a full refund of our cruise fare.
 
Well so far our only OFFICIAL trip is Celebrity Apex Caribbean in March. We got an incredible deal of $1K@ for a balcony w/ drinks, tips & wifi & $400OBC for this March & was able to shift it to next March. We have invited friends we met on the Silhouette a few years ago...and prices have doubled, HOLY COW!

We have $450 in Carnival credit & a $1200 TAP credit that must be redeemed by Feb 2022...desperately searching for ways to use them. Unfortunately, with the perks benefits of other cruise lines, the $450 may not be worth it to use! I will wait until later in the summer to look at ways to use our TAP credit as it would be for next summer, either w/ DD or DH.
 
Booked a few up to 2023. Not much this year but hoping for 4-5 cityscapes (1 week per city) in 2022 before my 1st TA
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We're going to my niece's wedding in September, in Washington state. To their credit, they announced their engagment in 2019 and set the date in 2021, at that time. DH and I did the same-our temporarily long distance relationship forced us to set our wedding date 2.5 years in the future.

We will be visiting friends in Oregon and California (mostly not in fire country) during that time.

We have set our sights on the UK in 2022, and central Europe in 2023. I hope to visit a cousin in Australia in 2024. I just made a new friend online in the UK, and I hope to visit her, visit some historical sites and sites related to my ancestors as well.

Next spring I hope to participate in the music festival in northern Italy that has captivated me from 2016-2019.
 
disneysteve said:
Friends are taking an Alaska land and cruise trip next summer. They booked it a while ago and it kept getting pushed back due to COVID. It should finally happen next year and my wife and I are considering joining them. It will be soon after our 30th anniversary.
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We went on an Alaska cruise in 2014. It was amazing. They should book the train through Delani before or after. Our cruisemates could not stop talking about it. We did a Canadian railways tour after our cruise and it was good. But their seeing moose and grizzlies from a train car made us jealous. We will go again and do that, health and $$ permitting.
 
gattara said:
Two of those people are DH and myself. :greetings10: Signed up for his Sicily tour, October to early November, 2022; our April, 2020 tour was canceled. I wonder what Halloween will be like there?
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The evening before All Saints Day has much Halloween like activity taking place. It's all about those who passed before us. I think trick-or-treat may be relatively new, but it seems to fit in well with All Souls Day (10/31) and the love Italians have for their children.

I believe that Rick Steves went through the 20,000 number in about a week. I should note that is for 2022 tours. 2021 might, maybe happen in the Fall, sort-of, if Covid takes a real dive. But, his comments indicate that he thinks it's unlikely.
 
I have not booked anything for next year, but we plan to spend the majority of 2022 traveling (Covid willing).

We will probably spend Jan - March in South East Asia (if they open up without quarantine) and then onto Turkey and other neighboring countries that open without quarantine. I'm fine with taking PCR test, but not willing to spend my hard earned money getting stuck in hotel for 2 weeks.
 
audreyh1 said:
Lots of elderly in the Netherlands haven’t even been vaccinated yet. We don’t expect to be able to visit until closer to the end of the year.

I don’t think your April 1 for most people over 55 being vaccinated in Texas was true. They just opened to below 65 on March 15. How could so many get vaccinated in 2 weeks? Vaccine supplies in most areas have been really tight and they opened 16+ on March 29.
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My close friend in Lugano, Switzerland doesn't look to get the vaccine until late Summer. He's been home 15 months and not going into the office. And he's been unable to visit his mom in Chicago. But 20,000 Italians cross the border daily to go to work.
 
Friends is Diemen NL got their second Jab in May. Watch what happens in the NL on June 26.
 
Bamaman said:
My close friend in Lugano, Switzerland doesn't look to get the vaccine until late Summer. He's been home 15 months and not going into the office. And he's been unable to visit his mom in Chicago. But 20,000 Italians cross the border daily to go to work.
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My DB and DSIL are scheduled to get their first shot this week in NL - finally!
 
Planning river cruise Budapest to around Munic( bad spelling). Going with friends. Have been on Viking before on this trip but going with friends. Their first time.
 
We bit the bullet & booked Celebrity Edge Caribbean cruise July 24. They have been successfully running for a few weeks. 95% vaccinated, only taking about 60% capacity.

Have also booked the week after for DM & myself. She just finished chemo, feeling well, & since it is a waiting game until the next CT scan LET'S DO THIS. Don't know how long we have that lovely lady on Earth with us so I want to do all the things she loves to do. She isn't 100% yet sure--checking with docs tomorrow. I booked me alone; DH may stay on if she cannot go. But fingers crossed for Mama!

Stunning how reasonable flights are so close to flying date!
 
We've rented a house in St. John, USVI for a trip in spring 2022 and our adult kids/spouses are coming. If you've never been there it is great place if you like a low key, explore the island at your pace kind of vacation. Best white sandy beaches and calm turquoise water that we have found. Good snorkeling or scuba if you like that and lots of small off islands to explore.
 
SD-455 said:
We've rented a house in St. John, USVI for a trip in spring 2022 and our adult kids/spouses are coming. If you've never been there it is great place if you like a low key, explore the island at your pace kind of vacation. Best white sandy beaches and calm turquoise water that we have found. Good snorkeling or scuba if you like that and lots of small off islands to explore.
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We've been over to St. John quite a few times, if just to drink margaritas at the tiki hut bar where the ferry lands. It's quite a beautiful place.

My buddy has been renting 50' power cats out of there the last 3 years going as far as the Bitter End. And he absolutely loves the place.

Once, we rented a car and took in the entire island of St. Thomas--including all the off the beaten paths. We found a K-Mart inland where local rum was cheaper than 2 liter bottles of Coke. That explains the population and their high unemployment.

It's been awhile since we were in the area. We have found the best cruises in the Eastern or Western Caribbean are out of San Juan.
 
hey Bamaman, my wife and I first went there in '89 on a trip to St Thomas with friends. One day we rented a 18' whaler boat with a map on St Thomas and they pointed us toward St. John and the BVI's and we had a great day exploring. We've been hooked on it for a long time now.
 
When our 2020 Viking river cruise through France was cancelled, we immediately rebooked it for 2022. Counting the days.
 
So anyone book anything for next year yet?

Barring another new variant like delta, one would expect to be able to travel, though more destinations may be requiring at least vaccination.

I have some ideas but what's holding me are a couple of things.

1. Fares, especially business class fares, are still high. Fares were much better in the spring for flights to Europe over the summer. Of course there was uncertainty about whether Americans would be allowed to visit as tourists in Europe but you could find fares under $2000 to Spain, for instance.

2. See how we fare through winter. If there's another winter wave like last year, a lot of places may reimpose travel restrictions.

3. Uncertainty about frequent flyer programs. I qualified for Gold on United this year, a lot of the members were unable to travel and qualify so UA may give them another extension, as they did last year.

Depending on what the requirements are for 2022 will determine which airlines to book with.
 
I’m booking portions of multiple international trips for 2022, but not all-in on expenses yet.

1. Mexican Riviera Cruise out of LA in February. Deposit and Airfare paid for, but currently don’t need to pay off the cruise until late December.

2. Two weeks in Spain in March. Airfare paid for using Chase Reward Point signup bonus and hotels booked.

3. Three weeks in Ireland and Scotland in May. Airfare paid for using American Airlines miles from a CitiAdvantage bonus from before Covid. Hotels and rental cars reserved.

4. Researching a trip to Switzerland for August. Nothing booked yet.

5. Two back-to-back cruises out of the Ravenna, Italy in September/October hitting Croatia, Montenegro, and Greece. Only the cruise deposit has been paid.

6. Two back-to-back cruises out of Southampton, UK in October/November to France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Only the cruise deposit has been paid.

My current plan is to only take one of the back-to-back cruise options, but we will see about that. I’ll decide which at some point. I just decided to reserve both since the price was right.

I’m out of airline point/miles, so I will likely not book the necessary airfare for the trips missing that until about 45 days out. I’ll pay more but I’ll have a better idea of travel conditions before laying out the money.

We will see where things go. Most everything I’ve booked to date either is refundable or didn’t require up front money. I just wanted to make some plans as, hopefully, international travel continues to become more tolerable.
 
In 2022 so far I just have one trip planned. Girls trip to Anna Marie island with my mom and two girlfriends in January, 2022.
 
I am going to take a tour of Ireland in June for 11 days. It’s fully refundable if the country closes, they pay your hotel if you get Covid, and I will get travel insurance in case I can’t actually take the trip.
 
I am planning an almost month long trip in May 2022 to France and Venice.

Airfare booked, but I can cancel for airline credit. I had some pre-covid credit that had to be used before March 2022. The price was good, so I booked Premium.

Deposits paid on apartments in Paris and Provence. Itinerary figured out for the rest of the trip, but not booked yet.

I feel pretty confident that the trip will be a go, but definitely not booking anything that is not cancellable. My supplementary health insurance has 60 days of travel insurance, but I need to dig into it and see what is covered.
 
We spent two months in France this past summer (July/August 2021). We were lucky to get in just after the U.S. had been put on the "green list" so only needed our proof of vaccination for entry We traveled over a few borders, to Switzerland and Italy and were never asked for vaccine record or COVID test. Masked up with everyone else, maybe even more so because we were very
conscious of being "guests." Things did start to heat up with Delta variant by August. But by then we were settled in Paris for the month and got the French "Pass Sanitaire" app, which was required for entry into restaurants, museums, our yoga studio, and even the Bon Marché. We ate outdoors mostly, and walking 9-11 miles a day through Paris was our main entertainment aside from enjoying food and wine. So we felt safe and pretty lucky.

We are hoping to go back in 2022/2023 for a year's stay. I teach at a community college and am applying for my first (and only) sabbatical. I'll take my proposed course of study online, so we can be anywhere. My husband is newly retired and this would be a way to give him a glimpse of our "dream retirement life" living abroad. I'll have to rent out my house and get my dog over there, but these are things that can be done. And, yeah, fully expecting to still have mask orders and have to flash vaccine records. Anything else will be a bonus.

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"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." John Muir
 
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