Anyone Considering Cancelling Travel

[pacergal]

(

I hate to sound negative, but many of the people I know who have had Covid recently, had not traveled anywhere in the weeks before they became sick.

Traveling or not, be careful. There is more corona virus out there spreading around than people think.

Below is a recent display of what is happening nationwide.

Yep, Covid IS rampant. People are either not testing because they have a "cold", or are testing at home, have +, not reporting and most likely not isolating.
I still see masks, but not as much, and mostly older folks, like us, in stores. And any medical visits.

Yes, we do need to normalize living with covid, but precautions are still needed.
Covid is not going away any time soon. Follow the science and wear a mask, even if vaccinated. You never know if you may become a long hauler, even if you only had a mild case.
Bugs me to death that a public health issue is so politicized.

Yes, I am a Crabby old public health RN. :-(

 

[FindingForward]

I have done some recent traveling by auto and all was well but there is no way I am getting on a plane right now with all of the cancellations and delays.

Agreed. If I can't drive there, I'm not going. Between skyrocketing airfares, frustrating delays, changes or cancellations and all the COVID-positive passengers, there's no destination enticing enough to get me on a plane now.

COVID infections may feel milder now, but there's still serious long-tail effects still largely unknown or unclear.

Hopefully things look a bit brighter in 2023, but if not, I'll gladly wait. Tons of great getaways within a few hours' drive, where I can avoid crowds, stay safer, all for far less money, travel time and stress.

I do miss cruising - would love to book one in 2023 or 2024.

 

[jollystomper]

Just starting to look into travel requirents for Aruba for November. Anyone with recent experience?

One of my brothers is there now (traveled there Monday), and has not mentioned anything out of the ordinary. he is 71 and vaccinated/boosted. Based on available stats, their current daily cases had a peak about a month ago but has declined since them. The currently have less than 350 active cases.

 

[W2R]

Agreed. If I can't drive there, I'm not going. Between skyrocketing airfares, frustrating delays, changes or cancellations and all the COVID-positive passengers, there's no destination enticing enough to get me on a plane now.

COVID infections may feel milder now, but there's still serious long-tail effects still largely unknown or unclear.

Hopefully things look a bit brighter in 2023, but if not, I'll gladly wait. Tons of great getaways within a few hours' drive, where I can avoid crowds, stay safer, all for far less money, travel time and stress.
[...]

That's a great attitude. After all, let's face it, we ER-forum members are a pretty intelligent and creative bunch. If we can't find something fascinating to do, with the entire world at our fingertips on the internet, surely there are interesting sights, sounds, and experiences to be had within a few hours' drive. No sense in enduring the current frustrating delays and cancellations, etc., if we don't have to! And I can tell you from personal experience that I do not ever want to have another severe case of Covid.

 

[MarieIG]

At this point, I have no desire to fly: zip, zero, none.

DH is going to have to visit his parents in Europe, but probably will not go before late fall. He will almost certainly need a connection, and can't risk a cancellation. I had been planning on going with him which, due to my back, would be painful. Delays and Covid issues may push me over the top.

 

[Badger]

That's a great attitude. After all, let's face it, we ER-forum members are a pretty intelligent and creative bunch. If we can't find something fascinating to do, with the entire world at our fingertips on the internet, surely there are interesting sights, sounds, and experiences to be had within a few hours' drive. No sense in enduring the current frustrating delays and cancellations, etc., if we don't have to! And I can tell you from personal experience that I do not ever want to have another severe case of Covid.

+1 No sense in "poking the bear"

Cheers

 

[Ronstar]

+1 No sense in "poking the bear"

Cheers

True, but I know many friends and relatives who had Covid, and none of them caught Covid while traveling. I don’t have links, facts, and figures, but I suspect that it’s just as easy to “poke the bear” locally as it is to do so while traveling. I’m not going to sit at home waiting for Covid to end. But I will exercise caution wherever I am.

 

[harllee]

True, but I know many friends and relatives who had Covid, and none of them caught Covid while traveling. I don’t have links, facts, and figures, but I suspect that it’s just as easy to “poke the bear” locally as it is to do so while traveling. I’m not going to sit at home waiting for Covid to end. But I will exercise caution wherever I am.

You can catch Covid at home or while traveling. But if I am going to be sick I would rather be home near my doctor where I can get medications rather than having to quarantine in a foreign country with no help. Just look at Teacher Terry's posts about being quarantined in Ireland while sick with Covid. It was awful for her.

 

[Ronstar]

You can catch Covid at home or while traveling. But if I am going to be sick I would rather be home near my doctor where I can get medications rather than having to quarantine in a foreign country with no help. Just look at Teacher Terry's posts about being quarantined in Ireland while sick with Covid. It was awful for her.

You make a good point. And I empathize with Teacher Terry’s situation. I think that foreign travel is riskier than domestic travel. TT’s getting Covid was bad, but her treatment in Ireland after getting Covid was appalling.

My point is that I have just as much chance getting Covid in my home town as I do elsewhere in the United States. And I suspect that I can get decent Covid treatment anywhere in the US.

I’m not going to suspend US travel based on “What will I do if I get sick?” Instead I’ll vaccinate to the max, wear a mask as necessary, and practice precautions to minimize my chances of catching Covid. That’s all we can do - minimize chances - we can’t eliminate chances just by staying home.

 

[Teacher Terry]

The frustrating thing about being older and liking to travel is that you don’t know how many good years you have to travel. So if you want to travel out of the country how long do you wait? Like many others my trip to Ireland and 4 other countries was canceled in 2020 because of Covid. I decided to scale the trip down and just do Ireland where I most wanted to go and it still went sideways. I don’t know that I will risk going to Europe again if Covid never goes away.

 

[explanade]

I've gone to Portugal in April and France in May/June.

Will be going to Italy in Aug/Sept and Australia in Nov.

I'm minimizing public transport and avoiding indoor dining.

 

[bmcgonig]

The frustrating thing about being older and liking to travel is that you don’t know how many good years you have to travel. So if you want to travel out of the country how long do you wait? Like many others my trip to Ireland and 4 other countries was canceled in 2020 because of Covid. I decided to scale the trip down and just do Ireland where I most wanted to go and it still went sideways. I don’t know that I will risk going to Europe again if Covid never goes away.

Slow travel could be the answer here. Go somewhere for a couple of months. On my last trip two of my friends got Covid but since we were in an Airbnb on a monthlong trip they just waited it out for a week.

Also the problems you experienced seemed to be because of the tour you belonged to? If you were not in that group with their strict guidelines you could have had a more pleasant experience I think.

Other options would be to “self insure”. If you get Covid just abandon the tour group and pay your own way from there if necessary, or catch up with the tour if it’s a long one.

Yes..all these options involve potential large outlays compared to the cost of the original trip perhaps, but if we can afford it I think it’s worthwhile so that we don’t abandon travel altogether.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Slow travel could be the answer here. Go somewhere for a couple of months. On my last trip two of my friends got Covid but since we were in an Airbnb on a monthlong trip they just waited it out for a week.

Also the problems you experienced seemed to be because of the tour you belonged to? If you were not in that group with their strict guidelines you could have had a more pleasant experience I think.

Other options would be to “self insure”. If you get Covid just abandon the tour group and pay your own way from there if necessary, or catch up with the tour if it’s a long one.

Yes..all these options involve potential large outlays compared to the cost of the original trip perhaps, but if we can afford it I think it’s worthwhile so that we don’t abandon travel altogether.

I would have voluntarily isolated for 5 days as I didn’t want to spread Covid to others. Then I would have had to pay all my expenses which added up to 4K just to arrive home 3 days before I did. I already paid 5k and only had 4 days of the tour. So no I wasn’t willing to do that. I also didn’t feel well enough to stay and sightsee once out of quarantine.

Slow travel was something I did when married and we had the motor home and could take the dogs. I can’t slow travel now as I won’t leave them for more than 10 days. Besides my kids they are the most important thing in my life. Lastly money isn’t something that I can totally disregard.

 

[Scuba]

Slow travel is often cheaper than tours. It doesn’t address your desire to not leave your dogs for too long, but from a financial standpoint, staying in some apartments for a month is probably cheaper and I think you’d learn more about local culture vs a shorter organized tour.

 

[explanade]

Slow travel is often cheaper than tours. It doesn’t address your desire to not leave your dogs for too long, but from a financial standpoint, staying in some apartments for a month is probably cheaper and I think you’d learn more about local culture vs a shorter organized tour.

It depends though on how the apartment is set up.

You could go to a small town where typical apartments are only say $1000.

But a vacation rental agency might furnish it and connect the utilities and Internet and rent it out to tourists for $3000.

Impossible for tourists to lease an apartment for the same price as residents because the lease they want you to sign is probably for more than your visa allows.

Then you'd have to set up banking accounts to sign up for utilities and Internet.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Even without the dogs I don’t want to be gone more than 2 weeks and don’t want to stay in one place for a month either.

 

[brett]

To a certain extent I really do believe that it is luck of the draw. And your resistance to viral infections.

Who really knows for certain where they contracted the virus? We certainly did not. Grocery store, home delivery, etc

We stayed home for the longest time and were careful. Then we got covid. Ten days later we were fine.

Since then we have been on several 8 hour flights. Toured Portugal by rail for 4-5 weeks when their covid numbers were the highest in Europe.

It was inevitable that we must have come in contact during that time with someone who had the virus....whether they were aware of it or not.

Came home in good health. No covid. Perhaps that wonderful Portuguese red wine fended off the virus!

 

[harllee]

Friends in Czechoslovakia are having a awful time getting medical care for Covid. Both husband and wife have tested positive, feel awful, terrible cough, running temperature. They can't find any urgent care or private doctor to see them. They have been sitting in a hospital emergency room for 6 hours now. They said no one, no even medical staff, is wearing masks. They are asking for the antivirals but they have been told there are none. They are thinking of driving to Germany to get medical help.

 

[Souschef]

One thing we have done is look at a tour, and just use their itinerary. That way you can be flexible if there are any problems.
We did a tour of New Mexico based on a Tauck itinerary. Funny thing, as we were just finishing lunch at a restaurant in Chimayo, a Tauck tour pulled up. We wondered how long it would take to get them lunch.
I agree with TT about traveling before it becomes too difficult. DW and I started traveling together when I was 69 and she was 63. We traveled for the next 9 years. After 41 countries, 51 trips, 500 travel days, and 17 cruises we stopped any overseas or lengthy travels.

 

[bmcgonig]

One thing we have done is look at a tour, and just use their itinerary. That way you can be flexible if there are any problems.
We did a tour of New Mexico based on a Tauck itinerary. Funny thing, as we were just finishing lunch at a restaurant in Chimayo, a Tauck tour pulled up. We wondered how long it would take to get them lunch.
I agree with TT about traveling before it becomes too difficult. DW and I started traveling together when I was 69 and she was 63. We traveled for the next 9 years. After 41 countries, 51 trips, 500 travel days, and 17 cruises we stopped any overseas or lengthy travels.

Well done on all that travel!

 

[11522914]

Friends in Czechoslovakia are having a awful time getting medical care for Covid. Both husband and wife have tested positive, feel awful, terrible cough, running temperature. They can't find any urgent care or private doctor to see them. They have been sitting in a hospital emergency room for 6 hours now. They said no one, no even medical staff, is wearing masks. They are asking for the antivirals but they have been told there are none. They are thinking of driving to Germany to get medical help.

OP here

Hope your friends get the care they need.

This is precisely why we cancelled our Jamaican trip again. Did not want to risk getting sick in Jamaica and possibly having to go to a government facility or hospital.

Right after we cancelled the Jamaican trip we booked an oceanfront hotel in Delaware and had a great time. I have no problem traveling in the Good ole USA.

 

[harllee]

Our friends in Czechoslovakia finally got to see a "doctor" in the emergency room who has prescribed them antibiotics. What the heck--antibiotics for Covid? They are going to try to make it to Germany tomorrow and seek out better medical care. I am praying for them. They had planned this month long eastern European trip for years and now it is ruined.

 

[explanade]

Are they in Prague or some small town?

Maybe there’s some medical evacuation coverage with their credit card?

 

[Teacher Terry]

Harlee, I am so sorry about your friends. I didn’t meet the requirements in Ireland to get paxlovoid. Thankfully I had a mild case. It’s scary to be sick in a foreign country. Luckily they speak English in Ireland. I know in the smaller cities in Poland no one speaks English and I assume it’s the same in Czech. The medical stuff is scary and then you are out all the money you spent on top of it.

 

[Chuckanut]

One thing we have done is look at a tour, and just use their itinerary. That way you can be flexible if there are any problems.
We did a tour of New Mexico based on a Tauck itinerary. Funny thing, as we were just finishing lunch at a restaurant in Chimayo, a Tauck tour pulled up. We wondered how long it would take to get them lunch.
I agree with TT about traveling before it becomes too difficult. DW and I started traveling together when I was 69 and she was 63. We traveled for the next 9 years. After 41 countries, 51 trips, 500 travel days, and 17 cruises we stopped any overseas or lengthy travels.

Souschef is my hero.

FWIW, if it's a well run tour, the tour group pulling up for lunch probably already had seats and meals reserved.