Travel hopes for 2022

Sojourner said:
+1

DGF and I are planning on several domestic getaways once we've been vaccinated... which is starting to seem like it might be sooner than we expected. We'll be doing road trips, getting on airplanes, staying in hotels and AirBnbs, the full shebang. Not sure yet about international travel in 2021, but definitely hoping for at least "overseas domestic" (e.g., Hawaii, Virgin Islands).

We don't see any need to wait until 2022 to resume traveling and experiencing the broader world again. We aren't big cruise people, so we're happy to forego that type of travel for a while yet.
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Yes. I don't think there is widespread appreciation for just how booked up and busy travel will be.
 
We have 10 days booked in Denali/Katmai/ Alyeska late July early August this year. Have everything booked except our float plane from Anchorage to Brooks Lodge. They aren’t taking reservations yet even though they are affiliated with the lodge where we’re staying. Denali Wilderness Bus tour called me a couple weeks ago saying that they’re only having one tour a day this year instead of the usual 2. This trip is the main reason I’m getting vaccinated.
 
fosterscik said:
I agree. DW and I have booked an August 2021, 10-day road/train trip to Denali and the Katmai peninsula in Alaska. Air travel, lodges and train tickets booked so far. Car reservation to follow soon. The company we used offered a 20% discount for bookings prior to the end of February (and 100% refund until 30 days before departure). Pretty sure we will be vaccinated before then and will feel comfortable flying.
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So is this for 2021? The thread is for 2022. I am not fussing, just honestly confused.

For the record, we have quite a bit scheduled for THIS year but DW and I will be fully vaccinated prior to the start of our adventures. We would like to get most of it done before the "travel flood gates" open which I think is imminent.

I rebooked our trip to Alaska (mid May 2021) and was VERY surprised at how cheap the flights were. We booked business class for the price of what coach normally is. I don't think that will continue very long.
 
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Montecfo said:
There will be LOTS of travel in 2021

Better get booked
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I dunno. 2021 may be too soon.

On the Web, I read about a world cruise by Oceania that was sold out in a single day. The cruise will be 180-day long. Lowest price is $41K/person. Suite price is $155K/person. The ship will visit 96 ports, 33 countries, and even goes to Antarctica.

The cruise will depart from SF on Jan 15, 2023. That's almost 2 years from now.

Oceania's World Cruise typically largely attracts repeat guests, the cruise line noted, but this year more than one-third of the bookings for the 2023 cruise came from "first time, new-to-brand guests."
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NW-Bound said:
I dunno. 2021 may be too soon.

On the Web, I read about a world cruise by Oceania that was sold out in a single day. The cruise will be 180-day long. Lowest price is $41K/person. Suite price is $155K/person. The ship will visit 96 ports, 33 countries, and even goes to Antarctica.

The cruise will depart from SF on Jan 15, 2023. That's almost 2 years from now.
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That sounds pretty miserable to me. But then I'm not a.cruise.person, at least not yet.

But it is illustrating the very high travel demand we will be dealing with.
 
I think we're going to go "light and easy" for 2021 and early 2022, expecting that many "popular" trips will be heavily booked and perhaps even pricey.

For example, we may spend 4-5 days in some small cities we can drive to, such as Springfield IL or Bowling Green KY. We will book refundable hotels as a safeguard. As summer progresses and we see how things are going, we'll start to plan bigger trips such as international and cruises.
 
Finance Dave said:
I think we're going to go "light and easy" for 2021 and early 2022, expecting that many "popular" trips will be heavily booked and perhaps even pricey.

For example, we may spend 4-5 days in some small cities we can drive to, such as Springfield IL or Bowling Green KY. We will book refundable hotels as a safeguard. As summer progresses and we see how things are going, we'll start to plan bigger trips such as international and cruises.
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Yeah, this is shaping up to be my plan, too. I am just starting to think about this, but I suspect we will try to identify a few out-of-the-way destinations for 2021, and hope to resume more touristed areas next year.
 
Montecfo said:
That sounds pretty miserable to me. But then I'm not a.cruise.person, at least not yet.

But it is illustrating the very high travel demand we will be dealing with.
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I do not see myself being on a boat for 180 days straight either. But I reserve the right to change my mind when I get to 80. Being still healthy at 80 - and wealthy too - in order to enjoy such a long cruise beats being stuck in a nursing home, or worse, being bedridden.

And for some people, a 180-day cruise is not long enough.

According to Oceania, 20% of those who booked the World Cruise also opted to extend their voyage up to a total of 218 days.
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I think if some of these tourism-dependent destinations don’t open up at some point this year, it may be bad news.

Last year Europe allowed tourists from “third countries” or other continents to visit in the summer but not Americans. So revenues were way down.

If they’re unable to allow Americans in at some point this year, either they never roll out the vaccines or vaccines simply aren’t good enough at reducing infections, hospitalizations and deaths, whether due to variants or some other unforeseen issues.

If they can’t open up this year, even in the winter months, it may not be much better next year either.

Around August people were hopeful about travel and the pandemic for THIS year, as the Travel Hopes for 2021 thread indicated. But then we had the winter waves and variants, despite the vaccines finally arriving. Now things are better than in early January but every time there’s a glimmer of hope, we’ve been getting more outbreaks.
 
Our trip to Berlin, Poland and Hungary 3/2020 was cancelled, and we've yet to receive a refund on our airfares. Our booking agency has been sitting on the $ since 7/2020 when American Airlines repaid them.

I've been traveling to Europe since college in 1970, and this is the time of the year we're getting ready to head out. And sitting at home the last 11 months is getting pretty boring.

But we're healthy and safe right now. After traveling domestically while working, we really have little desire to travel in the U.S.

The wife's talking about flying to Las Vegas, renting a car and heading for the Grand Canyon--taking in another National Park in southern Utah.

Otherwise, we're going to head to our RV in the Blue Ridge Mountains and do some lake time. We may be a little bored this month, but we're not suffering in any way.
 
explanade said:
I think if some of these tourism-dependent destinations don’t open up at some point this year, it may be bad news.

Last year Europe allowed tourists from “third countries” or other continents to visit in the summer but not Americans. So revenues were way down.

If they’re unable to allow Americans in at some point this year, either they never roll out the vaccines or vaccines simply aren’t good enough at reducing infections, hospitalizations and deaths, whether due to variants or some other unforeseen issues.
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Europe has really fumbled the ball when it comes to the vaccine roll-out. Compared to them, even some of the USA's and Canada's worst roll-outs look good.

First, they worried to much about the cost of the vaccine and not enough about the economic costs of keeping economies locked down. While the US and UK were busy contracting for the vaccine early on, the EU was busy trying to get the best price. They ordered months after the US did. One economist has estimated that every Euro saved on the price of a vaccine shot is costing 10-20 Euros in lost economic activity.

Then they got upset with AstraZenica and treated it like their vaccine was not very good. According to the WSJ countries like Germany and France have AZ vaccine sitting on the shelves ( As much as 70% of what they have received!) since people don't want it or the government restricts its use. Now they are finally admitting they over reacted and the AZ vaccine is plenty good, but the citizens are unsure.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/doses-...strictions-11614715968?mod=world_major_1_pos5

If you can't get beyond the paywall here is the gist of the article:

Europe’s reluctance to distribute millions of doses of AstraZeneca PLC’s Covid-19 vaccine is coming under pressure after the French government authorized use of the shot for some older people.

The French government announced it would allow people with comorbidities between the ages of 65 and 74 to receive the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. New data from the U.K. on Monday showed just one dose of the vaccine was effective in preventing disease and deaths among adults aged 70 and older who had received it.

France’s move was a sharp departure from a month ago when President Emmanuel Macron told reporters that the vaccine was quasi ineffective for people older than 65, without providing evidence to back up his claim. The comments helped sow doubts across the European Union that still persist.
<snip>
In March, France plans to administer a total of six million shots—more than half of them coming from AstraZeneca. About three million people, less than 5% of France’s population, so far have received a single dose of any vaccine.
In the U.K., where AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been widely deployed, more than 20 million people, or 30% of its population, have received at least one vaccine shot.
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You can't make this stuff up.

So while we Americans may be ready to roll late this Summer or in the Fall, the Europeans may be on hold a lot longer. Time will tell.
 
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NW-Bound said:
I dunno. 2021 may be too soon.

On the Web, I read about a world cruise by Oceania that was sold out in a single day. The cruise will be 180-day long. Lowest price is $41K/person. Suite price is $155K/person. The ship will visit 96 ports, 33 countries, and even goes to Antarctica.

The cruise will depart from SF on Jan 15, 2023. That's almost 2 years from now.
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Ugh. That would be a prison sentence for me. And people will PAY for this? Blah! To each their own, of course. :)
 
We will definitely plan to travel in 2022, however, waiting to see what happens in the world in the next several months.
 
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.
 
For those anticipating doing a fair amount of domestic air travel in 2021 (and early 2022), you may want to sign up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card to get their current signup bonus. Spend $5k in the first three months, and not only do you get 30,000 RR points/miles (worth roughly $420), you get a free Companion Pass good until the end of February 2022. This lets a designated companion fly for free with you on any/all SW flights for the next 11 months.

I took a close look at this before signing up and ultimately decided it was a no-brainer. Even if DGF and I only take one SW flight this year, this card's signup bonus will be worth nearly $600, net of all annual fees and lost cash back from other credit cards, etc. If we take three flights between now and early 2022 (highly likely), it will end up saving us roughly $1,200.

It's likely we won't actually get the companion pass until May (or even June), given the $5k spend requirement and the month-long wait till it gets posted to my account. But still, once we have it, we'll be chomping at the bit to book some flights and get back out into the world!
 
Sojourner said:
For those anticipating doing a fair amount of domestic air travel in 2021 (and early 2022), you may want to sign up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card to get their current signup bonus. Spend $5k in the first three months, and not only do you get 30,000 RR points/miles (worth roughly $420), you get a free Companion Pass good until the end of February 2022. This lets a designated companion fly for free with you on any/all SW flights for the next 11 months.

I took a close look at this before signing up and ultimately decided it was a no-brainer. Even if DGF and I only take one SW flight this year, this card's signup bonus will be worth nearly $600, net of all annual fees and lost cash back from other credit cards, etc. If we take three flights between now and early 2022 (highly likely), it will end up saving us roughly $1,200.

It's likely we won't actually get the companion pass until May (or even June), given the $5k spend requirement and the month-long wait till it gets posted to my account. But still, once we have it, we'll be chomping at the bit to book some flights and get back out into the world!
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We've gotten incredible value from our Southwest cards. In the past 6 months my companion has flown with me to Kona, Phoenix, Ft. Lauderdale, Vegas, and Palm Springs. Companions pay $11.20 for domestic round trips. Precovid we did an Aruba trip and the companion ticket was about $85.00.

I would argue that for frequent travelers, the $149 "Priority" card represents the best value. On renewal, you get 7,500 points worth about $125 dollars, a $75 travel credit, and 4 upgraded boarding certificates per year. With 9 months of companion pass I would agree with the OP that it is indeed a no-brainer.

If you frequently travel with more than 2 people you might consider 2 player mode. A husband and wife could each bring a companion (friend, grandkid, etc.) You can also change your designated companion 3 times per year.

BTW, we consider travel safe if you take appropriate precautions and we do.
 
braumeister said:
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.
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You make a good point.

I am not a cruise person at the moment. My take on cruising is I will do it when I really need the elevator on the ship. IOW, it's cruise or just stay home. That said, many people I know love cruises and enjoy them, even the days at sea when they read, talk with new friends, play shuffleboard, have a fruity drink with an umbrella sticking out of it, and so on. To each his/her own.
 
Chuckanut said:
My take on cruising is I will do it when I really need the elevator on the ship.
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I used to get up when only the cleaners were around, and do stairs on the ships; walk up to the top deck, elevator back down....repeat without rinsing.

But...I've seen numerous people, on numerous occasions, wait and wait and wait for an elevator to go down one deck.
 
Chuckanut said:
My take on cruising is I will do it when I really need the elevator on the ship.
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I think that's an outstanding way to look at it. Our cruises have mostly been the small ship, "expedition" type and we've really enjoyed them. But future cruises will likely be on your terms. Hopefully, that's still quite a few years off.
 
We have done 20 plus cruises. Longest was 21 days, most 10-14 days.

Since retiring we have been doing less and less cruises in favor of independent land trips. Covid and post covid will see us doing even fewer cruises.

We have several land trips planned, zero cruises.

Since retiring we view cruises as a respite from independent land travel. We will sometimes pick up a last minute cruise part way through a land trip. Just to park ourselves for a time and be pampered. The only time in recent memory that we planned a cruise in advance was South America. Then we planned an extended land trip before and after the cruise.
 
We don't consider ourselves 'cruisers', (any more than we'd call ourselves 'subwayers' if we happened to jump on a city train; nor would we want to go around 'befriending' other Metro riders).

Having, in the past, monitored a forum expressly aimed at 'cruisers', it became glaringly evident that we had/have little in common with the majority of those who identify themselves thus. (Of course, for me that extends to almost every facet of existence. :LOL:)

We've read exchanges wherein 'they' fly in the day before embarkation, stay at the same hotels if possible, and arrive at the terminal together like locusts; they then want to get together on board wear "Hi, my name is.." tags and exchange credentials. And once the cruise is over, many of them immediately fly home from the disembarkation port. Aaaargh.

We ain't like that. We have met people, (a number of whom we're still in occasional contact with), but they're also 'none of the above-rs'.

We use ships as transportation...period. Being a 'cruiser' is not on our agenda.
 
I have been on the website you are talking about. The only good thing is on a "Roll Call" for a particular cruise, you can put together an independent tour with a few other people.
We did that in Lisbon, Puerto Madryn, Falklands, and put together a culinary tour in Lima.

The problem with ship's tours is the group size. On a bus with 40 people, if each person, on average, takes 30 seconds to get on and off the bus, you have wasted 40 minutes of your tour. That does not count the idiots who stop and talk to someone seated, holding up the whole bus.

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.
 
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