Travel hopes 2021

foxfirev5 said:
Regarding the rental car costs, I've not seen any spike yet. I use Hertz and the current car selection is poor at the airport. ( Bankrupt company) However future reservations through the end of the year in MI and FL are normal pricing.
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Ok but I saw it on the news, so it must be true.:LOL:..I've never paid 700 bucks plus fees for a rental car in my life...
 
Belize is letting you in as long as you have proof of a 2nd covid shot two weeks prior or a recent covid test. Our 2nd shot is mid April so we booked a vacation there two weeks later. This will be our 6th trip to Belize so we're comfortable with it being our first good vaca' in over 16 months.
 
ivinsfan said:
I'm reading random news articles about a big spike in rental car cost. Did you find that to be true.


I put some random April dates for Vegas and was getting 75 to a 100 bucks day before taxes. (I'm not going to Vegas but they always had cheap cars).


Hope you have a great Alaska adventure.
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Thanks - We're getting a suburban in Anchorage. Buddy reserved it some time ago. 6 days - $1200. We could have got something a lot less expensive, but we have 6 people and need the room.
 
Yes, car rental costs are way up. We are going to the Grand Canyon via Vegas in September and the cost of a rental out of Vegas is almost double the price it was pre-covid.
 
Wife and I just made reservations for a week down at Riviera Maya Mexico later this month. Staying at the adults-only side of the Barcelo resort. Bringing 95 y.o. FIL too. Throughout the lockdown he has been continuously booking cruises, only to have them cancelled later. We thought it would be good to get him out in the sunshine for a week.
 
Heading to Mexico for a couple weeks in May.

Not sure if it was posted elsewhere, but good news from the CDC for travelers today:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can resume travel at low risk to themselves – long-awaited news for travelers itching to vacation or see family again.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/trav...ctions-covid-vaccine-cdc-guidance/4850588001/

Still need a negative covid test on international arrivals to the US. I wonder how long they’ll keep that requirement, but either way, a good step forward for travelers.
 
We have a trip to Alaska set for June, so I hope they relax their requirements by then so we don't have to get tested before we go. We're already more than a month beyond our second shots, so fully vaccinated. We don't mind masks or distancing, and we still take all precautions, so it should be OK.
 
Reporting from the very specialized world of birding eco-travel ... travel this year still seems dicey, although provisional reservations are being taken. But space is available on most of the tours until late in the year, when they all (particularly in the US) seem full. Right now, fewer people are being allowed on each trip (which is actually good, since smaller groups are better), and most "big" companies are requiring full vaccination. But next year ... the wallets are open and birders are flying off, the more remote the place the better. I was shocked to see how many trips were waitlisted. I grabbed the last space on a trip to the upper Amazon for 2022, and then just went ahead and reserved a followup trip for 2023, before that disappeared. I have a feeling that 2022 will be a wild year for travel.
 
Today is 4/2/2021, and it's been a year since our flight to Berlin was cancelled by British Airways.

The tickets were purchased through Ovago.com, a large seller of airline tickets online. After the flight cancellation, Ovago did nothing to assist us in getting a cancellation of our tickets. We ended up spending night after night, day after day just getting them to answer their phone, And they never returned a phone call or email. No one at Ovago knew anything.

I finally found a nice lady at American Airlines who processed our flight cancellation. But unfortunately, the money had to be sent to Ovago 7/2020. And Ovago wouldn't send us our money--or even admit they had the funds.

We finally got Ovago on the phone 2/2020 and agreed to accept a $200 "transaction fee" just to get them to forward the balance of our airfares to us. Our money was credited to our checking account last week--8 months after Ovago received our money. It's kept me up nights.

2021 is again going to be a down year for international travel, but we're not through visiting other countries. You can bet we'll only be booking flights directly with airlines in the future and not with online travel companies with very poor corporate character.
 
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If we do get the travel this year, it will be more expensive.

I was looking at Hawaii a couple of weeks ago.

Check it again today and prices are already up.

Someone claimed rental cars were going for $600 a day. I didn't find that but they're plenty expensive.
 
explanade said:
Someone claimed rental cars were going for $600 a day. I didn't find that but they're plenty expensive.
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Rental companies are charging high prices due availability since many sold off their inventory last year in order to meet costs during the no travel period and economic uncertainty. People are reporting reserving cars and finding the company "all out" when they arrive at their destination.

I'm gonna wait a little more until things settle.
 
I just rented a car at the Fort Myers airport. They only had three cars there when I arrived and one had no keys. The other two were Dodge Chargers, one was a two door. We took the four door (four women and bags) and really enjoyed it. It did throw me off a bit that there were so few cars. I had heard about this so we went right to the car rental, no messing around.
 
Nemo2 said:
Playing around....looking at Fall 2021 (if I'm still around I'll be 79, but hey....)

'Plan' is in reverse order, written very lightly in pencil, (based on ship arrival date, (IF ship travel is viable by that time)), so start date (Toronto to Warsaw) is as yet 'undetermined':

Fall 2021 - reverse order:

Arrive Baltimore 8am on Sun Nov 14
Lufthansa or Alaskan $100 Departs at 5:15pm non-stop to Toronto (Nov 2020 price)

-Sunday, October 31 - departs Barcelona 05:00 p.m. Fast Deal #11899 Barcelona to Baltimore $903 Cdn p.p. (Aug 23/20) Carnival 'Legend'

- October 30 Warsaw to Barcelona fly

- Przemysl to Warsaw approx 6 1/2 hours

- Lviv to Przemysl (bus) overnight or two nights

- stay in Lviv - numerous day/overnight trips (Mukacheve, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Drohobych, Cluj-Napoca (Romania)

- Vilnius to Lviv

- Stay in Vilnius (day/overnight trips, Kaunas, etc)

- Fly Warsaw to Vilnius

- Day/overnight trip(s) (Lidzbark, etc) from Warsaw

- Fly TAP Toronto to Warsaw
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Looks like a great trip! Vilnius is definitely an underrated city. It is actually one of my favorite Eastern European cities. It's very clean, a fun old town, and the locals are quite friendly to tourists. The KGB museum is a must-see attraction in Vilnius. It's not an all-day museum, but budget probably an hour or two, depending on how thorough you are at reading all the exhibits. If you're doing day tours, I would also recommend Trakai castle. It's not far from Vilnius, may a 30-60 minute drive, if I'm remembering correctly. The castle itself is pretty cool, and they've got a built-up town around it. It reminds me of a beach town with lots of little things to do and buy, but definitely touristy.

How long are you planning to stay in Warsaw? How far from Warsaw are you planning to go on day trips? Malbork castle is about 4 hours drive from Warsaw, near Gdansk. The castle is Amazing. They have guided tours, self-guided, and headphone tours. You can easily spend a half day or more there. If you're going to be in the area, it's definitely worth a visit. And that being said, Gdansk is also worth a visit. If you do make it to Gdansk, their Solidarity museum is really good. This all said, if I were choosing a major Polish city to stay in, I'd choose Krakow 100% over Warsaw. The old town is MUCH larger and more interesting with a lot more going on. Warsaw has a rather small old town (was completely rebuilt after being bombed in WWII, so it's not actually authentic 'old' town). Krakow's is huge and was left largely intact during WWII, so it is an authentic old town.

Lviv is definitely on my list of places to go. I was in Kiev in 2019 and absolutely loved it.
 
My plans this year:

Mayish: RV trip through New England. We're still working out the details right now, but planning to spend most of the time in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine (Mt Washington area and Acadia)

June: San Antonio, TX for two weeks (courtesy of the army via Fort Sam Houston. lol)

July: Ocean City, MD

August or September: Wife gave me 10 days to do a motorcycle trip. I'm planning on riding the Trans Labrador Highway if the border opens up. If not I'll be riding the NEBDR as a backup plan.

October: Not sure. Maybe an RV trip to the Southwest.
 
1242Vintage said:
Wife and I just made reservations for a week down at Riviera Maya Mexico later this month. Staying at the adults-only side of the Barcelo resort. Bringing 95 y.o. FIL too. Throughout the lockdown he has been continuously booking cruises, only to have them cancelled later. We thought it would be good to get him out in the sunshine for a week.
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Flying 95 years old FIL to Mexico? I hope I did not read it incorrectly.
 
I’ve rented several cars and they are often out, but I’ll take a nice minivan instead of an SUV, so it doesn’t bother me.

As for prices - not outrageous. It’s at the higher end of what I usually pay.
 
June Viking cruise cancelled on us today at noon; no surprise, we were expecting it. Already had a trip to Montana scheduled in its place. This is the second time the cruise was cancelled; last year when we rebooked they offered us a 20% discount. They also offered a 125% deal if we kept the $$ with them. Although we will lose CC points, we are just going to let it ride this time and get the 125% upgrade.
 
Over 130 a day in Hawaii currently and that would be for a compact or economy car.
 
flyingaway said:
Flying 95 years old FIL to Mexico? I hope I did not read it incorrectly.
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I had the same thought. No way I would take my 90 year old mother out of the U.S. even without Covid. Just too many things can go wrong health wise with someone in their 90s. I would have to find a place closer to home to take my 95 year old FIL.
 
explanade said:
If we do get the travel this year, it will be more expensive.

I was looking at Hawaii a couple of weeks ago.

Check it again today and prices are already up.

Someone claimed rental cars were going for $600 a day. I didn't find that but they're plenty expensive.
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Local news covered this story as well. As usual, they love the sensational and I'm guessing it's a fluke. Having said that, there was a news story after the initial Hawaii travel shutdown. It showed thousands of rental cars parked nose-to tail at (I think) Aloha stadium. IIRC many of the rental cars were sent to the mainland and sold, so rental car companies ARE probably short on cars. I assume as we open back up, they will add more cars. In the mean time, it's very likely they will gouge as much as they can - attempting to make up for some of their Covid losses.

Anyone staying on Oahu COULD get by without a rental car - in fact, it costs a fortune to park a rental car at your hotel. Outer Islands - you need a car to go see everything unless you spring for the guided tours. If your mindset is laid back, you can get to almost any location on Oahu (Honolulu) on THE BUS. IIRC it's $3 a ride so it's MUCH cheaper than rental cars. It takes longer, but you don't worry about parking. We did THE BUS a few times as tourists and it was an acceptable alternative to rental cars - and much cheaper though less convenient. Of course, staying in Waikiki, you can walk to anything within its boundaries. YMMV
 
flyingaway said:
Flying 95 years old FIL to Mexico? I hope I did not read it incorrectly.
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While they are rare, I know several 90+ seniors who are still quite mobile, think for themselves, and can help out setting up the patio furniture and/or getting things done in the kitchen. They are amazing to say the least. Good [-]jeans[/-] genes and clean living pay off.
 
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