Travel hopes 2021

We just came back from a 10 day vacation in Las Vegas and the national parks. Las Vegas is packed with tourists, casinos are full. Most people do not wear masks. The Zion National Park was out of parking spots and denied more visitors at around 10:30AM on May 28. The Capital Reef National Park and the Canyonlands National Park are OK, but still have more visitors than before. The Arches National Park had a waiting time of about 30 minutes at the fee collecting stations. Parking spaces were full early at popular sites.
 
I was planning on a west coast to east coast road trip, but decided I would fly and only have a midwest to east coast road trip. Total travel time of three weeks, mostly visiting family and friends. Still a good amount of driving involved, but instead of 6200 miles down to 2000. Much better.
 
I saw a commercial yesterday from the Alaska tourism folks encouraging people to visit. I thought about the rental car situation (and what I saw in Anchorage a few weeks ago) so I took to some car rental agencies and Expedia to see about reserving a car in June/Jul/Aug just for sh**s and grins and no matter what dates I put in...there was NO AVAILABILITY. I see this being a very big issue this summer.
 
So rental car agencies sold their cars last year and now can't buy enough for their fleets this year?

Because of the chip shortage?

Or the agencies lost money and can't restock their fleets?
 
explanade said:
So rental car agencies sold their cars last year and now can't buy enough for their fleets this year?

Because of the chip shortage?

Or the agencies lost money and can't restock their fleets?
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The rental car companies must operate on paper thin margins if they had to sell their inventory because of the 2020 travel downturn. It implies they have no cash reserves at all and couldn't get loans either. I doubt they have the money to buy new cars this year.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
I saw a commercial yesterday from the Alaska tourism folks encouraging people to visit. I thought about the rental car situation (and what I saw in Anchorage a few weeks ago) so I took to some car rental agencies and Expedia to see about reserving a car in June/Jul/Aug just for sh**s and grins and no matter what dates I put in...there was NO AVAILABILITY. I see this being a very big issue this summer.
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It's great for the cruise industry, their customers will have less alternatives than to take the ship excursions.
 
Sunset said:
It's great for the cruise industry, their customers will have less alternatives than to take the ship excursions.
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I guess we could file this (and much of what's been mentioned in this thread) as "Lingering Effects of Covid19 Virus." YMMV
 
Our first post Covid trip will be in August to Hawaii. Our son was accepted to the University, and we will get our first look at Honolulu dropping him off at the dorms. After a year of being cooped up, its just what the doctor ordered.
 
We've pretty much decided that domestic camping trips will be our travel mode for the next year or so - or until the viral situation stabilizes. Right now we're in the middle of a cross-country camping trip from the west coast to upstate New York, mostly following the Oregon Trail (in reverse) and visiting family along the way. Very little contact with humans. We avoided interstates until we got to St. Louis, then used some to pick up the pace. It's been a good trip so far.
 
Like others we can’t wait any longer, so we just went to the Outer Banks. And we just booked a Summer trip to Chicagoland next, then Nantucket in Fall - reservations all set. Time to travel again…
 
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KarlH said:
Our first post Covid trip will be in August to Hawaii. Our son was accepted to the University, and we will get our first look at Honolulu dropping him off at the dorms. After a year of being cooped up, its just what the doctor ordered.
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Congratulations to your son. Great place to go to college!
 
France and Spain have officially confirmed Americans will be able to visit.

France, starting June 9, proof of vaccination and either a 72-hour PCR test or a 48-hour Antigen test.

Spain, starting Monday, June 7, proof of vaccination, a test or proof of recovery from covid.
 
explanade said:
France and Spain have officially confirmed Americans will be able to visit.



France, starting June 9, proof of vaccination and either a 72-hour PCR test or a 48-hour Antigen test.



Spain, starting Monday, June 7, proof of vaccination, a test or proof of recovery from covid.
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Explanade,
Can you point to a news source? Is this associated with EU decision on vaccine passport or something these countries have done on their own?
Thanks for posting.
 
Heading out with the Grandson for a week.... Hocking Hills SP Ohio, then to Mammoth Caves KY for a few days
 
We’re in the midst of a visit to Estes Park, CO. We did a road trip from SoCal up through Las Vegas and St. George, UT, and then picked up I-70 to get here.

We’d never driven this route and it’s sure a gorgeous, varied landscape along the way. I look forward to the drive home for another look.
 
For Europe, what about children under 12 that can’t get vaccinated yet?

I’ve skimmed the sites but haven’t see this scenario mentioned. I’ll look more later, but I’m wondering if anyone else has seen how this is handled?
 
tulak said:
For Europe, what about children under 12 that can’t get vaccinated yet?

I’ve skimmed the sites but haven’t see this scenario mentioned. I’ll look more later, but I’m wondering if anyone else has seen how this is handled?
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I believe children will require the negative Covid test.
 
tulak said:
For Europe, what about children under 12 that can’t get vaccinated yet?

I’ve skimmed the sites but haven’t see this scenario mentioned. I’ll look more later, but I’m wondering if anyone else has seen how this is handled?
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MuirWannabe said:
I believe children will require the negative Covid test.
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Yes, for France for example, their vaccinated parents will require proof of vaccination and negative test results.

Their accompanying children will require negative tests though not if they're below a certain age. Not sure what age.

Unvaccinated Americans can't come for tourism.
 
So far this year, I've hit Yosemite for the spring water fall show, Arizona to visit relatives, and Utah for Bryce Canyon NP and the Grand Staircase Escalante NM.

No point in staying home too long. You never know when the next exogenous threat will show up and ruin your travel plans. And I don't want to end up like this guy who is all dressed up but waited too long.
 

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explanade said:
You can start here:



https://thepointsguy.com/news/spain...-from-some-nations-but-it-doesnt-apply-to-us/



There are links to links of official govt. announcements from Spain.



And here is France:



https://thepointsguy.com/news/france-entry-requirements-june/
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Thanks explanade. Will be interesting to see how any upcoming EU vaccine passport declarations change these individual country requirements. It could get even more confusing. It would be nice if they somehow simplify it.

It sure seems dumb to me to distinguish the red/amber/green colors for travelers home countries. If you are vaccinated what difference does it make. And a negative test requirement for vaccinated people seems dumb also. But they didn’t ask me.

My upcoming trip would go to Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, and Germany. And we would fly through London. Keeping track of all these countries quirky regulations promises to be a fun task. But at least there’s hope.
 
The EU vaccine transport is for EU residents, not people coming from outside the block.

Yeah the policies are political, because they have very little restrictions for visitors from other EU countries, some of them have much higher infections and lower levels of vaccinations than the US.

In fact, CA as a whole has lower infection rates than all of Europe.

I would avoid UK even for transit. Seems there's a tussle between the UK and EU about putting up travel restrictions against each other this year.
 
We are not huge travelers but headed to St. Augustine, FL a couple of weeks age, stayed on the beach and visited friends from our old neighborhood. After reading this thread I’m glad we didn’t have an issue on rental cars (reserved in late April).

The absolute BEST part, hands down, was flying first class. (Actually this was a little behind walking outside our beach house to the ocean at dawn and sipping coffee as the sun rose.) We had never flown first class before and what a nice change to have a spacious seat and gracious service, priority security screening.

Had a trip to Northern Ireland cancelled (me only, Mr. Blueskyk demurred) due to covid and now have a credit with British Airways. My travel insurance was a complete bust for that trip (Alliance, pandemic exclusion). But, I was able to get most of it eventually refunded

So, I’m heading to Iona (Scotland) in March 2022. I have no idea how to shop for travel insurance.

Now that we’ve been retired for about 5 years, we’re finally learning how to spend some money!
 
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explanade said:
The EU vaccine transport is for EU residents, not people coming from outside the block.

I would avoid UK even for transit. Seems there's a tussle between the UK and EU about putting up travel restrictions against each other this year.
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I hadn’t realized these two points. Oh boy. This isn’t encouraging. This is gonna be tough.

A little frustrating and hard to understand why any country would discourage tourism dollars from fully vaccinated foreign travelers. There’s been such a general slowness to accept the effectiveness of the vaccine and being willing to get things back to normal.
 
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