Travel hopes 2021

[Maidensong]

Cruising Restart

Alaska is having a short season and we're going for it...along with 6 others of our family. We'll board the Norwegian Encore on September 25th for 7 days. The Jones Act waiver is still in effect so we don't have to stop at a Canadian port to satisfy the requirements of that Civil War era statute. We expect to mask up for the flights and the airports, but Norwegian is requiring 100% vaccination of all guests and crew, so until the latest CDC pronouncement, they had intended to allow us to go maskless in the bubble of the ship. That may change...

I doubt a surgical mask's efficacy, especially since once one is seated and eating, the virus seems to miraculously disappear, but I'll wear the darn thing if it means having a deck sway beneath my feet.

We are still in limbo about our Viking world cruise next January. So far Australia and New Zealand have not opened to cruisers and the planned itinerary included about a month spent in those countries. If they remain closed, I have my doubts we will sail.

 

[Chuckanut]

To the surprise of many...Covid cases in the UK are way down. Prediction on Freedom Day was a double or triple. Instead they halved the number. 88% have a first dose, schools are out, it's hot, people aren't testing before trips, a shaman stuck a voodoo doll & made it go away. (there is one "untruth" in there)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...a3a734-ef7c-11eb-81b2-9b7061a582d8_story.html

The story is behind a paywall.

Is it possible to quote a few of the more informational paragraphs? Especially the one about the voodoo.

 

[audreyh1]

The story is behind a paywall.

Is it possible to quote a few of the more informational paragraphs? Especially the one about the voodoo.

I was able to read it on Apple News+. Personally I think the jury is still out. Check back in a month.

 

[ivinsfan]

The story is behind a paywall.

Is it possible to quote a few of the more informational paragraphs? Especially the one about the voodoo.

I don't know about voodoo but check the Daily Mail online UK home for details about how Covid numbers have fallen off a cliff in the last week.


It went from oh no, the sky is falling to plummeting case numbers.

 

[Happyras]

We are off to Alaska tomorrow on Celebrity Millie. I woke up this morning to the news of the 8.2 Alaska earthquake and Tsunami warnings. I figured here we go again another cruise cancelled last minute. I believe we are good to go. The inside passage is fairly protected, and the 104 following quakes seem to be diminishing. However I do remember 1964 and the big quake in Alaska which shook our house in Seattle that time. The rim of fire can be awoken. I will trust our cruise will be interesting, its our 3rd time up there on a cruise, second time to Alaska on Celebrity. Looking forward to an early boarding, and a lobster roll in Luminae when we board! That scene from 2012 on the cruise ship/tsunami still comes to mind.

 

[Koolau]

Reluctantly adding Tsunamis to my short list of Black Swan events. Both "events" we've lived through were more or less non-events where we live. IIRC Maui did have some damage from the Japanese Tsunami of 3/11/11. Now returning you to Travel Hopes 2021.

 

[Chuckanut]

I was able to read it on Apple News+. Personally I think the jury is still out. Check back in a month.

I'm not a virologist and I don't play one on social media. But, I will take a shot at this while trying not to be another example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. (IOW, I am not at all certain I am right.)

Virus mutants that are too successful in harming their carriers burn themselves out rapidly because they scare their victims into taking too many precautions for the virus to survive. Or they kill off their victims too fast. The most successful viruses will get people sick, but not so sick that the victims can't easily spread it to others. When I see more masks at the grocery store today than I did two weeks ago, I realize more people are on guard. Delta may be a bit to powerful for it's own good. Or maybe not.

 

[Gumby]

Last week, we drove out to a family wedding in Butler, PA, and we are driving to Annapolis, MD in 5 weeks for my 40th year USNA reunion. It feels good to be traveling again, even if only short domestic driving trips. I'll be even happier when we can start flying overseas again without all the complications and red tape (necessary, but still a pain to deal with and an effective deterrent to doing so).

 

[explanade]

I was able to read it on Apple News+. Personally I think the jury is still out. Check back in a month.

I'm not a virologist and I don't play one on social media. But, I will take a shot at this while trying not to be another example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. (IOW, I am not at all certain I am right.)

Virus mutants that are too successful in harming their carriers burn themselves out rapidly because they scare their victims into taking too many precautions for the virus to survive. Or they kill off their victims too fast. The most successful viruses will get people sick, but not so sick that the victims can't easily spread it to others. When I see more masks at the grocery store today than I did two weeks ago, I realize more people are on guard. Delta may be a bit to powerful for it's own good. Or maybe not.

There are theories on a couple of possible causes.

The decline in UK cases coincide with schools ending, from elementary to university level.

So maybe reduced testing because a lot of the testing was being done at schools.

Another possibility, people are about to go for their annual holidays and may be avoiding getting tested, even if they have some symptoms.


But they do want to see if this decline is sustained.

 

[audreyh1]

Right, I read about people in the UK not getting tested because they wanted to go on holiday (vacation). Overseas, however, many countries require a recent negative covid test result.

 

[Scrapr]

snippets from the article:
The daily number of new infections recorded in the country fell for seven days in a row before a slight uptick Wednesday, when the country reported 27,734 cases. That’s still almost half of where the caseload was a week ago.
Schools have closed for the summer break, so children are not spreading the virus as much.

Test-and-trace might be working. Last week, almost 620,000 people were pinged by a National Health Service app in England and Wales telling them to quarantine after exposure to the virus.

It is also possible that people have stopped getting tested — because if they test positive, even if they are fully vaccinated, they are asked to quarantine for 10 days, even if they are about to travel abroad for their holidays.
Or maybe Britain has reached an immunity threshold. More than 70 percent of adults here are fully vaccinated, and 88 percent have had a first dose — one of the best vaccine uptakes in the world. Among those who remain unvaccinated, many have had covid or asymptomatic infection.

Britain could be approaching “population immunity, with people immune either from vaccinations or natural infection,” said Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia.

He cautioned that further data needs to be analyzed but suggested that it could be a result of a raft of behavioral factors, ranging from the warm weather to people following quarantine guidance to people avoiding tests if they want to go on vacation. Another factor is the end of the Euro 2020 soccer tournament, which drove thousands into pubs and onto the streets.

“All of these things compounded together may genuinely reflect a reduced number of tested positive cases,” he said. “Whether that actually reflects infection or not, we don’t know.”

Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London whose models have shaped government policy in Britain and the United States, said it now appears possible that the pandemic could be in the rearview mirror.

 

[Chuckanut]

IIRC, after all it was two days ago, earlier this week the country hit 500,000 new people vaccinated, and a total of 750,000 shots given. Supposedly, that level hasn't been hit in over two months.

Also, Google has reported that searches for "Where do I get a covid vaccine?" are trending upward in the last few weeks.

 

[kaudrey]

We live on the East Coast; so far we have been to St. Louis, Chicago, Dallas. We are going to Denver in a few weeks, but the big hope is for Grand Cayman in November (rescheduled from last year). We haven't bought plane tickets yet, since they aren't opened to tourists yet...

 

[novaman]

Just got back from Oahu and it was nuts (see my thread). We were thinking about going to Italy in October, but my wife is having second thoughts. She is afraid that the trip will be too much of a hassle during these times of COVID. Right now all regions of Italy are white zones (Italy has color coded COVID zones of white, yellow, orange, and red) but could change should cases rise.

 

[Crewer]

Just got back from a week sharing a cabin (in southern Ohio, not Hawaii but the hiking was great!) with a number of family members. Loved it. But most of us are cancelling cruises out of Florida in November - another family reunion thing. Full refund if you cancel by this Saturday so we're not waiting to see what happens in FL in the next couple months. I get it, we're old, several of us have had lifelong lung problems, and FL isn't looking good now. Still I'm sad about it.

 

[novaman]

Well, just days after we signed on for a trip to Italy they cancelled the tour. We were taking a Nat Geo tour and it was nearly fully booked. Oh well.

 

[Sunset]

Well, just days after we signed on for a trip to Italy they cancelled the tour. We were taking a Nat Geo tour and it was nearly fully booked. Oh well.

When was the trip supposed to be ?

 

[explanade]

Yeah there are a lot of Americans going to Europe.

France has opened up the Pass Sanitaire to Americans. You email pictures of your CDC card, passport and a couple of other docs and they're suppose to send you back a QR code, which shows you've been vetted for vaccination, even though it was outside France and EU.

They have been swamped. It's been 2 weeks since I sent mine in and nothing.

So there's a lot of current interest because that Pass Sanitaire can be used in all of the EU.

 

[Lagniappe]

Yeah there are a lot of Americans going to Europe.

France has opened up the Pass Sanitaire to Americans. You email pictures of your CDC card, passport and a couple of other docs and they're suppose to send you back a QR code, which shows you've been vetted for vaccination, even though it was outside France and EU.

They have been swamped. It's been 2 weeks since I sent mine in and nothing.

So there's a lot of current interest because that Pass Sanitaire can be used in all of the EU.

I too sent in a request for a Pass Sanitizer. I was in Morzine, France and tried the "go to the pharmacy" method, but that didn't work, then read that people were having success emailing copies of their documents. So far all I have received is a "please be patient as we try to work through this backlog" message, but hope springs eternal.

 

[novaman]

When was the trip supposed to be ?

The trip was supposed to happen early/mid October

 

[oiseux]

I too sent in a request for a Pass Sanitizer. I was in Morzine, France and tried the "go to the pharmacy" method, but that didn't work, then read that people were having success emailing copies of their documents. So far all I have received is a "please be patient as we try to work through this backlog" message, but hope springs eternal.

We received ours, although mine was delayed until after I arrived. The restaurants also were taking CDC cards as proof of vaccination. I think they are flooded as they technically open up to all dates although they are only processing in priority those with the next four days or so.

 

[tmm99]

I heard on the news today (ABC Go) that the airfare prices for domestic flights in the US and international flights from the US to Europe will plunge in the next few weeks. 10% lower for domestic and record lows for international. W. DC to Dublin - $281. LA to Paris - $305.

Not that I'm ready to travel by air...

 

[gayl]

I hope to book a flight to Copenhagen in a month [emoji16][emoji857]

 

[braumeister]

I hope to book a flight to Copenhagen in a month [emoji16][emoji857]

Good luck. I've been there several times, but always in the winter. Not by choice, it just worked out that way. But I still enjoyed it very much. It appears that if you're fully vaccinated you won't have to provide anything but proof of it (no testing needed except when returning to the US).

 

[target2019]

Today we booked 2 Oktober tickets on Lufthansa for 17 days in Germany.

We have plenty of support when we arrive, and enough time for a plan to gel.

Answering myself. Again. LoL.

It has been very fulfilling to book the flights to Germany, and now we are counting down to October 2. We had to expand to 20 days total. So sad.

The plan really came together with the help of two friends, and our oldest (all live there). There are multiple routes strung together with an itinerary and maps in google accounts. It should play out as a few auto excursions and train rides, with accomodations in between.

Fingers are crossed.