fosterscik
Full time employment: Posting here.
Thanks for the tip! We'll look into it
+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.
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.
Oops. So excited to finally start planning again that I missed the 2022.
There will be LOTS of travel in 2021
Better get booked
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."
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.
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.
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.
According to Oceania, 20% of those who booked the World Cruise also opted to extend their voyage up to a total of 218 days.
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.
You can't make this stuff up.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.
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.
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!
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.
My take on cruising is I will do it when I really need the elevator on the ship.
My take on cruising is I will do it when I really need the elevator on the ship.