D2 has decided not to travel to Bermuda to see family next month because of the rising Covid numbers. She is trying to see if one of her friends wants to do a road trip through the Eastern Sierra and over to Yosemite in October instead.
Great move by our friendly neighbors to the north 
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I’m excited! We are going to Napa at the end of the month, and I was able to make plenty of reservations! Kind of freaks me out - are these amazing reservations available because people are canceling things left and right due to Covid hitting the proverbial fan? 
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https://www.newsbreakapp.com/n/0bPf0Wqp?pd=05Hamihi&lang=en_US&s=i16
According to CNN, the latest additions to the Level 4 category are:
- Aruba
- Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
- France
- French Polynesia
- Iceland
- Israel
- Thailand
In total, the CDC’s “Level 4: Covid-19 Very High” list currently includes 74 destinations, including a number of popular beachy getaways like the Virgin Islands, Fiji, the Maldives, and Saint Barthelemy. All have reported 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the 28 days.
Iceland surprised me because I thought they had vaccinated a huge portion of their population.
We spent July in Aruba and there were only single digit cases when we arrived. When we left it was close to 200 a day. I thought they had a pretty good system to prevent the spread but apparently not.
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Or are Napa cancellations due to wildfire smoke and risk this time of year? I hope not and that you have a great time. Just my first thought.
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Iceland is on the list because they have 500 cases per 100K of population. Thing is, there is only 330K people in the entire country!
I have a friend who left Monday for two weeks in Aruba. Yikes. She is vaccinated…but still.
I have family in France. That country has been up and down like a yo-yo it seems the entire pandemic time.
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I have friends in Iceland right now. They knew the numbers were going up before they left. They also went to Mexico last year on March 1 when you couldn’t get a covid test, and then spent 6 months worrying about whether they passed covid to the others on their trip or to family when they got back.
I pretty much said go or don’t go, but I don’t want to hear about how worried you were the whole time or that you’ll feel guilty if you brought covid back to your 98 y.o. MIL.
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Travel to Maui: tourists are NOT welcome.
Much as I would like to wander, I think it’s unlikely that we will be taking trips outside the US in the near future. The silver lining is taking trips closer to home.
We go to Cape May, NJ every year now in August because we honeymooned there 32 years ago when we were poor. We’re not poor anymore but we still love Cape May. This coming week we will enjoy this lovely place:
Heaven on earth.
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I just returned from the UK two days ago. Here is my advice to all who intend to travel outside the US:
-Plan before you go. Obvious, but right now, regulations are literally changing from day to day. What is required by the US? What is required by the country you want to visit? Don’t assume that what you read yesterday is still true the day you intend to leave. Check official government websites, then check airport websites, then check airline websites.
-Plan to spend a LOT of money on Covid tests. My husband and I ended up spending close to $800 all told on covid tests in both the US and UK. We were royally fleeced and I truly hope the test scam cash cow in both countries is somehow regulated so that travel doesn’t just become for the really rich.
-At least for the UK, you had better take their regulations very seriously. However, they will still make a mess of it. Including myself and my husband, I know two other families who went to the UK. Real humans called and visited listed places of residence, but for the two day test required after arrival, results didn’t come back until the day before we left. Useless. Then, for the two day test required before coming back to the US, the company who did the test failed to send the right pdf needed. Husband nearly missed flight trying to sort it out.
-Know what you need to do, but before you do it, check the lastest regulations. We paid top dollar for two day PCR tests, only to find out from a friend who flew (on our flight) that later THAT DAY (2 days out from flight), the regulations changed, and the airline would accept a rapid antigen test from the airport on departure day, at a third of the cost. That’s how fast things are changing.
-There may be very long and time consuming forms you’ll have to complete before being allowed to enter. See if you can do them before leaving the US. Have ALL addresses of hotels, etc… We flew Delta, who did not say a word about the passenger locator form the UK gov requires until ten minutes before landing. Guess what? This form can ONLY be completed electronically and takes about 30 minutes. You need WiFi to submit it. He’s en forbid your phone is dead. The UK immigration officer told us that only Delta is failing to inform passengers before they leave the US of the need to complete the form.
-Don’t even think of buying a ticket if you aren’t vaccinated. One poor sap was refused entry and put right back on a plane to the US. Again, Delta dropped the ball. I was able to check in with no one confirming I was vaccinated. It wasn’t an issue because I am. I don’t know how that guy even bought a ticket without knowing he needed a vaccination card. But Delta’s self checkin machines have no system to check vax status.
Overall, we probably spent about six hours of our vacation sorting out all these new regulations, tests, and forms. And of course, I realize how lucky we were to be able to go at all. Still, it was worth it. We had a great time.
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And that is why I’m glad we didn’t travel to Europe this summer. I’m always stressing about making sure everything goes smoothly. This would have made me insane. I’m glad it worked out for you, but sheesh!!!
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I was listening to one of those “how did the pandemic affect your small business” interviews on the radio, and they had a travel agent on. She said it was horrible at first, they had to deal with lots of refunds and insurance claims for months, no new bookings or money in. Lots out.
But now, she said the demand is unreal. One of the major perks of going through an agent and getting a packaged trip for international travel is they arrange and include the testing.
She also said people are spending more money on more extensive experiences, and staying longer.
Also, be aware of the timing of your test, get it early enough to have the results in time, but not so early that if your flight is delayed you won’t be admitted. We had one family member get two tests as the airline changed his flight to arrive in the UK at 75 hours from the first test instead of 60+
Planning a three day getaway with two girlfriends up to Cape Cod next month. This is a belated 50th birthday celebration for one of them. We will be driving and staying at her sister’s house. Weather-permitting, we’ll be doing outdoor activities and dining. I haven’t been up there since we left MA 15+ years ago…super excited.
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I’m here to finish up our Amtrak trip with some important info if anyone is considering doing the same…
Nothing changed with masking (or not) on our return trip home. It wasn’t enforced on any train car we were on (we weren’t on coach or business, but in observations cars whenever we could be). On the California Zephyr we were eating dinner with a couple who “traveled the rails all through Covid having done almost all of the major lines - they love Amtrak!” They didn’t even have masks visibly with them. When an announcement was being made after a stop the wife asked what it was and I told her they said something to the effect of, “You get two warnings about wearing a mask and after that you are kicked off the train.” She scoffed and said, “I’ve been on since Salinas and haven’t worn a mask at all. No one has said a word to me.” Perhaps with all of their riding the rails they have VIP status and no one is allowed to touch them? I don’t know.
Many times when employees walked through the car they would politely remind people to mask if they weren’t, but in reality, most of those people would put one on (or pretend to do so) and take it off immediately after the employee left the car. Most Amish were barely masked (hanging off an ear, under their chin, or maybe in a few cases over their mouths) and no one ever said a word to them. We’re wondering if employees thought it was religious exemption? That’s just our musing though, trying to figure out why they might tell someone directly across to put a mask on, but never someone Amish.
Chicago still enforced it, but rarely needed to. Pitt and Harrisburg did not.
If someone wanted to try to ride Amtrak safely, get a room and stay there. You won’t see half the sights, but you also won’t encounter people as you can close your door and have all meals delivered. Rooms come with a small bathroom. Roomettes do not. Many people were choosing this option, so either didn’t want contact with people (or seeing all of the sights) or were trying to avoid Covid.
There was coughing going on in every car we rode on, some more than others, but we can’t say every cough we heard was Covid. There are still colds, allergies, smokers, swallowing things wrong, or throat irritants out there just as there was pre-Covid. If Covid is there though, I can see it spreading easily on Amtrak, esp in the Observation cars where we spent most of our time since the view is our priority.
More in the next post since they deal with two different things.
This brings me to the BEWARE part of my post. Our whole 33rd Anniversary trip was set up to experience the CA Zephyr’s “best scenery” between Denver and Grand Junction. As explained before, our trip got rerouted due to CO’s mudslides. Then we had to extend an additional 3 days in SF to get on a train actually making the trip vs being bused around it. One day was due to busing. Two others were due to lack of availability. But we finally got on one and were thrilled, anticipating gorgeous scenery to cap off our trip rather than starting it…
Then we reached Grand Junction (the start of the best scenery) only to be told passengers could only have 2 hours in the observation car, then had to return to their room/seats so everyone could have a chance in the car. WTH? If you have roomettes (as we did), this means you were banished and would not be able to see half the scenery. Coach at least has windows on both sides, so while viewing isn’t the best, it’s still possible. Nowhere on Amtrak was this posted as something to take into consideration when buying tickets.
We asked the conductor which side was the best for our two hours (the first two) and he lied to us. He told us, “if you want to see the destruction of I 70, then sit on the left side, everything else is on the right side.” We opted for right. 90% of the time we saw the side of a mountain as the Colorado River (Moon River), critters, gorgeous mountain vistas, and the destruction of I 70 were all on the left side with just an occasional swap to put the river on our side for a few minutes.
When we talked with the conductor telling him this was our 33rd Wedding Anniversary and we bought first class tickets just to see this scenery he didn’t give a hoot and told us we should be happy our roomette was at least on the good side for the next part of the trip, plus said he’d make an announcement if the car wasn’t full and we could return to see what seats were available.
We did get to see some stunning canyon scenery for the next hour and a half, so that was a plus, but then our room attendant came by asking us why we weren’t in the observation car. They had room, but our entire car wasn’t getting any announcements due to technical issues. With just half an hour left, we didn’t want to risk not being there for the final 2 hours if possible, so just waited it out in our roomette.
We returned to the observation car to sit with two people who we had been talking with during our first two hours. They had been kicked back to coach at the banishment, but then returned when they heard the openings announcements. In addition to what we saw, they saw a whole herd of moose, more mooners (people in the CO river mooning the train - really fun part of the trip for most), and scenery on both sides. They said the car was never full. It wasn’t during the first 2 hours either. That information coupled with the banishment in the first place literally made me livid and in tears since this was supposed to have been the highlight of this trip and we paid a decent amount of money, including extending our trip in SF for three nights to do it. From Denver I just wanted to fly home, but we stuck out the rest anyway - mainly because it was easier.
I can’t knock the scenery we saw. It’s tremendous and not visible from any highway for large parts of it. We were also fortunate enough to see the slides closing down the track (and highway) that was also impressive - things Creeklanders get their highs from.
But I now despise Amtrak and we have no plans to ride on it again unless just taking us to Philly’s airport or similar. They went from getting a 9/10 in our minds with H and I onboard looking at their routes wondering what other ones we want to see to a 1/10 figuring if there are literally no other places we want to see that we can go to, then we’ll consider one of those other routes. (Chances of that are low I think.)
To anyone else, if you want to see the stunning scenery, fly into Grand Junction or Denver and get coach or business seats. We at least got to see the “good side” during the 2 hours we were banished, but those on the other side got very little (albeit they saw the moose). There’s no way to pick which side you’ll be on because room cars can be placed in line going either direction. On the Coast Starlight they had two sleepers going in opposite directions so I can’t tell you to be sure you have odd or even numbers, etc. “First Class” in this section means you will be banished and literally can’t see half the views unless there are openings you’re fortunate enough to hear about in the observation deck.
The other alternative is to go on off season times. Our train was 100% full (as were others we rode). Our son and DIL rode it in Dec and said there were no restrictions and very few passengers then. There’s likely more off season than just Dec.
Otherwise, sleeping on a train is an experience to say the least. Unless you literally can sleep through anything (motion and noise), expect mostly cat naps. We’d have put up with it if we still enjoyed Amtrak, but having a night in our bed last night (and the motel outside SF) sure was enjoyable! Once we were past Denver we mainly wanted to get home due to our experience on that stretch. The rest was an endurance.
Feel free to ask questions if you have any. It’s difficult to write about it all and the posts are lengthy enough as it is!
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Since our trip to the Canadian Rockies has been cancelled (one leg of the trip returned to US for a day to visit Glacier–guess that couldn’t be worked out), we’re looking for someplace perhaps in New York state to visit. Considering Thousand Islands area but that’s 6+hours away–not sure I want to drive THAT far. Maybe the Hudson Valley, or Finger Lakes or Cooperstown area?