We aren’t traveling except to grandparent’s house (pcr tested before driving here) and vacation house. We don’t have to encounter anyone other than grandparent and takeout staff at restaurants. We mask everywhere we go and don’t mind that. It’s been frustrating to not be able to go to our favorite restaurants.
I have wanted to plan a flight and resort type destination for spring break with the college kids but have not pulled the trigger. Things keep changing and I really don’t want to spend money only to sit in a hotel and eat takeout. Like right now I would not feel comfortable doing what I’d want to do on a true vacation like that. I’m grateful we can drive to our second place at the beach.
We are eschewing travel at this point. I have a client in the UK who would really like to see me in person and we have scheduled a couple of days in Jan. I was planning to spend the rest of the week in London meeting former/prospective clients. The probability of that trip happening is declining by the minute.
Bill Gates, who has been warning about pandemics for years, tweeted yesterday: “[W]e could be entering the worst part of the pandemic. … I’ve canceled most of my holiday plans.”
We went with Tauck. It was pricey, but they took care of everything, and we felt very safe and well taken care of. They even arranged for our exit COVID test.
Oh–and the pyramids were wonderful, but even more spectacular were Karnak and Luxor Temples and the Valley of the Kings and Queens–including Queen Nefertari’s magnificent tomb with exquisite paintings from more than 3000 years ago.
One of my kids flew across the country to come home to destress. Haven’t seen much of her in two years and we made plans after boosters but before Omicron. She has tested negative twice so we visited grandma in facility. I had reservations to fly back with her for an important performance but cancelled. She has to get back safely or the performance won’t happen. I used credit from my seats and got her the Mint class on Jet Blue with her own compartment. She will board last and have three masks, glasses and sanitizer. Praying she gets home safely. Flying 12/31 might be more low key, who knows. At least it is before 5G!
My D in Philly is visiting her fiance’s parents who live in Athens, OH. Normally they would fly to Columbus and her fiance’s dad would pick them up at the airport, which is about 80 miles away. But this time they decided to take Amtrak to Charleston, WV. Charleston is about a 90 minute drive from his parents’ house. It’s a 12 hour train ride and they booked a roomette for some privacy and separation from the rest of the travelers.
D’s fiance is a self described “transit nerd” and loves traveling by train or bus. He’s dreaming up some sort of spring break plan for them to fly to LA and then take the train from LA to Chicago. (Side note: they were originally supposed to go to Amsterdam for Christmas, but those plans were cancelled weeks ago as the Netherlands went into lockdown.)
If, for whatever reason, we end up not being able to go to USVI for Feb, another Amtrak trip is likely to be our backup plan, probably heading south - but perhaps just meandering all over.
I’m really hoping planes fly the end of Jan though, and we’ll be totally isolating from mid Jan on to be sure we don’t catch an asymptomatic version of any variant.
I don’t think you need to worry about retaining the Mint suite if the flight isn’t canceled or if another flight is available. Mint suites on transcontinental flights are mostly empty if you check their seat maps, even during the busiest period. It appears to me it’s not just the airlines are canceling flights. Many passengers are also canceling their tickets. Fares have been dropping continuously and precipitously on some routes.
With Omicron cases likely to increase dramatically in the next few weeks, we can expect many more cancellations by both airlines and ticketed passengers.
My daughter flew home yesterday. She bought her ticket only a couple weeks ago and said that when she did the plane was full and there were hardly any seats left to pick. Then yesterday, it turns out the plane was half empty. No one was sitting next to her and entire rows were empty. I’m guessing there were lots of last minute cancellations.
I’ve talked to five people outside my immediate family this week. Four of the five mentioned cancelling their holiday travel plans due to COVID. The family of the fifth one apparently moved their Christmas celebration up a week, celebrating last weekend instead.
My D’s boyfriend (in the Navy) wasn’t sure if he would be back from training to fly here for Christmas. D had to wait last minute to buy his ticket and ended up buying a return ticket in case he could make it here, thinking she could cancel that and bank the funds with SW. However, there was nothing available in the cheap fare class to San Diego, where they live. She ended up buying a return ticket to Los Angeles and he’s either renting a car or taking train back. She still had no ticket to fly him here (BWI) since we did not know for sure when he’d be back from training. He managed to find a ticket in the cheap fare class last weekend and flew here yesterday.
Since then, I’ve been checking daily in hopes some fares have opened up for their return (Sunday). D has had her ticket for a couple months, but was hoping to get his flight switched to San Diego. There is one flight now open on Sunday, but it stops twice, with a connection in Houston. With other airlines canceling flights, I’d be worried his connecting flight might cancel or he’d miss it and get stuck in Houston. I did note that there are now several flights that have opened up on Monday and Tuesday that had nothing open last week, but all have at least one connection, rather than direct. I will keep checking today and tomorrow, hoping perhaps a seat opens on her direct flight so they can fly home together and he doesn’t have to fly to L.A. instead.
Hoping perhaps with Omicron and the indoor mask mandate now in CA that some leisure travelers on D’s flight might cancel their trips to San Diego and open up a seat for her BF.
My daughter, SIL, and 2.5 year old GD, flew this past weekend to the UK where SIL is from. His parents have not seen the baby in 2 year as each time they tried to come to the US, they were not allowed. While in the UK, there was a wedding of a close friend, they were also going to attend. Prior to the trip, D had decided they would not attend the wedding as it was too risky. Bride and Groom tested positive a few days ago, but wedding is still on as their quarantine period will be over.
If it weren’t for the grandparents, my D would never have taken this trip, but felt it was the right thing to do so her in-laws could have time with GD. As they live in a smallish town, there isn’t much to do, but with Covid they hang in the house, or go on walks. Their return flight was cancelled a couple of days ago, so their actually were able to book a flight several days earlier. This works for them, especially since they are not staying for the wedding. The biggest problem they are having is finding appointments for their Covid testing for the return flight. Seems the first test appointment were prepaid and non refundable and most places don’t test for 5 and under. GD didn’t need a test to enter the UK, but needs one to return to the UK. They finally found a test for her, but didn’t want to pay yet in the event the current flight is also cancelled. D and SIL are a bit frugal and hate wasting money, so I get it, but would also be afraid to lose the appointment.
GD will also have to test before going back to daycare; hopefully that appointment is easier to get!