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Coronavirus Impact on Travel


idigTexas

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Supposed to be in Turks & Caicos July 5-10 with a group of friends. Me being me started spending points and travel planning back in February they got the green light. I didn’t particularly want to go to Turks, since it costs me 10X what it would to go to the Maldives, but I’m a trooper since we did Oktoberfest last year and they wanted a short flight. Booked my airfare from DFW-PLS on a points on an AA web fare. I bought their tickets straight up on the same flight and upgraded everyone with miles. AA has extended their points/fare policies, so we’re ok to cancel and get our credit. (Our flight now stops in MIA, so perhaps a refund?) I had to transfer Chase UR points to JetBlue for our flight from PLS-FLL. Then I booked a separate ticket from FLL-DAL on Southwest. SWA is always fantastic about canceling but JetBlue only covers flights until 5/31. We rented a beach house for $1000/nt with a 50% cancelation policy 24 hours after booking. AirBNB has only covered their 100% cancelation until mid-June.

One friend owns his own business flipping houses, so he hasn’t seen a dime since Feb. Another has a contract for turf at a few sports venues, so his income is stagnant. They are both supposed to take their kids on vacation together, which will probably get canceled...along with their trip hall pass from their wives. I may be playing catchup at work this summer anyway, so who knows if I can even still go. I can spend $ to get my JetBlue points back, which I can’t reconvert into Chase UR and don’t have much personal use for. I will fight AirBNB if I don’t get a 100% refund for a house the owner won’t be able to rent out anyway. I used my Amex Platinum, so I’m not sweating it too bad. They will set things right.

So I am riding things out until the end of May. Still have a faint hope that we will go but I’m not optimistic. The prospect of quarantining on a beach doesn’t sound very appealing right now. Kind of hoping we get the death blow with most of our $ back.

Edited by Spankytoes
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18 minutes ago, Spankytoes said:

The prospect of quarantining on a beach doesn’t sound very appealing

Wut? I spent a few weeks near Rosemary at the end of March and it was way better then being at home. So what if nothing is open. Going for walks on the beach is way better then going for walks in Houston. 

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Dead & Co. July in Raleigh.... who knows ?
Floydfest, week long concert late July, mountains of southwest Va. No decision yet.
2 other spring trips are already cancelled.
Planning a second trip to Ireland in the Fall right now. Crossing fingers.
 

There aren’t going to be concerts until 2021
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Looks like work related travel is off through the summer and we just canceled kids summer camps and other planned travel for the summer. Looks like we’re probably packing up and heading to the beach house sooner rather than later and going to ride out the summer there, so it could be worse. It’s offseason where we are, so it will be quieter than even being at home. Local discussion is schools starting virtually in August, so they will probably just stay there into the fall which may kill any other travel plans we had also. 

I thought a month ago I would enjoy this no work travel deal, but the thought of not making Vegas and some of the other trips this year kind of sucks now.

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I don’t think you can reliably plan any sort of vacation or non-essential travel until spring of 2021. There may be windows in which you can plan a short getaway if the place you live, and the place you’re going to have seen sustained downward trajectories of infections and have demonstrated access to reliable to testing. But when they do loosen restrictions that’s just going to result in a New wave of infections, which will then result in a re-tightening of restrictions. Shits gonna ebb and flow for the next 18 months. I don’t see how you can plan anything with confidence until there is a vaccine and reliable herd immunity, or a treatment that works for the vast majority of infected patients.

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It's incredible what this virus has done to travel. Not the end of the world but it's pretty stunning. 

I travel extensively and have done a lot of backpacking since the mid-90's. Last year at this time, I was in the middle of 10 week trip in Japan, Thailand and India. 

Just occurred to me tonight the only place I've been in all of 2020 so far is.....Wichita, Kansas. That's it. Wichita. And no plans for the future. 

What a difference a year makes. 

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6 hours ago, irishtexan said:

I don’t think you can reliably plan any sort of vacation or non-essential travel until spring of 2021. There may be windows in which you can plan a short getaway if the place you live, and the place you’re going to have seen sustained downward trajectories of infections and have demonstrated access to reliable to testing. But when they do loosen restrictions that’s just going to result in a New wave of infections, which will then result in a re-tightening of restrictions. Shits gonna ebb and flow for the next 18 months. I don’t see how you can plan anything with confidence until there is a vaccine and reliable herd immunity, or a treatment that works for the vast majority of infected patients.

Exactly my thoughts.  I've pretty much just thrown in the towel on...

  1. No international travel for the rest of 2020
  2. Highly unlikely US travel to other states for the rest of 2020
  3. Possible long weekend within the state of Texas just for something different to do in fall 2020

Hope I'm wrong, but that's my prediction.

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16 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Possible long weekend within the state of Texas just for something different to do in fall 2020.

This is probably my summer trip. I’m going to start to look into a nice bed and breakfast-type getaway somewhere in the Hill Country. Making the best out of a shitty situation.

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51 minutes ago, South Austin said:

This is probably my summer trip. I’m going to start to look into a nice bed and breakfast-type getaway somewhere in the Hill Country. Making the best out of a shitty situation.

Yep, I was thinking something along these lines.  Always been on my radar as a place I wanted to try, so now seems like as good a year as any.  Looks like they're not even going to open until September...

https://www.dosbrisas.com/

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1 hour ago, Landomatic said:

Yep, I was thinking something along these lines.  Always been on my radar as a place I wanted to try, so now seems like as good a year as any.  Looks like they're not even going to open until September...

https://www.dosbrisas.com/

That's a bummer.  Dos Brisas looks great.

I'm looking into Miraval Austin.  Not exactly getting away, but looks like a decent place to spoil my lady friend for a long weekend in late July.  It'll be hot as shit so the hikes won't be as enjoyable. 

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The thing about Big Bend is that the campsites in the Basin are so popular and get really crowded. That’s where most of the best hiking trails are, the most shade, higher elevations, etc.. but mainly tons of people all crammed into a bunch of car camping spots. If you have the resources (high clearance vehicle, enough water, and your own set up for a bathroom) you can get out into the the parts of the park that are truly isolated and not crowded, but they won’t be as pretty as the Basin.  People hear about the beauty of Big Bend and about it’s isolation. Both parts are there but not in the same spots. The beautiful parts are packed. The isolated parts are hot sunny deserts, but isolated. I find the desert parts just as appealing but not everyone does. 
 

In early March my son and I bypassed BBNP and went to BB State Park instead. Much more isolated that the NP and almost as pretty. 

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The only summer trip I think is going to happen for us is a beachhouse we have rented for August.

If our other trips (all domestic, but interstate, starting July 3rd) get cancelled, we may try to grab another week at a beach house, just to get the hell away.  This is gonna be a weird summer.

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We’ve got some friends that are supposed to be getting married this summer in Maine. My wife is supposed to be part of the wedding party. The friends have already put down a large deposit that the resort is holding onto and won’t let them outright cancel. They say they will be open for business and aren’t being very accommodating from what I am being told. It remains to be seen what our friends end up doing based on the guidelines for gatherings the government of Maine sets up going forward. I’m not particularly looking forward to getting on a plane in July (I was very much looking forward to it before this), but it would be a really awkward conversation my wife would have to have with her friend if we begged out.

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3 hours ago, Landomatic said:

Exactly my thoughts.  I've pretty much just thrown in the towel on...

  1. No international travel for the rest of 2020
  2. Highly unlikely US travel to other states for the rest of 2020
  3. Possible long weekend within the state of Texas just for something different to do in fall 2020

Hope I'm wrong, but that's my prediction.

Damn I hope not. I already had to postpone a trip back to Houston. 

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19 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Dead & Co. July in Raleigh.... who knows ?

Floydfest, week long concert late July, mountains of southwest Va. No decision yet.

2 other spring trips are already cancelled.

Planning a second trip to Ireland in the Fall right now. Crossing fingers.

 

 

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Just now, Onboard 2.0 said:

Not surprised.  No need living your bands name if you don't need to....

sucks.  this was probably going to be my best concert and travel year ever and now i'll feel lucky if i can get a weekend out of austin sometime in the fall.

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1 minute ago, midtown said:

At some point we are simply going to have to treat this like any other risk when you travel. Mugged, air plane crashes, bus crash, car crash, other illnesses, kidnapping, food poisoning, etc

Except that I expect that many foreign countries will either bar our entry or require us to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

I'm resigned to in-state travel only this year, and even then, isolated and selective (beach house, cabin, that sort of thing).

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52 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Except that I expect that many foreign countries will either bar our entry or require us to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

Let's see how long that happens when they need business travelers and tourists.   I guess it depends on the country.  EU countries can probably afford to do this.  Third world and banana republics probably not.

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2 minutes ago, midtown said:

Let's see how long that happens when they need business travelers and tourists.   I guess it depends on the country.  EU countries can probably afford to do this.  Third world and banana republics probably not.

My summer vacation to Haiti is all but booked!

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1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Except that I expect that many foreign countries will either bar our entry or require us to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

I'm resigned to in-state travel only this year, and even then, isolated and selective (beach house, cabin, that sort of thing).

Especially since we're now the poster children of fucking this whole thing up royally.  Every place worth traveling to will look at us like we have the plague for as long as this thing remains an issue. We ain't going anywhere. 

I'm just going to save the money I would have spent traveling and travel somewhere in more style next year. 

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2 hours ago, midtown said:

At some point we are simply going to have to treat this like any other risk when you travel. Mugged, air plane crashes, bus crash, car crash, other illnesses, kidnapping, food poisoning, etc

Yes.

2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Except that I expect that many foreign countries will either bar our entry or require us to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

I'm resigned to in-state travel only this year, and even then, isolated and selective (beach house, cabin, that sort of thing).

Everyone's looking at this from their current view, things will look very different-- to EVERYONE-- when viewed a couple months in the future.  At that point everyone will understand that there are already tens of millions worldwide with this thing.  It won't seem so huge or so scary then.  I don't blame anyone for the fear and uncertainty they're feeling now.  But projecting 2-4 months in the future, everyone in the world will have a different view.  Some will still be too afraid to take it head-on, and that's okay.  Most will have it figured out by then though.

1 hour ago, midtown said:

Let's see how long that happens when they need business travelers and tourists.   I guess it depends on the country.  EU countries can probably afford to do this.  Third world and banana republics probably not.

It's simpler than that-- they'll realize they're already more exposed than they imagined they would be, and it's not an eternal death sentence.

58 minutes ago, Wanker Bob said:

Especially since we're now the poster children of fucking this whole thing up royally.  Every place worth traveling to will look at us like we have the plague for as long as this thing remains an issue. We ain't going anywhere. 

Lulz.  Lighten up, Francis.

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2 hours ago, Wanker Bob said:

The data. We have over 4 times as many confirmed cases and over twice as many deaths as any other country and our leader is on TV every day making a giant ass out of himself for the world to see. We're accepting humanitarian aid in the form of PPE from places like Russia, Singapore, and China. The most economically and militarily powerful nation in the world requiring humanitarian aid for the most basic of supplies. 

No matter what you may think the perception globally is we're the embodiment of the Benny Hill theme song and an absolute embarrassment. 

Take it to the cloak room.

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The data. We have over 4 times as many confirmed cases and over twice as many deaths as any other country and our leader is on TV every day making a giant ass out of himself for the world to see. We're accepting humanitarian aid in the form of PPE from places like Russia, Singapore, and China. The most economically and militarily powerful nation in the world requiring humanitarian aid for the most basic of supplies. 
No matter what you may think the perception globally is we're the embodiment of the Benny Hill theme song and an absolute embarrassment. 
Get the fuck out of here with the politics.
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I don’t think you can reliably plan any sort of vacation or non-essential travel until spring of 2021. There may be windows in which you can plan a short getaway if the place you live, and the place you’re going to have seen sustained downward trajectories of infections and have demonstrated access to reliable to testing. But when they do loosen restrictions that’s just going to result in a New wave of infections, which will then result in a re-tightening of restrictions. Shits gonna ebb and flow for the next 18 months. I don’t see how you can plan anything with confidence until there is a vaccine and reliable herd immunity, or a treatment that works for the vast majority of infected patients.


This isn't personal, but fuck you. Seriously. You can expect the worst, but should hope for the best. The doom and gloom is getting fucking old.
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