Alternative Travel Plans???

[luxecruisers]

On 7/30/2020 at 9:13 PM, pris993 said:

Booked cruise for Jan 2022; waiting to book a flight to Israel in 2021; meanwhile, we are content to drive back and forth to San Francisco Bay, 10  miles RT and walk along the bay a substitute for being at sea,, LOL.  

 

The money we have saved not traveling this year, we have just put into final expense planning, for our last trip on earth.  So when our times comes  it will easy. 

 

What is your bucket list last trip on earth? 

[luxecruisers]

23 hours ago, antmaril said:

My friend and I are taking two short road trips to Northern Michigan (four hours from home) In August and September.  We are currently booked on the Enchanted for January, 2021, but we won’t be doing that even if it is possible.  Maybe January, 2022.  We shall see.  

 

At this rate, January 2021 seems iffy to me too. I definitely agree that short road trips are where it's at!

[luxecruisers]

20 hours ago, Northumberland said:

So, we now participate in day trips around our own province to places we've never been or haven't visited in a long time.

It doesn't take the place of a nice road trip, but it is a good distraction.

 

I'm totally with you on day trips! They've kept me sane through lockdown. I'd get in the car and treat my driving trip as the experience: yummy treats, fun music that I could sing to, and a drive through somewhere new and beautiful that would take my breath away. 

[luxecruisers]

14 hours ago, K32682 said:

We're renting a lakeside cottage at a very good price from from an American who isn't allowed into the country. 

 

How did you find the rental? Was it through a friend or a listing?

[luxecruisers]

12 hours ago, whogo said:

My biggest outing during the pandemic was a one bladder drive to visit Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa, no other stops on the drive.

 

Although cases and deaths are higher than ever in my state, precautions are regularly ignored. Only about half of my fellow citizens wear masks at the supermarket, they ignore the big one way signs in the aisles, and they bring their husbands to block the aisle as an unneeded source of contagion and can't you see that I can't get past you?

 

 

Snake Alley looks fun! 

 

I totally get the frustration and need to stay at home. 

[luxecruisers]

8 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

Alternative Travel Plans???   None

 

Nothing planned... only cancelled stuff... have not been further than 15km from home since February... At the moment there is talk of full lockdown......

 

This is interesting. A full lockdown in Australia or in Melbourne or in Victoria? Thought your numbers were low ... 

[luxecruisers]

9 hours ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

We spent a few days in Gatlinburg, TN in June. We drove there, stayed in a hotel, but pretty much kept to ourselves.

 

We'll likely do another road trip to...somewhere...around Thanksgiving and then fly to Texas to visit family in December. 

 

None of this replaces cruising, though, and my grumpiness increases the longer I'm landlocked.

 

What are your top picks for Thanksgiving? 

[luxecruisers]

12 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

My biggest outing was a one mile passenger seat to a dentists office.

 

What have you been doing at home to keep yourself distracted, if anything?

[K32682]

1 hour ago, luxecruisers said:

 

How did you find the rental? Was it through a friend or a listing?

 

Friend of a friend. The owners are less worried about the money than having someone in the place. 

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, luxecruisers said:

 

Could be the smartest move of all. What's on your bucket list outside of the US?

 

I try to get to Italy once a year -- maybe Rome and somewhere else.

 

I have a Hurtigruten cruise to Greenland and the NE Atlantic coast in May 2021 on one of their expedition ships (about 200 people or less) that I hope will go, but may not... I'll also stay in Iceland afterwards for a few days.

 

I also am planning a land trip to Algeria in late November to see some of their Roman sites.  That's a place that's been on my list for quite a while.

 

 

 

 

 

[pris993]

2 hours ago, luxecruisers said:

 

What is your bucket list last trip on earth? 

With well over 60 cruises, we have actually exhausted our bucket list, seen most European capitals, cruised the Mediterranean and visited the Middle East, the Baltics, plus the usual Hawaii, Caribbean, Alaska, North East to Quebec City , Panama Canal and Mexico.  Now at age 73 and 88 we are content to do cruises out of San Francisco to Mexico on Princess when they return.  

 

The reference I made to last trip on earth is a one way to the cemetery.  Before that happens trying to get one more trip to Israel, hopefully in 2021.   Had a trip planned for May of 2020 which got cancelled due to the virus. 

 

We are blessed with may travel memories, will keep going as long as we are healthy to do so but now have to wait til virus under control.   

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I try to get to Italy once a year -- maybe Rome and somewhere else.

 

I have a Hurtigruten cruise to Greenland and the NE Atlantic coast in May 2021 on one of their expedition ships (about 200 people or less) that I hope will go, but may not... I'll also stay in Iceland afterwards for a few days.

 

I also am planning a land trip to Algeria in late November to see some of their Roman sites.  That's a place that's been on my list for quite a while.

 

 

 

 

 

Algeria!  We are impressed and a bit jealous :).  Not sure this is the best year (because of COVID) but you might have the benefit of being one of the very few tourists in the country :).  We have given up on going to Europe/Africa/Asia this year due to all the darn travel restrictions and complete chaos with the air schedules.  I just noticed this morning that Crystal has simply given up and cancelled all their ocean cruises for the rest of the year :(.

 

Hank

[cruisemom42]

4 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Algeria!  We are impressed and a bit jealous :).  Not sure this is the best year (because of COVID) but you might have the benefit of being one of the very few tourists in the country :).  We have given up on going to Europe/Africa/Asia this year due to all the darn travel restrictions and complete chaos with the air schedules.  I just noticed this morning that Crystal has simply given up and cancelled all their ocean cruises for the rest of the year :(.

 

Hank

 

Hi Hank, you may be overly impressed -- I was talking about 2021 -- I have no remaining plans for 2020, having either canceled or shifted everything forward... 

[whogo]

27 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I just noticed this morning that Crystal has simply given up and cancelled all their ocean cruises for the rest of the year :(.

 

How honest of Crystal. The other cruise lines are selling cruises that have almost no chance of sailing. Does Holland America really think the Oosterdam will sail September 27, 2020 to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand?

[Hlitner]

22 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Hi Hank, you may be overly impressed -- I was talking about 2021 -- I have no remaining plans for 2020, having either canceled or shifted everything forward... 

LOL I guess we should have given you more credit for wisdom.  We are down to one remaining cruise for 2020 (a 14 day MSC Caribbean cruise in December) and may have to make our own decision to cancel before final payment.  Our other 3 cruises (HAL and 2 Princess) were both cancelled by the cruise lines.   We have also abandoned our plans to fly to Europe later this month (not even possible with the current travel restrictions) and drive up to Canada in late September (currently prohibited by Canada).  2020 has turned out to be a very depressing year for travelers :(.

 

Hank

[Roz]

34 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Algeria!  We are impressed and a bit jealous :).  Not sure this is the best year (because of COVID) but you might have the benefit of being one of the very few tourists in the country :).  We have given up on going to Europe/Africa/Asia this year due to all the darn travel restrictions and complete chaos with the air schedules.  I just noticed this morning that Crystal has simply given up and cancelled all their ocean cruises for the rest of the year :(.

 

Hank

 

I know Crystal canceled all its river cruises thru the end of 2020.  Didn't realize that included ocean cruises. 

[Hlitner]

33 minutes ago, Roz said:

 

I know Crystal canceled all its river cruises thru the end of 2020.  Didn't realize that included ocean cruises. 

Guess I will take credit for reading Cruise Critic's news postings :).  Here is the link

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5500/

 

Hank

[slidergirl]

On 7/31/2020 at 8:50 AM, Northumberland said:

We have a cruise planned from San Pedro to Hawaii starting January 5th.

We had planned a road trip from where we live in Canada to San Pedro.

However, as the border is currently closed between Canada and the USA and the pandemic is still not under control in either country, we don't know whether or not our planned trip will even happen.

We also had planned a road trip in September to the east coast of Canada that we cancelled due to the pandemic situation in our 2 most populated provinces that were on our road trip.

So, we now participate in day trips around our own province to places we've never been or haven't visited in a long time.

It doesn't take the place of a nice road trip, but it is a good distraction.

You could do a trip over to Edmonton and watch an NHL game...

[slidergirl]

18 hours ago, Hlitner said:

You are correct and I should have specifically homed in on the death rate.  One huge problem with COVID is that nobody knows the real rate of infections (even the CDC has said it could be 10 times higher then reported) but we do have a pretty good handle on the number of deaths.  I do say the "number" since to determine a death "rate" one would need a reliable denominator which does not exist and may never be known.

 

Hank

P.S.  A family member was near certain he had COVID back in early March.  A couple of weeks ago he finally managed to get an antibody blood test and it came out negative.  So, does that mean he never had the virus or could it be a false negative.  We shall never be sure.  According to the Mayo Clinic both false negatives and false positives can occur.  Makes you wonder why these tests even matter.

I'm one of those who are certain we had COVID back in February, before they started counting & testing.  Live and work in a winter tourist town in hospitality and where we had guests from everywhere in the US, Asia, and South America.  Either I had it (I hit on 3 "symptoms" now that I know) or it was the absolute worst and longest case of bronchitis I've ever had.  And, I have to say that my balance became suddenly not all that great.  Unfortunately, those antibody tests that are readily available up here through the "doc in the box" places are not very reliable and some research is showing that you can lose your antibodies very fast.  So, in my case, I doubt that an antibody test would be useful.  

[slidergirl]

I want go tell everyone: do NOT go to the Western National Parks, National Monuments, and National Forests!!!!!!

I keep trying to plan a few week-long or more camping trips and I'm having a b!t@h of a time finding a campground for a reservation to tie together for a trip!   Things are going gangbusters with so many people renting RVs this year and hitting the road for all the National Parks.  Problem with many of the campgrounds is that they are multi-use - you reserve the same spots if you are a tent camper or an RVer.  I really don't like doing the "first come first serve" spots because if you can't get there by 7am you don't have a spot and then where do you camp???  
It took me awhile last year to plan out my trip last year for a 2 week road trip to Southern Utah/Northern Arizona.   Just me and my camping gear.  It was one of the best vacations I've ever had!  Now, I'm looking to the North, the West, the East (to Colorado) and the further South and it's hard to cobble something together.    It's definitely not like the old days where you just piled into the car and headed out!   I've got a short camping trip next week, BUT there's a forest fire that just started up 8 miles from the campground we women were going to camp at.  Sheriff evacuated the campground up the road from ours, so we just have to 1)keep our eyes on the fire website and 2)see if we can find an alternative spot that we can get a site.   Sigh.   

[clo]

On 7/30/2020 at 9:50 AM, cruisemom42 said:

I'm not planning any alternative getaways -- staying put and waiting for travel outside the US to open up again.

Do you have any requirements before taking long intl flights?

[clo]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

drive up to Canada in late September (currently prohibited by Canada). 

So do you have hopes that Canada will be open to us by then?

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, clo said:

So do you have hopes that Canada will be open to us by then?

We had been holding out hope but it became irrelevant when we received an e-mail, last week from the wonderful lady who owns the B&B we stay at during our Canadian wine trips.  She decided to shut down her entire B&B for the remainder of the year.  I certainly am not critical of Canada's restrictive policy which has been reciprocated by the USA.   

 

I just keep asking the same question which is what happens to the world if this COVID thing continues for a few years and there is never a safe/effective vaccine?  Will those that continue to shelter in their homes be content to do this for the next few years?  Will those who support keeping schools closed be OK with schools being closed for several years?  How many years can restaurants survive without being allowed to operate profitably?  These are the kind of questions generally ignored by the press (who all seem to have their own agenda).    Lets be honest, when all this started last winter most of us assumed it would be a matter of a few weeks or months and then everything would go back to normal.  I should give credit to the wisest person I know (my wife) who said back in late January, "It is the zombie apocalypse."  "

 

Hank

[Hlitner]

14 minutes ago, clo said:

Do you have any requirements before taking long intl flights?

Have to jump in because you ask a terrific question.  DW and I have actually talked about this subject and would try to mitigate the risk by taking Business Class (more space).  That being said, we already have our tickets to return to Mexico (our normal winter home) and they are coach :(.

 

Hank

[luxecruisers]

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I try to get to Italy once a year -- maybe Rome and somewhere else.

 

I have a Hurtigruten cruise to Greenland and the NE Atlantic coast in May 2021 on one of their expedition ships (about 200 people or less) that I hope will go, but may not... I'll also stay in Iceland afterwards for a few days.

 

I also am planning a land trip to Algeria in late November to see some of their Roman sites.  That's a place that's been on my list for quite a while.

 

Algeria sounds phenomenal! 

 

As for Hurtrigruten, have you ever cruised with them before? Love the idea of a much more off-the-beaten path type of cruise. 

 

Hate to break this to you but it might be important to know: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/08/01/hurtigruten-cruise-line-33-crew-infected-covid-19-norway/5562151002/