If you like to travel (for leisure)

[regentrude]

2 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

DH's uncle who is 91 just called.  He is wanting to plan a trip to Wisconsin this summer with DH to show DH where he (and DH's father who is deceased) grew up.  He is lonely and saying that he would rather travel and do things while he can.  

That makes so much sense. Because, when you're 91, you don't have the luxury of saying "let's wait another couple of years". They won't be able to make up for the lost time.
 

[catz]

Like for me, I think road trips would be fine especially to a rented cabin or the like.  But driving somewhere and setting up home, cooking, in a new space is not relaxing or a vacation for me.  We have lots of outdoorsy stuff we can do within an hour of home, it's nice urban hiking out my front door.  I am all about  RESTAURANTS and trying local food when we travel.  Planning to shop/get groceries, using rest areas, plan food, blah just does not sound particularly fun or relaxing to me.

My kid goes to college about 4-5 hours from here.  I had to go there a few times this spring and fall.  And I would go there and back in a day.  It's fairly dense urban area where it is, staying in a hotel and trying to figure out food also doesn't sound relaxing.  I have stopped and done like day hikes on those trips which has been nice.  I drove up during fall colors and that was just glorious to look at.  He was on campus for about 9 weeks.  Spring semester starts very late January and if his classes are online, he may hold for a week or 2 while the new testing requirements shake out (everyone will be tested 2x per week in the spring).  

I am hoping by fall, things are starting to get to a new normal.  I fully expect international travel in particular to just be different for a very long time  and I won't be surprised to see vaccination requirements popping up from countries and some businesses.  

[Bootsie]

2 hours ago, regentrude said:

That makes so much sense. Because, when you're 91, you don't have the luxury of saying "let's wait another couple of years". They won't be able to make up for the lost time.
 

This is where I think a lot of people are having a difficult time making decisions.  We should be very careful, not so much because we are at high risk, but to help protect those who are.  But then, some of the highest risk people we know are asking us to come visit or to take them places--because they can't keep waiting.  

Then again, none of us every know if we can wait a couple of years.  My best friend decided to fly across the country on Christmas day with her  children and grandchild to visit her 80-year old mother.  My friend works (in health care), her children work, and the grandchild is going to kindergarten.  Her mother was in good health.  So, there was the "can't you just ZOOM Christmas with your mom, can you believe they are having Christmas dinner together" crowd criticizing my friend.  The day after Christmas her mother fell, hit her head, cracked her skull in two places, ruptured her eardrum, and has bleeding on the brain.  If my friend had not flown in, her mother would have been home alone when this happened and who know how long it would have been before she received medical care.  The mother is now in ICU--this may be the only time the great grandchild remembers seeing his great grandmother.  

[MEmama]

35 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

Like for me, I think road trips would be fine especially to a rented cabin or the like.  But driving somewhere and setting up home, cooking, in a new space is not relaxing or a vacation for me.  We have lots of outdoorsy stuff we can do within an hour of home, it's nice urban hiking out my front door.  I am all about  RESTAURANTS and trying local food when we travel.  Planning to shop/get groceries, using rest areas, plan food, blah just does not sound particularly fun or relaxing to me.

 

Same! Staying in a cabin or air B&B while being forced to be totally self sufficient doesn’t sound fun to me, just like a lot of work. As much as I love to travel, under those circumstances I’d much rather stay home. 
 

I'm with you on the food—it’s my favorite part of exploring. Lol

[Pawz4me]

39 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

Like for me, I think road trips would be fine especially to a rented cabin or the like.  But driving somewhere and setting up home, cooking, in a new space is not relaxing or a vacation for me.  We have lots of outdoorsy stuff we can do within an hour of home, it's nice urban hiking out my front door.  I am all about  RESTAURANTS and trying local food when we travel.  Planning to shop/get groceries, using rest areas, plan food, blah just does not sound particularly fun or relaxing to me.

  

We have an RV, so we take our home with us. It's not a new space. I have a place for everything and keep everything in its place. We still don't want to go anywhere if we can't safely and w/o undue stress visit attractions, shops, and yes, especially -- restaurants. Going somewhere and having to deal with all the food and cooking, or hassle with takeout, is most definitely not my idea of a vacation. I want to be able to go in, sit down, relax and be waited on.

[QueenCat]

We've been doing a condo at the beach this past year. Maybe 4 times? We bring all food in for breakfast and lunch. We do take-out for dinner. We go to a pretty secluded beach area. Closest people are at least 50 feet away. Rarely more than 4-5 small groups anywhere in the vicinity. It's safer there than in my neighborhood.

[PeterPan]

4 hours ago, lewelma said:

you still have a decent amount of risk if you are in a high risk group. 

I think it's going to need time for the real numbers to become obvious. Polling data is not going to reflect what is really going to happen in real time. I imagine some employers will apply pressure. I can tell you there's DEFINITELY pressure in congregate living settings. At my father's assisted living, they are being given forms that say take the vac or wear a mask, your choice. 

So I wouldn't believe ANYTHING about it you're seeing on the news. Our news media is so stupid political and everything is being skewed. There never should have been the politicization there has been of it and that will probably shift with time as people get their heads where they belong.

[cabercro]

21 hours ago, kokotg said:

we have a travel trailer, too, and I think being able to travel with your own bathroom, kitchen, etc. makes the question a lot different. That said, we cancelled our planned long trip to Michigan over the summer and stuck with a few short trips in our state and within a day's drive and did only outside activities and takeout food. Hiking to waterfalls is lovely and all, but I got my fill. We're planning a long trip this summer...right now there are two versions of the itinerary: one for if the Canadian border is open and one for if it's not. I'm hopeful that the adults in our family at least will be vaccinated by then and that numbers will be down enough that we'll be comfortable doing some inside things even if there are some restrictions still (I'll still travel if I don't want to do inside restaurants or theaters/concerts, but probably not if we don't feel okay doing museums and tours of historic buildings, for example). I wouldn't be planning any overseas travel right now (but I wouldn't be anyway this year, pandemic or no), but it's possible I'd feel comfortable actually doing it by summer...it really just depends on how the vaccine rollout goes. 

This is pretty much my response as well. DH and I are both teachers so we typically do a solid 7-8 weeks on the road each summer. We cancelled last summer and just did two trips to places we were familiar with, but we're hoping to knock out most of the mid-Atlantic this summer. But like you said, if museums/tours are still closed there's not much point in going. That said, I wouldn't mind some restrictions staying around (pre-register for an entrance time online and limited capacity? Yes PLEASE! Let's keep that forever.)

As teachers we're only a few groups away from getting vaccinated, so if we aren't fully vaccinated by summer, things have clearly disintegrated as a county to the point that probably wouldn't be safe to travel anyway. I assume our daughter (3) won't be able to be vaccinated before then so we're keeping a close eye on the data around whether you can still pass it along while vaccinated. 

[plansrme]

We just returned from our annual ski trip; it was four flights in packed planes and two layovers of about one hour each. One Uber. Multiple meals out at our destination. My exchange student and his mom are coming tomorrow from their home country where he has been for Christmas except for a three-day round trip from his home country to south Florida. His mom will stay with us until she returns home (without him!) later in the week. My exchange student traveled from GA to California for Thanksgiving and back. Another exchange student went to Florida for Thanksgiving. My 20 yo daughter flew three round trips between her college and our home between October and Christmas. My oldest daughter flew from the Bay Area to the Grand Canyon in mid-November. We are all zero percent worried. Flights are packed; the airport (my second home here lately) is hopping; clearly, plenty of others are also zero percent worried about our risk of contracting Covid. We do not have extensive contact with anyone who is at high risk of complications from it. I don't have international travel plans only because everything is too locked up to be any fun, but my next international trip will likely be to visit my exchange student's family in Central America.

[SKL]

Just wondering - where do you all store your RVs?  We have 3 adults and 4 vehicles here (one is our business van).  We can fit 4 vehicles in our garage & the space next to it, but an RV would complicate things a lot.  Plus, isn't it a temptation for petty criminals?  Or do you store it at some storage location?

Would it make more sense for someone like me to rent an RV for the occasional road trip?  How did your families decide?

[Pawz4me]

37 minutes ago, SKL said:

Just wondering - where do you all store your RVs?  We have 3 adults and 4 vehicles here (one is our business van).  We can fit 4 vehicles in our garage & the space next to it, but an RV would complicate things a lot.  Plus, isn't it a temptation for petty criminals?  Or do you store it at some storage location?

Would it make more sense for someone like me to rent an RV for the occasional road trip?  How did your families decide?

If it would just be an occasional use thing then renting would be far cheaper and much less hassle. The more you use it the less your cost per night will average out to be. But I don't advise anyone to buy an RV--any kind--thinking they're going to save money. Think of it as an expensive, and possibly a very expensive, hobby.

When we had our first RV, a 35' Class A, we kept it at a storage facility. They're usually pretty safe--fenced and gated, lots of lighting and security cameras. When we got our smaller RV (a Class B--essentially a camper van) we started parking it here at home. It doesn't take up much more room than an SUV or pickup. The downside is that if the RV is gone that's a big honking clue to anyone up to no good that we're gone. DS22 is here now, so DH and I could take off in the RV and someone would still be here. But in the before times when we were still traveling and he was at college I did have that niggling worry when we left, even though we live in a very safe area.

[Corraleno]

On 1/1/2021 at 12:14 PM, PeterPan said:

I'm thinking our flight for our next trip will be 2 hours. Southwest is saying we still might have middle seats open, that they'll notify us if it's *not* open middle seats. I thought that had ended in November but I guess not.

Unfortunately, Southwest ended their guarantee of an open middle seat on December 1st, they are now selling all available seats if the demand is there. I believe the current policy is that they will notify you if a significant number of middle seats on your flight are going to be occupied, and you have the option of rebooking — they do the rebooking over the phone so you don't have to cancel flights, wait for the credit to post and rebook.

I actually had to do this last month when I was notified that DS's flights home were nearly full. I rebooked for another day and time, and they could tell me how full each of the flights were so I could choose the ones with lowest occupancy. I'm really disappointed they ended the middle seat policy when things are worse than ever, but at least customer service was great about rebooking. Crossing my fingers that I don't have to change his return flights next weekend!

[Pam in CT]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Just wondering - where do you all store your RVs?  We have 3 adults and 4 vehicles here (one is our business van).  We can fit 4 vehicles in our garage & the space next to it, but an RV would complicate things a lot.  Plus, isn't it a temptation for petty criminals?  Or do you store it at some storage location?

Would it make more sense for someone like me to rent an RV for the occasional road trip?  How did your families decide?

We rented the first time, to be sure we liked it.  I forget where you are -- we did that first trip in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and IT WAS UNBELIEVABLY FANTASTIC I CAN'T RECOMMEND HIGHLY ENOUGH. If you're only going to use it for the occasional road trip it's definitely cheaper and easier to rent.

Before COVID, we usually kept ours in the driveway from ~April to ~October, and put it into an enclosed boat-storage place in the winter.  It's not hard to winterize it and we have room enough in our driveway, but because of the somewhat weird configuration of the driveway it'd be at risk from snowplow damage during the ~5x/year we get real snow.  And we don't enjoy using it in the cold, though some folks do.  (The heater is effective but LOUD and I can't sleep in LOUD.)

Whether it's actually in the driveway or not isn't a very good marker of whether anyone is home, as we often lend it out to friends & family while we're home, or one of the nearly-grown kids takes it out when we're home, or my husband & I take it out while a nearly-grown kid is home or whatever.

Since COVID it's been in VERY HIGH DEMAND, and it's currently in FL for the winter, with friends who decamped with their school-aged children so grandparents could help with virtual school while both parents work.  It truly is *genius* for traveling in the time of COVID -- mobile bathroom, don't need to stop at restaurants, can overnight without going into hotels.  #TravelingQuarantine

[kokotg]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Just wondering - where do you all store your RVs?  We have 3 adults and 4 vehicles here (one is our business van).  We can fit 4 vehicles in our garage & the space next to it, but an RV would complicate things a lot.  Plus, isn't it a temptation for petty criminals?  Or do you store it at some storage location?

Would it make more sense for someone like me to rent an RV for the occasional road trip?  How did your families decide?

Ours is in our driveway, and, yes, it means our driveway is pretty crowded. We bought a trailer because we wanted to travel a lot and do very long trips in the summers (husband's a teacher), and the trailer made it financially possible. If we were just doing a couple of week long trips a year and occasional weekends, it likely wouldn't make sense financially. 

[Pam in CT]

Love your camping blog, @kokotg !  Inspired now to head to Georgia during March. I especially loved this bit

Quote

Wander North Georgia

Wander North Georgia being in downtown Clayton was how we settled on this area in the first place. I’d wanted to check out the store for awhile (I’ve been following their excellent instagram for years now), and it was a bit on the far side for a day trip, so a few days with the trailer just made good sense. Wander North Georgia sells a surprising variety of stuff: t-shirts and hats, outdoor gear, hiking shoes, books (not just travel and outdoor books, although that makes up a big portion of them), beer, and ice cream. So pretty much everything you need.

That's right: hiking shoes, books, beer and ice cream, who needs anything more.

[kokotg]

23 minutes ago, Pam in CT said:

Love your camping blog, @kokotg !  Inspired now to head to Georgia during March. I especially loved this bit

That's right: hiking shoes, books, beer and ice cream, who needs anything more.

Thanks! Yep--I felt like all our needs were met 🙂

[Soror]

I expect to road trip this summer. We generally keep pretty low contact, even on a regular trip, so I'm not terribly concerned about exposure. We rent a place and usually cook most of our meals. Bringing our own food allows us to see and do more than we could otherwise. And we like to focus on seeing places, not people, we prefer places that aren't very crowded.

I'm hoping and planning for an international trip in 2022. I expect by the vaccination should be widely available well before then. 

[TravelingChris]

In 2020, we traveled in Feb to Atlanta.  In early March to Mobile and Wetumpka Al (before Covid shutdowns, etc).  Then in June, to a state park in Gulf Shores, Al every we stayed at the Lodge but did everything safely-  didn't go to pool, which was capped but still- but went to isolated Beach in evenings and one early morning, ate mostly in our room or one restaurant where we were one of two of three groups in  a massive room, and spent our time doing things st least 10 ft away from people if not much much more and that included one round of mini golf masked.

Then in late Aug, we started out 35th anniversary vacation. A road trip that took us into 15 states and where we practiced N95 masking, etc.

We didn't ever get sick.

In 2021, I will be trying to get to Mayo Clinic in Phoenix area and so I will have to fly there and I am not sure when that will be.

I know I am 1c for vaccination snd I think dh is too.  I hope that means we are good to go by mid April. I know dd1 wants us to go on a joint vacation to CA to Channel Islands but that is another plane flight and CA id do restrictive too.  Dh wants us to ho to Albuquerque in June for a conference but I am not sure that will happen.  I am looking into going to Hawaii, Bermuda, some Caribbean Island or somewhere like that in May if we aren't going to Albuquerque.

So much depends in when we get vaccinated.  And yes, I am willing to risk leisure air travel if dh and I have had Pfizer or Modena vaccine 

[ieta_cassiopeia]

At this point, I'm planning with the assumption that by the second half of 2021, there'll be enough progress with vaccinations where I live that I will feel confident about doing a wide range of things in my home town (which is currently in Lockdown Three and has such a limited concept of social distancing that even food shopping with masks, sanitiser and attempted social distancing feels risky and unenjoyable). Once that happens, I think it is reasonable for me to consider travelling an arbitrary distance, provided I consider carefully how I will travel, what I will do and what the situation is like at both ends.

I have a regional excursion planned for October 2021, with the understanding that everything involved is 100% refundable in case my prediction is wrong. My operating assumption is that I won't be vaccinated by this point, but enough people will be that transmission is fairly limited (including everyone at high risk with whom I am in contact). If that goes well, I'd be able to think about even international travel, provided it was to places with a risk level I consider reasonable and the reason for going made sense.