Travel opportunities after this passes. Whenever that is.

[Parliament 14260]

You gotta believe there will be bargains and opportunities after this passes.  A cheap first class ticket to London.  Cheap stay at an expensive resort.  A short wait time to climb Mt. Kilamanjaro.  Stuff like that.

What kindsa things do you think we'll see?

[mdmost 43002]

A cheap first class ticket to 14 days of quarantine in whichever foreign city you visit!

[South Austin 52511]

I bet you can get a reservation at French Laundry only three months out.

[po elvis 2070]

Really tempted looking at SAT to HNL in August on American for $349 RT. They are good flights too with free carry on. Have a free place to stay on the island. Right now if you fly to Hawaii you have to quarantine for 14 days. I should probably book now and cancel if I have to when it gets closer.

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19101]

A cheap first class ticket to 14 days of quarantine in whichever foreign city you visit!

Why not do what Emirates is doing? No need for quarantine.

[Spankytoes 1739]

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

A cheap first class ticket to 14 days of quarantine in whichever foreign city you visit!

This. 

It’s amazing to me that anyone thinks they have a chance of traveling internationally this year. I can’t even fly to Dallas without having to immediately quarantine for 2 weeks. I don’t think the French will be more receptive. It’s just not happening. 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19101]

This. 
It’s amazing to me that anyone thinks they have a chance of traveling internationally this year. I can’t even fly to Dallas without having to immediately quarantine for 2 weeks. I don’t think the French will be more receptive. It’s just not happening. 

Unless they do what Emirates is doing.

Europe and certain US cities need the $$. Rapid test makes sense. Can’t fly unless it’s negative.

[Incredulity 11675]

I heard a CNBC talking head speculate that airfare will be much more expensive in the near term.  His theory was the shitload of vouchers issued will be fighting with whatever the new normal for demand is for reduced flight capacity.

[luke duke 6413]

I’m thinking of booking an international trip in March (Spain & France) w/ miles. Am I crazy?

[rage-a-holic 4401]

Why the fuck do you want to go to France?

[AustinMT 952]

14 hours ago, Incredulity said:

I heard a CNBC talking head speculate that airfare will be much more expensive in the near term.  His theory was the shitload of vouchers issued will be fighting with whatever the new normal for demand is for reduced flight capacity.

Interesting.  We had a trip booked to France and Italy (were supposed to be there now) that we canceled.  Looking (maybe) to go back in October, though that obviously may not happen.  I've checked fares a couple of times, and they have not gone down a bit for the same flights in October from the amount we had paid.  I thought they would be trying to book seats, but they aren't cutting prices yet, at least for these flights.  Haven't increased in price, but certainly no decrease.

Edited April 28, 2020 by AustinMT

[Brisketexan 105147]

Getting ready to book our flights to LAX in early July -- we spend a week at a beach motel with family every year (we are still wondering whether this year's trip will happen, but we're hopeful).  Shopping the fares today is interesting.

RT on Delta or American (or a mix of the two) is around $85, so super-cheap.  Cheapest RT itinerary on SWA is around $150 -- cheap, but most itineraries are around $220.  I'm probably going to book one of the $85 itineraries tonight.

[texasdago 7573]

Yup...

 

1. fly to Italy for a two week vacation

2. sit in quarantine for two weeks. 

3. Fly back. 

4. ???

5. Loss

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19101]

If it works, I will go to France in October.  If not, I am on tap for Spain in April of 2021 and will just tool around the Hamptons or something this summer.

[TexanTraveling 42]

Have a flight to Hungary (fuck your spain/france/italy Trips) and it still hasn't been cancelled. Thanks to Hungary's nationalistic gov't and general attitude, probably don't have to worry about it either. Have a flight to Azerbaijan in Nov as well.

[C-Man 27230]

We were supposed to be leaving for Panama on Thursday for a week-long fishing trip at Tropic Star. Sucks. We have rescheduled for this exact same time -- next year.

[HenryJames 66067]

3 hours ago, TexanTraveling said:

Have a flight to Azerbaijan in Nov as well.

Why?

[TexanTraveling 42]

have you ever seen what Azerbaijan looks like down south and in the mountains....Georgia was my first eye opener to the region.

 

The thing that upsets me the most, is that 99.9% of the world is beautiful and good and Americans go about as far east as Italy.

[Mo Horn 8843]

I'm guessing our Italy trip in September isn't going to happen so we're now looking  at Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Accommodations usually have to be booked months in advance, but we're hoping there will be cancellations and can find some great places to stay in the parks. 

[staboner 4974]

I am having a very hard time seeing affordable international travel coming back online for years. The business infra is taking too much of a beating and you can't just plug it back in. Yeah, Debbie Downer and all. 

Everything ran on tight scheduling and full airplanes. Gotta think that is a long way off.

Saying that, I can see some countries with similar policies around testing and procedures for dealing with flareups maybe get smart enough to stimulate a travel treaty of sorts. Invest smartly in just that and get some numbers working. In this scenario I would scratch off any third world paradises for a while. I can imagine something like point to point LAX / Oz or NYC / London or something of the like being the only affordable routes for some time internationally. 

Many places, like here in Oz, are already looking to find ways to ramp up domestic tourism, which of course makes sense. 

Hope I am wrong of course. It bothers the shit out of me that I may not be able to affordably travel to visit family for some time. 

[Paco 1934]

 
The thing that upsets me the most, is that 99.9% of the world is beautiful and good and Americans go about as far east as Italy.

It really keeps me up at night.

[midtown 3345]

11 hours ago, staboner said:

In this scenario I would scratch off any third world paradises for a while.

Third world paradises need foreign tourist dollars even more so.   Rapid test, requiring masks, physical distancing etc.   Now the real question is do you want to risk a bad case of the covids in a third world paradise?

[Drunk Stoner 63]

12 hours ago, Mo Horn said:

I'm guessing our Italy trip in September isn't going to happen so we're now looking  at Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Accommodations usually have to be booked months in advance, but we're hoping there will be cancellations and can find some great places to stay in the parks. 

Sorry but no lodging in those parks this year.  Moose out front...

[midtown 3345]

Oh and I think travel insurance will be required by most countries and if you can't prove you have it you will be required to purchase is at likely 10x the cost on the spot.  Countries can't and won't want to be on the hook for your treatment costs.  

[Iceman 2713]

On 4/27/2020 at 10:27 PM, luke duke said:

I’m thinking of booking an international trip in March (Spain & France) w/ miles. Am I crazy?

we're still hoping to go this December.

Extremely doubtful right now.

[Steamboat1874 4066]

Fuck all of that......now that Port A is open I am booking a week at Palmilla Beach.

[conVINCEd 21469]

5 minutes ago, midtown said:

Oh and I think travel insurance will be required by most countries and if you can't prove you have it you will be required to purchase is at likely 10x the cost on the spot.  Countries can't and won't want to be on the hook for your treatment costs.  

Travel insurance is used to be cheap af.  Probably not anymore.

[midtown 3345]

8 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

Travel insurance is used to be cheap af.  Probably not anymore.

Agreed.  Good business to be in going forward.   I bet 99% of travel insurance policies are never used, that could change so prices are going to triple if not more.   Airlines will likely add it as a an option to get in on the market.   And not just the "trip protection" but full travel insurance. 

[conVINCEd 21469]

26 minutes ago, midtown said:

Agreed.  Good business to be in going forward.   I bet 99% of travel insurance policies are never used, that could change so prices are going to triple if not more.   Airlines will likely add it as a an option to get in on the market.   And not just the "trip protection" but full travel insurance. 

Yep.  What used to be a throwaway expense is now going to be a more substantial cost.  Last time I purchased it, I believe it was $60 for 2 of us.  2 weeks in a third-world country.  Coverage was pretty comprehensive.  Absolutely worth it for the off chance that someone breaks a leg while hiking or you get mugged or something like that.  Out of curiosity, I just ran a quote with the company we used, and it was $189 using the same parameters.  Claimed to cover COVID.

[Beef 128]

We are still booked for Jackson Hole on June 15th. Everything is refundable so just waiting it out. We plan to fly into Boise and then drive to Jackson. After a week there, fly out of Salt Lake back to San Antonio.

 

Looks like we would have to fill out a travel declaration entering Utah is all I can find right now. I doubt we make the trip but it’s still on the books.

[Napoleon 8682]

Was looking at some flights to Brazil using AA miles and there's a point where a one way flight drops to 15K each way from DC. 

South American long haul (Argentina & Brazil... Montevideo, Uruguay) went up from 20K to 30K in the cheapest time of year about 5 to 7 years ago. (Can't remember exactly.)

Now this is all these years on and they've cut it back in half. HOLY FUCK!!

[DCA_HORN 725]

I'd stay away from Brazil for the foreseeable future.

[Augustus 3061]

We're booked for Holland, Germany and Switzy for most of August.  Was originally booked for mid-May, but...

Got decent price on the airline tickets, I suppose, but I did not find one iota's difference in the hotel prices, except for Kempinski in Berchtesgaden.  Looked to be a tad cheaper than other times I've priced them.

I wonder if everyone over there is anticipating a ton of late summer/fall re-bookings and are pricing accordingly.

Germany and Switzerland are beginning their phased re-openings so I expect business to return to normal by the time August rolls around.  We'll see.  

[Beantown Express 2.0 6559]

So I am sitting with $4500 in vouchers with American Airlines that they say have to be used by December 31st.  The money is from cancelling a trip to Prague in April and one to Monaco in June.  I cancelled the trips in March at the beginning of the pandemic with the hopes it would pass and I figured the vouchers was the best I could do.  It now looks like I won't be able to use the vouchers this year.  Do you think calling up American and demanding a refund on the vouchers will work?  Not sure how difficult they will be at this point.

[6th Street 6411]

Hoping to do something simple like rent a house in Napa or the Oregon Coast for a week late this summer.  

[midtown 3345]

I'm curious why everyone seems to think domestic travel is somehow going to be more safe and international travel is not?   Considering domestically we have way more cooties.  Is it the flight times?  Is it possibly getting stuck in some far off land?  

[WBT 20579]

No 2-week quarantine presumably

[conVINCEd 21469]

3 minutes ago, WBT said:

No 2-week quarantine presumably

Or being completely denied entry.  

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

I'm thinking of moving my yard chairs to the other side of the property when this is all over. Stare at paradise from a different direction.

[Post Oak 20216]

I was supposed to be in Italy a couple weeks ago.  Hopefully this time next year we'll be ok to go.

[6th Street 6411]

On 5/3/2020 at 1:09 PM, midtown said:

I'm curious why everyone seems to think domestic travel is somehow going to be more safe and international travel is not?   Considering domestically we have way more cooties.  Is it the flight times?  Is it possibly getting stuck in some far off land?  

Less planning and logistics, easier scheduling changes. 

[conVINCEd 21469]

14 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

Less planning and logistics, easier scheduling changes. 

You can also drive.  We’re thinking about driving from Dallas to Yosemite and back and hitting a lot of national parks.  We’ll see what things look like in a month or two, and how confident we are in where we would be staying, but that’s the plan for now for this summer vacation.

[6th Street 6411]

2 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

You can also drive.  We’re thinking about driving from Dallas to Yosemite and back and hitting a lot of national parks.  We’ll see what things look like in a month or two, and how confident we are in where we would be staying, but that’s the plan for now for this summer vacation.

You are a brave man. I did a similar drive from Austin to SF when I moved there back in '08 and it took forever. Wouldn't attempt it with my crazy 2 year old lol. 

On the positive side, supposedly the wildlife is thriving in the Yosemite Valley so you should be able to get some good elk and black bear photos. 

[conVINCEd 21469]

Just now, 6th Street said:

You are a brave man. I did a similar drive from Austin to SF when I moved there back in '08 and it took forever. Wouldn't attempt it with my crazy 2 year old lol. 

On the positive side, supposedly the wildlife is thriving in the Yosemite Valley so you should be able to get some good elk and black bear photos. 

We’re gonna take 2-3 weeks, which admittedly is not enough, but I’ve neglected the national parks in this country, and that’s gonna change, corona willing.  No kids.

[midtown 3345]

11 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Yosemite and back and hitting a lot of national parks.

Half the US will be doing the same thing.  Parks are going to be JAMMMED.  

[riloh05 107]

On 4/29/2020 at 10:13 AM, conVINCEd said:

Travel insurance is used to be cheap af.  Probably not anymore.

and doesnt cover pandemics...read the fine print.

[conVINCEd 21469]

9 minutes ago, riloh05 said:

and doesnt cover pandemics...read the fine print.

The company I used previously added language covering pandemics, and also tripled the price.

[BearSchlong 8098]

13 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

You can also drive.  We’re thinking about driving from Dallas to Yosemite and back and hitting a lot of national parks.  We’ll see what things look like in a month or two, and how confident we are in where we would be staying, but that’s the plan for now for this summer vacation.

Yellowstone is/was our summer trip this year, I've got flights/vrbo for late August.  No idea if it's gonna happen.

[gecko 1104]

I've been thinking about Scotland late September/early October.

[Chewbacca 7780]

16 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

We’re gonna take 2-3 weeks, which admittedly is not enough, but I’ve neglected the national parks in this country, and that’s gonna change, corona willing.  No kids.

Don't skip Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands and Arches.  I thought Capitol Reef was meh, but the other 4 in Utah are spectacular, and all very different.  And while you're in the area, Grand Canyon and Monument Valley (not a NP, but spectacular all the same) should be on the list.