Travel ✈️ 2022 travel plans

[Bubba]

St. Lucia in May

Did that last week. St. Lucia is still a red zone for Covid and is requiring masks in public indoor spaces. Their entry requirements for fully vaccinated foreigners: provide proof of vaccination and fill out a one page form (i.e. no test needed). Contrast that with the United States' (who is by and large still at low levels for Covid, with basically no mask requirements at this point) reentry requirement for its own fully vaccinated citizens: a negative Covid test from within a day of reentry. Hopefully someone in the Federal government sobers up at some point in the not so distant future and reconsiders that policy.

 

[michaelskis]

We are starting to figure out our vacation plans for this summer. Right now the only thing locked down is a trip mid-week to Hersey Park. I think we might also head to some mountain area, rent a cabbin, and go hiking. Possibly in the Asheville Area because I would also like to see the Biltmore Estate.

 

[zman]

Fort Lauderdale, Florida last Feb (side hustle, but vacationed too)
Atlanta (side hustle)
College Station and Houston, TX (family spring break)
Just got done with a quick camping trip to the Snake River
Leaving for ICSC ReCon in Vegas Saturday (wife is coming along)
San Diego in June with the Family (christmas present for the boys)
Priest Lake, ID camping for a week in July
Denver for my grandfather 90th BDay in July
Couple more weekend camping trips in Idaho in August and Sept.
State city manager's conference (not sure I would count that... Yakima is too close)
ICMA in Columbus, OH in Sept.
....maybe back to Vegas for Notre Dame/BYU in October (and racecar driving...)
.... maybe a guys trip for golf and hockey game (thinking Phoenix in fall)


The wife is taking the boys to Montana to see her folks over July 4... I get a week's staycation as a "bachelor" with my dogs... that counts too, right?

 

[TOFB]

Updated:
April: Lake Garda, Italy
May: Dolomites, Italy
June: TBD
July: Santorini, Greece

I managed to book our hotel in Salzburg for June 2023. Whoops. Good thing I noticed before we tried to check in. Now we have to figure where to go. We could still head to Salzburg but London is Calling too.

We have one more night to book for our trip - - either in Thun or Bern. We would love to travel north of Zurich but that is up in the air still.

 

[bureaucrat#3]

The trip down to the ancestral homeland was nice - got to connect with some family I hadn't seen in a while. And, I'm getting itchy for the St. Lucia trip, as in I just tuned out 95% of a weekly telcon for my work team thinking about it. As for the nothing concrete beyond that, we're maybe picking up Vegas** in June - Mrs. Bubba has a low effort work trip out there, so we're looking at me coming out at the end of it and adding a couple of days to her stay. I also have a couple of certificates from Delta for free companion fares for domestic flights to use by the end of the year (a legacy fringe benefit from all the work travel I did pre-Covid), so we're trying to figure out timing and destinations for those...

Also, the universe owes us for the 25th anniversary trip we'd been planning on a couple of years ago to several destinations in Europe, plus possibly Morocco...damn pandemic and everything - I'm thinking it's time to get back to planning that for next year.


**I have no interest in gambling or the shows, so I'm open to suggestions for what the hell to do if I do head out there...

You don't need to go to Europe. Just take the Mrs. to Vegas. You can visit Paris, a gondola ride through Italy, and even see the pyramids. If you get bored with that you can visit over-the-top fake places from around the world and throughout time. I'm sure its just like the real thing.

Or if you're more adventurous, and don't mind her using large guns or heavy equipment.

 

[dandy_warhol]

We have one more night to book for our trip - - either in Thun or Bern. We would love to travel north of Zurich but that is up in the air still.

Pretty sure you can't go wrong with anywhere in Switzerland! But I might choose Thun to be on the lake.

 

[TOFB]

Pretty sure you can't go wrong with anywhere in Switzerland! But I might choose Thun to be on the lake.

We have to go to Thun Castle as the wife's relatives were guests (prisoners) there. I agree the lake views with the Alps in the background are cool.

And we managed to get Milan back into the trip.

 

[michaelskis]

Bump...

Could you imagine being this family:

American Airlines changes family's flight to another country, asks them to pay $30K, passenger says

Sam Taussig claims his family was forced to charter a plane at their own expense to another island in order to return to the U.S.

abc7chicago.com

A family alleges American Airlines tried to force them to pay roughly $30,000 to change their itinerary after the airline switched the family's return ticket to leave from an airport in another country, according to a complaint filed by the family with the Department of Transportation and American Airlines.

I wonder if there is more to the story. On the other hand, the airlines are progressing into more of a pain than they are worth.

 

[kms]

That's beyond frustrating. Fortunately they hadn't left before they found out about this.

I'd have probably missed the small print notification, too, but is it a valid excuse?

 

[kjel]

That's beyond frustrating. Fortunately they hadn't left before they found out about this.

I'd have probably missed the small print notification, too, but is it a valid excuse?

Also when you book the base fare ticket you are most likely to be involuntarily bumped. And travel insurance. If you travel a lot or have a high dollar trip the relatively few dollars you'll spend on an umbrella policy or specific trip insurance would pay dividends in this type of situation.

 

[JNA]

Wondering if I am healed enough (4 months in September) to go some where?

 

[MD Planner]

Just booked flights to Maine in October. Looking at you @luckless pedestrian . Cashed in miles and only costing $11.20 round trip!

 

[kjel]

Cruised on the Oasis of the Seas in August. Booked 5 days in Curacao in early November at the Marriott Beach Resort. Had flight credits and hotel points to burn.

 

[TOFB]

The new Viking Mississippi is docked in my town today. People going gaga about how good this is for the town but I wonder how many people actually leave the docked cruise ships let alone do anything but get on a tour bus and drive around.

 

[kjel]

The new Viking Mississippi is docked in my town today. People going gaga about how good this is for the town but I wonder how many people actually leave the docked cruise ships let alone do anything but get on a tour bus and drive around.

I've never taken a river cruise, but we do the sea cruises. Most people get off the ship and a lot of people just do their own thing as the excursions offered by the cruise lines are often underwhelming and overpriced. Some ports like Nassau, Bahamas we don't bother with since we've been there a bunch of times and seen everything we're interested in.

lp has a lot more experience with the cruise ships.

 

[TOFB]

I've never taken a river cruise, but we do the sea cruises. Most people get off the ship and a lot of people just do their own thing as the excursions offered by the cruise lines are often underwhelming and overpriced. Some ports like Nassau, Bahamas we don't bother with since we've been there a bunch of times and seen everything we're interested in.

lp has a lot more experience with the cruise ships.

I have seen a few passengers from other ships (lanyards the giveaway) wandering around our historic shopping district but not a lot.

 

[dandy_warhol]

Updated:
April: Lake Garda, Italy
May: Dolomites, Italy
June: TBD
July: Santorini, Greece

I managed to book our hotel in Salzburg for June 2023. Whoops. Good thing I noticed before we tried to check in. Now we have to figure where to go. We could still head to Salzburg but London is Calling too.

Ending the year with some flourish:
Sept: Austria
Oct: Croatia
Nov: Prague; Amsterdam
Dec: 'Murrica

 

[bureaucrat#3]

Ending the year with some flourish:
Sept: Austria
Oct: Croatia
Nov: Prague; Amsterdam
Dec: 'Murrica

That sounds amazing, except for the 'Murrica. (Not cause, I don't like it, but just cause "been there, done that.") I always have dreams of what the holidays are like in Europe. I assume my idealized version is about as realistic as a Hallmark movie.

 

[dandy_warhol]

That sounds amazing, except for the 'Murrica. (Not cause, I don't like it, but just cause "been there, done that.") I always have dreams of what the holidays are like in Europe. I assume my idealized version is about as realistic as a Hallmark movie.

The Christmas markets are pretty special and the snowy villages can be Hallmark-esque.