Pandemic Travel thoughts

Here's some random thoughts on travel as we wait out the pandemic:

Will we ocean cruise again?

The CDC has extended the travel ban on cruise ships through Sept 30th, 2020.  As we read more, it's clear the cruise industry didn't do a particularly stellar job of protecting their passengers and crew from the coronavirus once it was discovered last Spring. There continues to be strong demand for ocean cruising as reflected in strong 2021 and even 2022 bookings.  But it's unclear just how well the industry will emerge.  They've taken on enormous debt to stay afloat and they will need to make significant changes both operationally and on their ships to get CDC clearance to sail once again.    Older people and those with certain conditions, will likely wait until a vaccine is commonly available and used before taking an ocean cruise trip.

How to travel with your ears

We love our podcasts.  But we were struck by a recent New York Times article describing several podcasts about travel. Well, actually about immersing yourself in far off lands.  Here's a couple of podcasts that sound particularly interesting:

•  Pindrop:  A TED talk inspired podcast that goes hyper local all over the world.
• Extremities: A detailed look at different several locations:  Pitcairn Island, Svalbard archipelago.
• Trekking Nepal: your adventure guide.  An audio diary from a couple as they trek across the Himalayas.

Will they miss us?

With Americans currently banned from European travel and many Europeans staying close to home either due to health concerns or economics, many of Europe's typically crowded places are nice and quiet.  Venice without crowds has been described as heavenly.  Hotels in Spain's Canary Islands are empty.  Tourist spots in Greece and Italy are unusually quiet.  Maybe local residence will enjoy the peace but miss the tourist revenue.  We'll see if this precipitates changes in policy at these localities in the future.

Travel in the USA

With America very much in the midst of the pandemic, to the extent people want to travel, they'll travel domestically. That means more attention to places like Walt Disney World, National Parks and local amusement parks like Hershey Park.  RV's have reportedly been more popular these days as well.  Having said that there's lots of great ways to experience domestic travel: guided tours from Collette, River cruises on the Mississippi or Columbia rivers, railroad tours through the Canadian rockies.

Start thinking of 2021 and 2022

We're doing a lot of thinking about 2021 and 2022.  Personally we have plans river cruises on the Seine (Oct 2022), the Rhine (Oct 2021) and Nile (Mar 2020) lined up.  We also have plans with Celebrity for a Circle Japan trip and a trip around the tip of South America. We'll see if these come to fruition - though we love thinking about them! 

Here's some other ideas to consider as you think of places to go in 2021 and 2022

Let us know what you're thinking about.