I haven’t seen my father or siblings in over a year now. Dad’s been vaccinated, but they’re still not allowing outside visitors into his assisted-living facility. Not sure when that’s gonna end. It won’t make a lot of sense to fly out to see him until they start allowing full access. But even after that…what’s my threshold for getting on a plane? Certainly not before I get vaccinated, but it’s looking like that won’t happen before early summer. And after that? Do I wait until mask mandates go away, or should I mask up and climb aboard as soon as my dad’s facility will let me in?
I would imagine that airlines and airports will mandate masks well into the future, regardless of vaccinations. Until at least late this year. So if you’re fully vaccinated + 10 days and can see your dad, go see your dad.
Personally I won’t fly until vaccinated, and plan to mask in crowded situations, vaccinated or not, indefinitely.
Our daughter is flying home this month for a three week visit. I’d be comfortable now if I had somewhere to go.
But my first planned trip is August to Hawaii.
I’m more nonchalant than most.
I have no plans to do so at this point, but then again, I don’t think I’ve flown for pleasure in at least 3 years.
I hope to get the vaccine in the next few weeks, and I could see being willing to fly later this year, but right now, there’s no compelling personal reason to fly. I’m looking forward to getting to see my parents soon, but they’re only a 3-hour drive away.
My wife is vaccinated, not me yet. We have plans to travel to my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah in May but if I’m not vaccinated by then she’ll go alone. I expect to be vaccinated by June in time to go to my niece’s wedding.
We are hoping to go to a wedding in mid-July and to visit some other family in August. Contingent on us getting vaccinated and general state of things.
We are hauling tens of thousands of people every day. They’re not getting sick in airports or on airplanes because it’s the one place everybody is seriously enforcing masks & handwashing and …
Airplanes have insane levels of air exchange compared to grocery stores or restaurants. Airports are still significantly under-occupied versus their design capacity, so likewise are more safe than crowded ordinary buildings.
The big obstacle to travel now is international borders w quarantines, closed or capacity-limited resorts, and the fear of “What if I get sick while away from home?”. Legit concerns all.
But travel within the USA to visit family where you won’t be staying in public there’s not much logical reason to stop able bodied people from traveling right now.
That’s a whole other problem. Japan is closed right now; we’re still holding out hope for being able to go there this fall, at which point it will have been two years since we saw my wife’s family.
I’m hoping to be able to go up to Chicago in November and December, if things are enough under control that I can safely do so. Currently, traveling to Illinois from North Carolina requires either two-week quarantine or proof of a negative Covid test withing three days. I’m hoping that may ease up as time goes by.
Right now I’m mostly wondering where we could go recreationally that would actually feel relaxing. We both desperately need a break. It’s a given that a) we aren’t getting on an airplane until we are both fully vaccinated; b) we will comply with all mask requirements during travel and at our destination; and c) we won’t do anything that is remotely likely to endanger other people. I feel like it’s likely that fully vaccinated people are quite unlikely to infect others, but there just isn’t enough info yet.
So is there anywhere that we could go in, say, the July/August timeframe that would actually be relaxing within, say, a 6-hour flight of Chicago? I imagine a destination that lent itself to being outdoors would make the most sense, and honestly, I am not an anti-masker by a long shot, but masks on vacation just don’t sound relaxing. And most of the places that have kept COVID numbers solidly down are in places that will be hotter than Hell in July/August, which sounds even less fun in a mask. Maybe we should just find a cabin on a lake somewhere within driving distance and veg out for a week?
I know several couples who’ve done just that and were real happy with how nice that was. Reserve a cabin up in Door County or somewhere similar on the UP and have a quiet week with civilization (and disease) out of sight and out of mind.
For me, flying was always the worst part of the vacation, tolerable only because I knew we’d have a great time on arrival. The last time I flew was returning from St Martin right when Wuhan was hitting the news. Thinking about being stuffed sardine-style onto a plane freaks me out, and I’m getting my second Pfizer dose in 48 hours.
If I could afford a charter flight for just me and the gf, hell ya.
My wife suggested this during the colder months. My opinion was that vegging out isolated in a different house is flushing money down the toilet. If I want civilization and disease out of mind, I can turn off the TV.
I’m with you on this. Normally, we rent a villa when we go away (in mainland Europe), so that we can have space, privacy and the option to not have to eat out for every meal. My wife said last night she’s pining for a hotel and eating out every night, so once we’re both vaccinated and international travel becomes an option, that’s the plan.
Generally I’m with you on this one. I don’t watch TV news for a reason. But …
One of the big values to going elsewhere is it breaks your daily habits. You won’t be as tempted to make the same coffee, eat the same breakfast, and sit in your same chair reading the same website(s). Doing something even a little bit different is a way to break the monotony of your daily rut. Assuming you’re in one. Even the conversations you’ll have with Mrs. Fig will be different just because the environment is.
Whether the benefit is worth the dollar cost is up to you. But don’t blithely assume the benefit is zero, because it probably isn’t.
I’ve been thinking about heading to the east coast this summer, (PEI, NFL + maybe N shore of Labrador?), as I’ve never been. On the other hand, if international travel seems possible by, say, November, I might forego that and wait till then. The first choice will be a hard sell to hubs, he’ll be ALL about the second option.
I would really like to go visit my kids and grandkids this fall. I guess it will depend on whether this thing looks to be tamped way down by then. I usually fly out every year, especially since one of my sons died a few years ago. Couldn’t go last year, of course. If it doesn’t work out, then perhaps next spring.
Considering I flew for my in-laws anniversary in August, negative 7 months or so.
I booked some tickets for mid July. There is a family reunion/memorial service and I really want to be there for my mom. Fully vaccinated already, and cautiously optimistic that by July there will be a lot less COVID in general.
I will only do it once the spouse and our daughter (who’s at extremely high risk for bad outcomes) are vaccinated and past the 3 week post vaccine period.