Excited to be planning again

Coincidentally, we too are planning a trip to England in September 2021, though concluding with three nights in Dublin. It is great to be back to the guidebooks, maps, travel forums and so on. I (who do most of the planning) am absolutely loving being back in Planning Mode. And I'm fairly optimistic about this actually happening, since vaccines should be widely available as early as February (for "seniors" like wife and I), and the UK is probably going to be very interested in encouraging tourist revenue as soon as it is safe to open up the country.

We are getting excited too. Looking at Ireland in October 2021. Hubby and I and my 75 year old mom if we can all get a vaccine by then.

Ok, I admit it - I'm pricing itineraries tonight and I haven't done that in months. Whatever plays out, it's nice to feel a little hopeful.

I love the planning process so I have been reading and dreaming, and now planning, this whole time because I find it fun. We wanted to do BOEE but can't do it in fall, we have to travel in summer, so I we switched to plan B and I am planning an independent trip to France for June hopefully, but it could work in July too. Either way, I'm hopeful and since I enjoy it I'm going to keep doing it no matter what.

Our provincial government unveiled its vaccination plan yesterday which says they expect to have half of Alberta's population vaccinated by the summer, with the hope that most can be completed sometime in the Fall. However public health measures will need to stay in place until then. So, while I've never stopped planning, I'm not setting my expectations for travel until 2022.

I agree, it is nice to have that glimmer of hope for 2021. We too are planning a return to Iceland for August. We were due to be there this past August, but of course that was cancelled. I had rebooked almost all of the trip, then just stopped when things got so bad and I just was not in the planning mood. I feel like I can finish that now that there really is a chance that we will get to go!

I'm not quite ready to actually plan any overseas travel, though I feel my first trip will be a week in London just poking around--I have a very strong urge to just BE there and check in on the places I love to visit (of course that means seeing the ravens at the Tower), with a day trip or two to interesting towns. It's a vague sort of trip that will require just a plane ticket and hotel.

After I made my 3 day trip to Carmel I realized that domestic travel was quite enjoyable--a novelty, even, after 10 years of international vacations--so I plan to drive up the coast to the Mendocino area in the spring, and if international travel still isn't a great idea in the fall I will use my United voucher and go somewhere...maybe Boston, maybe Austin, maybe Boise...who knows.

Had a great trip planned for last May to Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Italy. Then we know what happened. I saved everything and haven’t looked since pulling the plug last April. Don’t want to get my hopes up too much but I sure am itching to get traveling again.

I'm happily and excitedly (and also cautiously and pragmatically) planning again, as well - a London and Paris trip in August 2021.

For the most part I'm planning in a way that doesn't really involve spending money that hasn't already been spent (this is Take Two for a trip canceled earlier this year), and staying cognizant of the fact that August might just be too soon and the trip may not happen. But it seemed worth hoping and even planning for a trip in 2021, rather than writing off yet another year of travel. If something can safely and sanely happen at that point in 2021, I'm going to go for it!

I just need Spain to open up and then I’ll rebook everything from my cancelled September trip. The planning has been done for a while. I won’t plan anything else until I get to take that trip, or, the UK opens.

London and Paris as soon as “open”. Open for me means museums and sites fully opened and staffed, no masks. I would love to do it in Sept/October but in reality doubtful. Yes vaccines are coming and everyone assumes they will be first in line- sadly that is not the case. Planning for me is: buy airline tickets, book hotel. Takes all of 5 minutes. I’ll spend that 5 minutes once the All Clear and we are “open” bell sounds.

I have a frequent flyer ticket to London in September 2021, I’m not sure where I’ll go from there, ideally it would be Paris and Madrid, but first we see if I can go and then we’ll figure out where we’re going. I don’t think I’ll stay in London however. But London was a great place to get that frequent-flier ticket to because it was cheap and you can get good connections from London to just about anywhere

I just put down a totally refundable $250 deposit on a Road Scholar trip for the end of September 2021. I'm not sure what else we'll add to that, but I'm planning to keep the trip simpler than I usually do. I have a trip still on the books for May and it has a complicated footprint - Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania-Romania - and it seems like I'll never sort out all of those border crossings with COVID and so I doubt we'll get to take that trip.

So for Sept. it will likely be just France. Fingers crossed and I'm super excited!!!!!

It is so exciting to read about all the plans for 2021. Like you, Carol, I am fortunate to be employed and everyone in the family is healthy. I am just starting to think about travel next year. I bought some of the Italy books, including Sicily and will start the planning once there is more line of sight on the vaccine.

Sandy

I would love to start planning for fall 2021 but I think it's a pipe dream right now and more likely the bell to ring us OPEN will be more like early 2022.

Already have an England-Netherlands-Belgium trip planned (was supposed to be last April, pushed to this April but doubt it happens, so gets pushed again to 2022) ... also have a planned Germany Christmas markets trip (scheduled for this past Thanksgiving, pushed to Thanksgiving 2021 ... hopefully) ... so now that the E-N-B trip is almost certainly not going to happen, was thinking about what to do with all those extra vacation days next year ... so yesterday started the preliminary planning for a 2+ week trip in early September ... first thoughts are fly to Dubrovnik (via Rome), 8-9 day road trip up to Pula, then ferry across the Adriatic to Venice, with another 8-9 day trip down the Italian east coast as far as we get before heading back to Rome ... another thought is fly to Dubrovnik then just do 2+ weeks driving around, hitting Sarajevo, Zagreb, etc...) ... or possibly fly into Rome and head south to Sicily, then over to the east coast and up as far as we get before heading back to Rome. Any and all thoughts/suggestions gladly taken under advisement.

After this one is planed, have to start on the 2022 trips ... a pre-retirement trip to Australia (2+ weeks in January), the 2 week E-N-B trip will now be the long-anticipated retirement trip and get expanded by another 4-6 weeks to include a mix of Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France and who knows where else ... and then the Holy Land (including Petra and a few other places) in September. And already thinking of a 2023 trip to Southeast Asia (really want to see Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom) but this one is going to be a tough sell to the other voting half.

To quote Christopher Walken from one of the greatest Saturday Night Live skits ever ... I got a fever and the only prescription is more cow bell (but change that to tra vell).

My paw-paw was a WWII veteran who fought in Bastogne among other places. He was a clear-eyed, no BS kind of "hard man" who doesn't much exist any more. He was a good man in so many respects but I think he exhibited what is now known as "toxic masculinity." Paw-paw was not politically correct.

He didn't mince words. One of his sayings: "You can wish with one hand and poop in another, and see which one fills up the fastest."

Should get dose #1 of the COVID-19 vaccine this week or next week.

In my wishing hand... maybe a trip to Dubrovnik in May if Europe ready for a visitor or two. In my poop hand, well...

I’m in the same mindset as Christa. I just want to go to London. I have been there many times, so I don’t feel the need to do specific things, I just want to be there and enjoy the city. I’ll do it as soon as they will accept me.

I am 1,530 miles away from having enough for two RT business class flights to Europe. In my wishing hand, we will be going to Italy in September 2021. If the poop hand is dominant, then Spring of 2022 it is!