It's Been a Long Time Comin'

Vaccinated and thankful to Moderna for this scientific phenomenon that helped get my life back. Soon I will gaze across the lavender and sunflower fields in Provence, take a boat ride on Lake Annecy, eat some Swiss chocolate and end the adventure back in Paris - musee tickets in hand.

It's so frustrating to me that many places in Europe will let Canadians in, but Canada makes it very difficult to return. I'm still hoping to nip over in October for a short trip, but realistically it won't happen. I only have nine nights, I can't spend three in quarantine.

My wife & I both got vaccinated as soon as they came out, the bonus is now we’re going to Spain in September of this year. I imagine everyone on this forum jumped at the chance to be vaccinated but it surprises me how many people where I work are refusing due to political reasons.

We’re spending a week on the island of Mallorca with no agenda, my wife says I always plan to see more things than we have time on our trips so I promised no “agenda”, secretly I have researched out a few things but I’m going to act like they are just innocent spontaneous ideas.

Monitoring the conditions for the Italy/London trip for which we booked flights back in February. We'll depart the USA the last day of summer, in September. Italy now just wants to see the vaccination card. The UK, we'll see how much additional testing/documentation is needed, but that’s more than 2 months away.

Maybe non-vaxxers aren’t foreign travelers, and that’s nothing they care about, among other things.

Am I the only one to be surprised to learn West Virginia is "the Southeast".

No international travel this year; domestic will be in the Fall, if it happens. ( more moderate temps and off season rates)

International travel planned for next year; hopefully 'normal', and not some sort of Olympic hoop/hurdle contest.

What's troubling is the U.S. full vaccination rate is less than 50 percent and stalling, which means leaving the door wide open for variants that will greatly impact the non-vaccinated. Vaccines are free and readily available. C'mon, folks.

I applaud Bruce Springsteen mandating only vaccinated audiences. If this trend continues with other events maybe the doubters will reconsider.

I work with some very bright people who will not get the vaccine. I don't press them on it.

Donald: Nice.

Cyn, the non-vaxxers I know do not have plans for international travel. Interesting point you made there.

Hey, Joe: Good one! We do travel outside the borders when they let us out., or other states let us in. They have minimal standards, you know.

Seems as if a lot of younger people are avoiding getting their shot(s), and it’s their parents who’ve been vaccinated. To quote another CSN song, “Teach Your Children Well.”

I have had both vaccines, but there are few places in Europe we can go without quarantining and paying a small fortune to get tested when we return. We are still banned from entering some countries such as Germany.

Currently in the U.K., 62% are fully vaccinated and 84% have had their first shot. It counts for nothing in regard to international travel.

The news last night said that spikes in England and Israel of the Delta Variant are happening, with nearly half of the cases being fully-vaccinated people. Those are mostly mild enough to not require hospitalization, but it’s not an All-Clear. Don’t know if that’s an Astra-Zeneca result, and other vaccines, like Moderna, might show different results. Spikes are a concern. Without vaccinations, though, international for Americans travel would remain hard, if not impossible.

As a retired Floridian, my life was not substantially impacted by Covid other than canceled travel to Europe and South America in 2020. I was fully vaccinated in February and still hope to get into Canada this fall if they ever open the border. Already booked on 3 RS tours for 2022. Would have booked 2021 tour if available. Very happy with RS response to pandemic and excited that so many RS tours have been booked for 2022. Monday Night Travel has been fantastic!

I'm flying to the east coast in a couple of weeks to see friends. And just booked flights to Berlin for October. I chose Lufthansa via Frankfurt over BA via Heathrow because I want a straightforward entry with just my vaccine card. Under current rules I'll need a test before flying home, but that doesn't seem too difficult and may not be required by October.

I know I'm committed to this because I've paid for not only non-refundable flights but also the RS Berlin guidebook and a Streetwise map! ;-)

Meanwhile, it's great to see local friends in person and in groups, even indoors. Our state capitol reopens this week and I'll start giving tours there again July 23 (save the date!). Just hope I remember enough facts to do it after 15 months.

The news last night said that spikes in England and Israel of the Delta Variant are happening, with nearly half of the cases being fully-vaccinated people.

There is a significant outbreak in Gibraltar as well, even though 90% of adults are vaccinated. Israel is resuming Covid restrictions and masking precautions as well due to the Delta variant - Coronavirus: Israel reimposes masks amid new virus fears - BBC

If you're an American who wants to travel to Europe this year, it probably should be sooner rather than later, 4th wave may be on it's way by Autumn, I hope not though!

Life in South Carolina is pretty normal... except my job. I work in a medical facility, so it's still a mask for 8-10 hours per day. It keeps me in practice for an August trip to Germany and a September trip to Bosnia.

I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders after vaccine #1.

We just came back from a road trip to Olympic National Park. We are both fully vaccinated. No masks required in NV or CA. WA & OR masks required but a lot of people were ignoring the mandate. Some restaurants open for dine in in OR abut some not. It was very confusing getting the rules straight.

My wife and I have both started eating healthier and have lost weight; as of yesterday's weigh-in I'm down 28 pounds from this time last year. My wife has also lost weight but my survival instincts tell me just to say she looks great and leave it at that. Things are slowly opening up here again and next step is back to the gym to get myself into pre covid condition to go along with my new pants size.

We've read enough travel guides in the past year to have a basic plan ready to go anywhere in Europe, but honestly, I'm not hopeful our government will make it easy/convenient to leave the country this year. But once we do, if we thought 10km of walking a day before was doable, we'll be ready to do that all uphill both ways by next year.

My theme song right now is the Bacharach and David classic, "Wishing and Hoping" - or maybe "Cast Your Fate to the Wind". I've booked the flights, a couple of private guides, and most of the hotels for our 2022 Italy trip - everything refundable at this point.

Joe, regarding directional challenges... one of my iowa friends keeps saying that her daughter has moved to the east coast. The daughter has moved to Atlanta , Georgia. I just blink in amazement

Big Mike,
Your post made me smile. One of the most significant ways my life has changed is that I am again planning a trip to Europe. I rolled the dice in May and bought tickets to Greece and Italy for September. I’m fully vaccinated and hoping things continue to improve. I can cancel everything & won’t have to make a decision on pulling the plug until mid August. I quit my job in late 2019 and planned to take a sort of gap year which included a long trip to Italy in May of 2020. We all know how that turned out.
May all your travel hopes and dreams come true!

@Tom

Maybe not in the American press, you may need to use google translate if you do not read Spanish but here you go anyways:

www.europasur.es/gibraltar/variante-india-coronavirus-irrumpe-Gibraltar-casos-semana_0_1586542973.amp.html

I'm also hoping that international travel will start opening up later this year, but I have the same concerns mentioned by Andrea and Allan. The current rules require several Covid tests on returning to the country, and the government position is still "avoid non-essential travel", so travel right now is not an attractive option. According to the B.C. rules at the present time, inter-provincial travel is also discouraged (at least until July 1st). I suspect there may be more changes coming on July 21st, possibly limited opening of the U.S./Canadian border, but we'll have to wait and see what happens then.

I've had both jabs, so I'm ready to go whenever the circumstances are "right".

Am I the only one to be surprised to learn West Virginia is "the Southeast".

Well, it is East of center, and below the Mason-Dixon line, denoting it as South...so yeah...Southeast.

As for Atlanta being "East Coast" typically the area from the Appalachian Divide to the Coast is considered "East Coast", which marginally includes Atlanta.

Heck, to us in the "real" Midwest, Ohio and Indiana are "Eastern" States

Heck, to us in the "real" Midwest, Ohio and Indiana are "Eastern" States

Yep totally agree. Ain't geography interesting? Here in Missouri (the west Midwest) anything east of the Mississippi is suspect. I understand that decades ago, people used to refer to Ohio-Indiana-west PA as the Mideast, but it didn't survive.

(pessimism warning) Everyone around my city is thinking and acting like we are "post-COVID" and everything's normal. In actuality my state only has a 38% vaccination rate. Most of the world is months behind the US. Its not over, and any outbreak anywhere is a concern and a potential for new variants. So I don't expect facilitating our vacation travel to be the world's priority.

The original question - how has your life changed? I am more suspicious of fellow travelers, just like the unvaccinated people here who don't wear masks. Planning trips, but warily.

Mary--WA lifted the mask mandate back in mid May, although many stores etc still ask that you wear them. I agree, it is confusing, even with living here. I keep a stash in the car and always have one in my purse just in case.

We have been fully vaccinated for a while and really look forward to travel. We are headed back to Iceland in August, but even just being able to travel locally is really nice. We are headed over to the Olympics next week for backpacking. I am dreading the crowds though, even with backpacking.

Keeping w/Mike's CSN theme, don't forget 'Wooden Ships' :

"And it's a fair wind, blowin' warm out of the South over my shoulder... guess I'll set a course and go"

Apropos lyrics for starting up our travel dreams again.

This month we have taken a 3 week RV trip to Oregon & Washington and we just returned yesterday from 4 days in LA. In Oregon and Washington we were joined by 8 others and in LA we visited family. All were vaccinated, as are we. I noticed that in many stores there were signs stating that if you’re vaccinated you don’t have to wear a mask. If not, wear one. Knowing that many people who choose not to be vaccinated are also not inclined to wear a mask (or face diaper as some call it) we chose to wear a mask in those situations. I agree with the previous poster who noted that many weren’t wearing masks.

I have booked a trip for next March & April to Germany, France and the Netherlands. I used miles, so fully refundable. Now I’m booking lodging that is refundable. As much as we are itching to travel internationally this year, we’re being patient. We also have a long trip planned for late summer/fall next year. We have two lost years to make up.

I'm a fan of CSN's "Southern Cross". Having honeymooned in Tahiti, I love the lines; "She was makin' for the trades on the outside.
And the downhill run to Papeete...", Great song...

But I digress... I retired in 2019. Fully vaxed by May 1st, wore my mask throughout, but was not overly concerned about the Covid to begin with (no underlying conditions, generally healthy, got a gig as a delivery guy and worked throughout the pandemic). I just returned from a 2 day BBQ and Southern Rock music festival in Northern NJ. Have tickets to see Guns and Roses in August. Going to the Atlantic City Airshow in August. Visited my parents in Ft Myers. Took a long weekend in Myrtle Beach. So to BigMike's question, My life is getting back to normal and I am doing things!!

I hope you all get out there when you are ready and able!!!!

The big test is Greece in September. 18 nights in the islands and Peloponnese. Was glad to hear that Greece is leading the way for reopening tourism. We are keeping an eye on restrictions but as of today, we a a full GO!!!

Jimmy, wow, you have a lot to look forward to. Can I have your life? Matt and Jimmy, I'll add, "Wasted On The Way" and "Just A Song Before I Go." Just lovely harmonies. The Eagles were good at that, too.

And there's so much time to make up
Everywhere you turn
Time we have wasted on the way
So much water moving
Underneath the bridge
Let the water come and carry us away

We still have to wear masks in the classroom during summer school, but not outside. It's great to see the kids involved again in sports and other activities.

@Lisa: Happy for you. Sounds great!

How has my life changed since being vaccinated? I'm playing tennis again - without having to wear a mask! Seeing friends indoors and out. And soon, getting on an airplane for the first time in almost 2 years to see my daughter. As for international travel, probably not this year. Too many changes of rules and restrictions. I don't want the worry, even if everything is refundable. As the song says, traveling twice the speed of sound it's easy to get burned.

I'm in a great state of confusion. On the one hand, now well vaccinated, I have eaten in restaurants several times. Whee!! I also feel safer to fly round trip to Denver to visit my infant grandson and his parents. Before vaccination, I drove the 20 hours each way between New Orleans and Denver several times. However, I am aware that there is still much not yet understood about how well the vaccine (mine is Pfizer) protects against my ability to carry and share the virus. This is an especially critical question for me, as my deeply beloved transplant-recipient sister-in-law lives two miles from me. I am "in her pod." She really goes nowhere where she would be inside with groups of people except those, like me, that she is closest to and trusts. I dearly want to protect her, so feel ethically bound to not bring her the virus. (You may be aware that transplant recipients who are vaccinated - like my SIL - generally are not developing the antibodies against the virus that most everybody else is.) So there's that. One the one hand: I feel freer in my own life, but durn all those unvaccinated (??) turrists walking in groups right past me on the streets of New Orleans who might be spewing virus (could I breathe it in as I pass beside them?) into our swampy air. My thoughts and feelings about this stage in our "recovery" are really a mess! Sigh.

Big Mike, Stan, and Paul, I concur that some of these geographic constructs are certainly relative depending on your own point of view. I grew up in iowa, and am back here now after grad school on the real east coast, Boston. Our second grade teacher taught us States in batches, perhaps starting with the original 13, and I would accept "eastern seaboard " as a designation for those. I don't remember "mid eastern " but maybe the her designation was states that touched the great lakes?

On the thread about domestic travel plans a poster from New York said he was visiting the Midwest this summer, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit. Detroit maybe, but I have never claimed Ohio as Midwest, and shoot, PA can go back into that broad East Coast cluster.

When I lived in st Louis I remember an article that might have been reflecting on cuisine, but that author posited that st Louis could be the northern most southern city, the southern most Northern city, the eastern most Western city, and the western most eastern city (that last one is clearly a stretch)

"It's so frustrating to me that many places in Europe will let Canadians in, but Canada makes it very difficult to return. "

Me too, Andrea; and I'm sure every other Canadian too.

Add my "me too" to that as well. I feel as if Canadians are being treated like children. I'll refrain from further comment which would politlcise my feelings.

At least on July 1st Alberta opens for business. Going to a movie.

"At least on July 1st Alberta opens for business. Going to a movie."

Movie theatres have been open in B.C. for several weeks for less than 50, but unfortunately the choice of movies is quite dismal at the moment. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see the new James Bond movie before I get to my 90th birthday!

B.C. will be moving to Stage 3 measures on July 1st, which will open up a lot more activities and masks will be optional. I'm hoping there will be some rock or tribute band concerts coming in the near future.

Well, the U.S. requires a negative test prior to flying back home, which isn't too much of a hassle. For example, it's easy to go online and schedule a COVID test in Reykjavik the day prior to departure. I'd imagine the time to travel to the testing site and everything chews up about an hour.

Are the Canadian restrictions more cumbersome?

As of July 5th Canada is easing its restrictions somewhat:

• A covid test before you fly home.
• A covid test when you get home.
• A covid test 8 days after you get home
• If you haven't had both doses, you must quarantine at a government approved hotel at your expense. Currently, all Canadians entering must quarantine at a government approved hotel.
• If you have had both doses you must show a quarantine plan in case you have a positive test.
• If you're travelling with kids under 12, they must quarantine for 14 days.
• And...Americans still not allowed in.

Allan, your list of eased restrictions sounds like A Fortnight in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

"I feel as if Canadians are being treated like children." - I couldn't agree more, but a good number of us prefer to be nannied.

Can't you just land in the US and drive across and avoid all that? Or so I heard.

Allan, your list of eased restrictions sounds like A Fortnight in the
Life of Ivan Denisovich.

If that's the case, I did a better job writing it than I thought

Can't you just land in the US and drive across and avoid all that? Or
so I heard.

Not anymore, the loophole has been closed.

The "new improved" rules on July 5th are still a darn nuisance so I won't be going anywhere just yet. The government still seems to wants to discourage travel.

What’s wrong with Canada? You can’t travel easy and people from your closest neighbors can’t visit your country.

I think they cut the quarantine hotels, but there's still quarantine required on return. If I were retired I might be tempted, but I have to get back to work too promptly after a trip. Not to mention the multiple tests upon return at $200 a pop (province doesn't cover the cost if it's for travel. I suppose one could lie around that, but that's not in my nature. Plus I agree the province shouldn't pay for tests for travelers.).

And yes, they do check. My friend's hubby went to the States on business. After return he was checked on every day, and there was a flap when he was out mowing his lawn.

I get a sense things are going to change quickly now. Not least because if they keep Canadians away from their winter weather break for a third year, it could get some ugly.