(OK, a bit of a whine)
I was booked on a 9-day bike tour, "Italy Coast to Coast," starting Saturday Sept 18. I booked flights back in December departing the 14th, returning Oct 1st, giving me 3 nights pre-tour in Bologna and four nights post-tour in Rome. Scored business class SFO->FRA and FRA->SFO for just over $2400 and 40,000 miles! The trip was supposed to go June 2020, delayed, cancelled, etc., so almost two years in the making.
I've obsessed over this trip the whole year. Would the Europeans and the Italians let us in? Then Italy required "Covid Tested" flights and my PDX-SFO-FRA-BLQ booking wouldn't work. Then Europe opened up to vaccinated US, Yea! Covid Tested flights no longer required! But the bike tour had 12 people, 9 of which were British and they had to quarantine five days, so the whole tour remained in doubt. Flight schedules kept changing, and my final outbound FRA->BLQ leg disappeared twice, had to be re-booked later, finally leaving me with 12 hour connection in FRA. Then I developed hamstring tendonitis and even paid $$$$ out of pocket for Platelet Rich Plasma therapy in an attempt to get healed in time.
The PRP hasn't worked fast enough. I've had to cancel the tour. I considered going anyway and play tourist. But trying to fill a 9-day hole in the schedule, all the other uncertainties of what will be open and how the schedule everything has become just too much. My wife has been worrying that I could test positive before my return flight and get stranded in isolation.
I've been grieving the past week, putting off (to me) the inevitable. Last night I cancelled my flights. Thank you, Air Dolomiti, for dropping my 07:30 FCO->FRA departure and pushing me to the 10:10. That was enough schedule change to allow me to invoke United's two hour schedule change policy and get a full refund of the fares and Mileage Upgrade Award miles and co-pays. I cancelled my hotel reservations this morning. (Pro Tip: I was also able to do the cancellation using the "Message" function in the United app on my phone. It only took about 1/2 hour net, Kindle in hand and phone on my knee, and no long phone wait times.)
Those able to go, I wish you all safe travels and have a fantastic time. I'll be with you in spirit, at least.