Travel Planning Withdrawal...

Definitely yes, but I'm horribly behind anyway. I consider myself lucky that I have no money tied up yet for a trip to Europe this year.

We have a tour booked for Sep and airfare paid for. I keep doing my reading, researching, etc. But wonder if it will all be for naught. Hopefully 6 months will see major improvements in the situation.

Yes. I’m not worried about myself but all this paranoia sucks.

I had a week in Washington DC ruined last January because of the government shutdown. I don’t want to go someplace and not be able to do anything, especially with the cost of a Europe trip.

It is an uncomfortable time to think about travel when things are changing so quickly.
The odd thing is that we are usually confident that everything will go as we think it will. I wonder if the reality is that one must always have a "contingency" frame of mind with any planning.

My parents passed away last year. Before that, I was always aware that my plans for a trip might change up to the last moment. They might have needed me or have a turn for the worse. Now, with them gone, I was a bit lulled into a false sense of security about travel arrangements.

I have three major trips planned this year, with the first one coming up in 3 weeks. I still am going and still planning to have a wonderful time (Portugal). However, I am also cognizant of the fact that there may be circumstances beyond my control that could interfere with my plans.

I, like you, have a Sunday hobby of research and trip planning. I have a summer trip booked with four friends going to Germany/Austria. Flights are booked. Hotels are booked. (Free cancellation), and a couple of tours are booked. I am at a standstill until we know more. It is either going to get very bad or it will be like the flu and disappear in the warmer months. We just don't know. I am OK with having to cancel if need be. I go to Europe every year and German/Austria will be there to visit some other time. It is disappointing but we may all need to have a contingency plan.
Margaret

Yes! We are scheduled for an RS tour in late April. With all the uncertainty, I have lost my mojo. We will not cancel unless the tour is canceled. Hoping for the best.

I'm still moving forward with planning my May and September trips, but going about it a bit differently. I'm holding back on booking most non-refundable activities, but still doing the research - which would be applicable even if I had to reschedule.

I did book one non-refundable activity, which would be a highlight of my entire trip, and very likely to sell out under normal circumstances. My logic is that I would be highly disappointed if my trip goes forward and I didn't get to do that activity - far more so than if the trip was cancelled and I lost the money. For that one activity.

CT, I agree it's an unnerving time to plan a trip. I'm planning one to Amsterdam and Belgium in September, so I'm OK with waiting on getting the airfare. I wasn't going to buy plane tickets until later March/early April anyway in hopes the flight prices go down. I've been planning every weekend, too. I feel like I need to just hold off for a while and wait and see about this whole situation. And yet, somehow I'm always checking another website or reading the Rick Steves forum!

We are going this month. We’re skiing in Switzerland for the first part but dropping the Italy plans we had for the last week.

Now we are planning a new itinerary, maybe the cities of Switzerland? Maybe southern Germany? But I’m hesitant to book anything. Maybe more outdoor activities if Switzerland closes down more.

I plan to pack an extra 14 days of my prescriptions in case of getting stuck in a quarantine.

Enjoy the planning and the trip!

No way! I will not stop doing the one thing that brings me joy - planning the trip and then going on the trip. I've survived cancer, divorce, hip replacement (at age 52 - and having to cancel trip plans), and countless other setbacks in my life. This doesn't mean I won't be smart about it (other than I had already purchased non-refundable airfare - before this all got crazy with TP being sold out at Costco). I'll book refundable/free-cancellation going forward, follow the trustworthy CV sites, and be on top of my own health. I'll be sure to have a contingency plan in place, but I'm absolutely planning forward with hope.

I too enjoy spending time planning trips. Such fun!
Fortunately we returned from a Norway trip in early February just as all of this is hitting. And yes we went on a cruise.
On the ship, there were hand sanitizing stations everywhere.
Before entering dining areas, passengers were asked to either sanitize their hands or wash them; two basins with water, soap and towels were provided.

Use universal precautions, wash hands frequently and avoid crowds as much as possible. Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose and face.

Talk to your doctor if you think you have serious health risks and seek advice from a medical professional.
Read CDC guidelines as well as check travel advisories on the US Department of state website.

Use resources available to make an informed decision
Good luck

The only cruise we have gone on made passengers use hand sanitizer when entering and leaving the dining area and when getting back on the ship.
We went to a large senior residence a few days ago and were shocked that these practices were not in place. There were sanitizer bottles around but no required use for dining area.
We recently returned from a fabulous trip in December and January and don’t have another planned until June. May cancel it, but will wait and see.
Travel planning is such fun for me, researching, reading, and finally booking
it all. But this virus situation is serious and I count myself lucky that I can stay home at this time.

No way! I will not stop doing the one thing that brings me joy -
planning the trip and then going on the trip. I've survived cancer,
divorce, hip replacement (at age 52 - and having to cancel trip
plans), and countless other setbacks in my life.

You might survive, but by travelling you might help spread the virus and infect others. So please reconsider.

Limbo isn’t what I’m feeling.

Research and planning for a return to Europe in late Fall or early winter continues. Accommodation inquires have been sent. Only thing I’m waiting to do is book my airfare.

As @Connie rightfully concluded “ forward with hope.”

I've been so excited about next year's trip. The planner/organizer in me enjoys the planning and anticipation. I came up with three alternative plans depending who goes with me or if I travel solo. Don't laugh but I almost had each trip planned down to route planning, hotels and what to do in each city. But the coronavirus uncertainty and stock market decline have put a real damper on my enthusiasm and planning. It hasn't helped that winter rain and pending eye surgery (the third in five months) are limiting my riding and "horsey" time, ie my de-stress and refocus time. Since the first botched cataract surgery in October, trip planning has kept me energized and looking forward.
Enough self-pity. I couldn't book anything 18+ months out so no money lost unlike lots of people. And things will get better.

Anybody else feel like it's a weird limbo time for getting a trip together?

If I was feeling "travel planning withdrawal" before, there's no shortage of things to do now. My May trip seems very likely to be cancelled, with both the primary airline and the Rick Steves tour allowing reschedules. (Thank heavens!) So there is plenty to do to review and revise dates, rebook the tour, change flights, re-arrange extra nights in hotels before/after the tour, reschedule activities - unwind everything that was leisurely done over the last 4+ months.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty fortunate. And at least there's less research the 2nd time around!

Badger - I am not traveling right now. I will continue to plan my late summer trip in the hopes that the state of world health is better by then. I will not put myself or others at risk - but I also will not give up on the things I enjoy the most in life, planning travel and traveling. I refuse to let this fill me with fear and anxiety, instead I pledge to be hopeful and continue making plans.

We will probably cancel our June trip to Norway and Iceland. It’s OK as they will still be there when this virus is finally under control. I am so happy that we completed several major trips on our bucket list in the past year and can go over our photos and memories while cooped up at home.

Just cancelled our Norway and Iceland trip today. Can’t think about more trip planning as we have a big summer trip planned which I probably will be cancelling too. We returned home from a month in Europe and the Middle East right before all this COVID-19 broke so not traveling for a while is OK.

Norway's coronavirus emergency measures puts a damper/halt on travel to Norway. To bad. The Putin-Saudi oil wars have weakened the NOK. When has the Norwegian Krone last been weaker than 10 to the USD? We though the NOK was a bargain at 8+ NOK/USD last year. Norwegian oil is getting squeezed by Putin's oil war.

I just took the big step of taking the select travel catalogs that I kept from all those dozens and dozens that have poured in via the mail for the 2020-2012 season, and have them ALL stacked up for recycling tomorrow. As I just measured, those that made it to the "keeper pile" in a basket by my favorite white wicker chair in the sun room stacked up to 9 inches.....those were just my favorites with some real possibilities inside. It was not unusual to be receiving 4-5 catalogs from various providers each day last fall/earlier this year. If all were kept, likely they would have reached a 3-foot stack. Some still come in, but not quite as many in recent weeks.

It was a "cleansing step," and it feels right. So, yes, I agree with what you said "it's is a weird limbo time."

Focus now is on doing everything we possibly can to keep the virus from entering our home and making it thru the next month. Hopeful there will be better years in the future.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." A time to travel, and a time to hunker down (and hold dear those travel memories).

Stay safe, take precautions, and best to everyone.

Limbo is right.......We have given up on our May 2020 trip to England. Actually, we gave up about a month ago. Now hoping to get a refund when airline cancels our flight.
If all we get is a voucher for future travel, we will hope to go in the late fall/early winter.
That doesn't keep us from reading guidebooks for future travel planning.
We are watching Rick Steves videos we received for our pledge to support our local PBS station, and dreaming of RS tours we might take in 2021, 2022, and beyond.

We cancelled our June trip and now are working on cancellations and getting refunds instead of the fun time spent planning trips.

ditto Maggie - stay safe, take precautions
Be smart about this
The smarter we are the safer we will be
Remember this is only temporary.

I think the safe thing to do is not to plan any overseas travel until we know that the people there are ready, and welcoming tourists. Even if the outbreak peaks and ebbs, it will be a while before the infrastructure and the emotional impact subsides.

I bough air tickets to Norway back in November 2019. It was absolutely awesome price with very good connection flights, so it was hard to resist. Our trip in August and completely paid off. We are staying positive and planning to go, fingers crossed.

I am still planning, I have just moved the dates out a year from where I had been. While I am not booking flights and hotels yet (too far out date wise even before the current situation), I am doing a lot more detailed plans than I used to and watching a lot of videos about the places I am hoping to get to. It occupies my time in a semi productive way. :-)