Spain Trip booked for March 2022- COVID Scare!

Yeah I was in the same boat for around 20+ months. I bought my tickets for Germany back in September 2019 for March 2020, we all know how that went! While eventually they made my tickets refundable, I heard horror stories about Lufthansa (as in people never getting their refund, etc). So basically I kept rebooking. There was a minimal fare difference once in all my rebookings (about $20). Eventually I was able to go, after 4 rebookings, in October 2021.

Maybe I should've booked refundable fares but they were way too
expensive.

Well, now you know why...

You can group hug my friends who booked in January of 2019 to come and visit us, when we had only heard of some virus far away in China, and no one except for the specialists had any idea what the word "pandemic" really meant.

Obviously, they have not been able to take their trip. And they had no chance to make that informed decision.

So, I had air for France booked for April of 2021. Delta Cancelled (though I would have, myself). Air booked for June of 2021. Cancelled by Icelandair. A trip all planned and booked to France/Spain for September 2021, I cancelled, and went to Poland instead. I now have a trip planned for Sicily in April and France/Spain in Fall of 2022. So far, for April, I'm thinking its fairly likely and fall, who knows.

I have been trying to book my international trips with miles. This makes the ticket refundable and the first level of tickets available with miles is generally "main cabin" with Delta which is fine by me. At this point, I am not booking any air tickets that are not changeable. If you watch airfares by destination, the differential between the cheapest level of tickets (nonchangeable) and the next level can be huge, or it can be quite small, at varying points in time

From the Poland trip, I learned that with COVID, sometimes, being able to plan a trip on short notice based on COVID and travel expenses at the last minute is quite helpful. I am flexible on destinations. I have a mental list of places I want to go. Each time a "travel opportunity" arises, I look at my list and make a decision based on air and other travel prices, weather, holidays, etc., and now COVID levels and vaccination rates. I also have mental itineraries for some places all set to go. Like a northern France/Luxembourg/Mosel trip. A southwest France/Spain Basque/Rioja trip. A Portugal/Galicia Spain trip. I am always pretty much thinking travel which makes me better able to quickly respond to some good airfare or similar.

My husband and I retired and then almost immediately, COVID hit. Yes, I need frequent hugs!

Yes, in a similar boat. We hope to leave the US the end of April for 2 weeks in Spain (staying in an apt a couple hours from Madrid), fly to Paris for a week, train to Strasbourg but staying across the border in an apt in Germany for 2 weeks, then train to Avignon for 2 weeks. End with a couple of nights in Lyon before flying home. Flights booked with miles can be redeposited and accommodation deposits can be refunded until about a month out. I haven’t bought train tickets or tickets for the flight from Madrid to Paris. Fully vaccinated and boosted and not terribly worried about getting sick but not discounting that we could get infected and stuck somewhere. I’m more concerned about getting good prices on train tickets and flight to Paris since best prices are usually a few months prior to traveling and those may not be refundable! I’m going to have to see what happens in the next few months. Hopeful…..

My trip to Spain is in March. Omicron is not any worse than Delta or any other form of Coronavirus-2019. After the Delta scare, I learned to quit paying attention to the the media's scare tactics about every new variety of the virus. The media's job is to scare the crap out of you because that is their business model. If I get my results in e-mail, do I have to worry about finding a way to print it?

I understand that there is such a thing as buying a test that you do yourself in your hotel room that comes with a remote session with somebody who watches you do it. Is this too good to be true or should I search e-bay or the internet for one of these tests??

Definitely can participate in that group hug. We are headed to Spain on December 15th. When I booked the tickets several months ago I also had that "I'm booking it- even if it feels a little uncertain". I would handle yourself with grace that you booked the tickets when you did. Not crazy, just planning ahead! I am so glad I got our tickets when I did as the price is more than double now to get to Spain- and the expensive tickets come with worse flights as the airlines cut so much capacity. Many things are just up, down, and sideways- getting more and more used to it.

This is now our 3rd international trip this year- August was Portugal, October was Mexico City, and now Christmas in Spain (assuming things stay open- looking good so far). In my mind, Covid is now just endemic, so we take precautions we can but still travel when and where we can.

One thing I will say is that our planning process for Spain was just slower than we experienced on other trips. It was a lot harder to get restaurants and sometimes even tours to respond to questions this fall. We also experiences more cancelled day experiences and the like from the tour operators given that it was low season. Depending on how tightly you like to plan things, give yourself a bit of extra time to get your details sorted out. Besides, it helps keep the excitement flowing, and I think we all like this kind of excitement! ;o)

@Amber C- Aww I really hope you make it and have loads of fun!
I do agree on the scare created by media houses on every new variant, I am hoping my country announces booster dose soon so that I can be a little assured of the extra protection. As of now, I am not making any changes in the plan as the scene is changing by the day, but have to take tough calls latest by Feb.

@Mike L. Yes,there are tests.
https://www.emed.com/airline-travel?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1eim2tHY9AIVAntvBB0N_w52EAAYASAAEgJWvfD_BwE