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Pumpkins and fall flowers are starting to appear on neighborhood porches. Leaves should begin to turn soon as the weather cools for more than a few days. Fall is my favorite time of year here in Coastal Virginia as we get warm days that we can enjoy the outdoors without heavy jackets, but the nights cool off to enjoy a backyard fire or an evening with the windows open.

It’s also my favorite season to travel overseas. Normally, the weather is more predictable than in the Spring and the value is extraordinary once the summer season winds down and the crowds disperse for the school year. Most of Europe has reopened for fully vaccinated travelers, are you ready to explore before the crowds return?

One of the most popular ways to explore Europe in recent years has been aboard a river cruise. One of the lines we work quite closely with is honoring frontline medical workers with a free cruise, when sailing with a paying guest in the same cabin. These sailings are for the remainder of 2021 and into Spring of 2022. Perhaps now is the time to plan a well deserved vacation. Contact me for full details and please feel free to share with the medical professionals in your circle.

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I am getting more questions from travelers who have been grounded for the past 18 months wondering if they can safely schedule a fall or winter getaway. First of all, safety something only you can determine for yourself. That said, whether or not to move forward with travel plans depends a lot on the type of vacation experience you are looking for.

Europe is reporting great strides in recovery, with a handful of countries relaxing all Covid-19 restrictions in the coming months, should progress continue. They are also limiting, for the most part, entry from the US to vaccinated travelers only. My advice, if you are considering a trip to Europe this fall is two fold. If your entire travel party is fully vaccinated and otherwise healthy that’s the first step. The second would be to keep your trip to just one country, that includes your flights. When additional countries are added to the itinerary, even if it’s just a layover, things become more complicated.

On the other side of the spectrum are those considering a Caribbean getaway for the holidays or even January 2022. My advice there is completely different, even for fully vaccinated travelers. As I mentioned last week, vaccination rates in these islands is still very low. Restrictions are creeping back in with regards to movement off the resort and the medical facilities are not up to US standards. Of course, you may not need those facilities, but the added influx of tourists, while obviously bringing revenue to the island, are also bringing a heavier load of virus to those who are not yet protected.

Currently nearly 100% of the companies we do business with around the world are requiring that travelers be vaccinated. Until conditions improve and restrictions are lifted on those unvaccinated, I will only be working with clients who are fully vaccinated as well. There are just too many variables otherwise. For instance, just last Thursday I posted an article on our FB page listing the protocols for over 40 European countries. By Friday some had changed, most notably the Netherlands requiring a 10 day quarantine for all travelers from the US, regardless of vaccination status. Well, in the nature of ever changing protocols, that quarantine is being dropped before the end of September for those vaccinated travelers.

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I’m starting to feel like a broken record, another week has brought more protocol changes for travel.

Like most updates, these have minimal impacts on vaccinated travelers. Perhaps you saw the news that the US has been moved off the “green list” for the EU. So, what does that mean exactly? The easy answer is “it depends”, each country within the EU can determine what, if any changes they will make in allowing non-essential travel. France has yet to announce changes to their policy of vaccinated travelers only. Italy immediately announced that they would implement a testing requirement prior to entry for all travelers, regardless of vaccination status. Sweden, on the other hand, announced that they will no longer permit entry to US travelers, vaccinated, or not.

Just yesterday, the US added more countries to the “Level 4 – do not travel” list of recommendations. Jamaica was the one that may have the most impact on those wishing to getaway soon. While travelers from the US can still travel with only a test, vaccinations are not a requirement for Jamaica, the country is having major issues controlling the virus. To date, just 5% of the population has been fully vaccinated. Even those travelers who are fully vaccinated are urged to re-evaluate their plans at this point. For travelers not yet vaccinated travel is no longer recommended.

In good news, Ireland is expected to begin relaxing their protocols as they have just reached full vaccination on 70% of their population.

As always, I will continue to provide updates as they become available. In the meantime, please reach out with questions  or sign up here, for automatic updates:

The Every Kid Outdoors (formerly Every Kid in a Park) program has been near and dear to my heart since the inception in 2015. Through this program 4th graders throughout the US can obtain a National Parks pass for free that will cover entry fees for themselves and up to three accompanying adults for National Parks and Monuments that charge per person, or for their entire car when fees are charged per car. The program runs each year from September 1 – August 31 to fall in line with a typical school year. Passes can be printed online by students, parents and educators. Students can even exchange the paper pass at certain parks for a plastic card that may be easier to keep track of when kept in Mom or Dad’s wallet.

With the challenges faced by all school children, especially during the past 18 months, there’s no better time to enhance their education beyond the classroom. 4th grader or not, take advantage of the educational programs offered by the National Parks and turn them into what the park service has referred to for years as “America’s Greatest Classroom.” With the ease of students learning virtually as well as parents working virtually, your comfort zone is your limit. Did you know that most of the National Parks and Monuments offer lesson plans and curriculum based on grade level (not just for 4th grade) that you can download from their website?

There are also field trip itineraries available, while some ranger led programs may be limited for the near future there are also self guided field trips and virtual field trip itineraries.

Imagine bringing their classroom (or zoom) lessons to life by taking a day trip from Coastal Virginia down to the Wright Brothers Memorial for a lesson plan on the Pythagorean Theorem?

A road trip out to Skyline drive offers curriculum for Kindergarten all the way through 12th grade and covers Science, Literacy, Language Arts, Math and Social Studies.

Will this be the school year you decide, as a family, to explore beyond their classroom? I’d love to help you plan!

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Thank goodness for those Facebook memories that keep reminding us of past travels. This week and next I look forward to seeing photos of the trip to Australia I took back in 2016 during this time frame.

With this week’s arrival of everything pumpkin spice and fall Mums on display at the stores, it’s a sure sign that 2021 is quickly coming to a close. While travel outlooks still may be up in the air for even vaccinated travelers, at least we can look back on past travels with fond memories and refine that travel to do list even more.

So as some of you are already knee deep in holiday shopping, the rest of us are still lost in photos of past travels and refining our travel to do list even more. Here are a few words that may help describe what you’ve been feeling as you wait for that next travel experience.

Wanderlust (n) – German – a strong desire to travel

Fernweh (n) – German – this goes a bit beyond wanderlust and is most often described as the opposite of being homesick – it’s the longing for far off places that you have never seen.

Trouvaille (n) – French – Something lovely found by chance – Perhaps it’s that cafe you stumbled across when you took a wrong turn in Lyon? It could be deserted beach you found while driving along the Amalfi Coast.

Vagary (v) – Latin – A wandering or roaming journey – hiking through the Swiss countryside or sailing down the Danube – which would you choose?

Coddiwomple (v) – Old English – to travel purposefully towards a vague destination – this sounds like the perfect way to spend a day in Ireland searching for castle ruins.

Derive (n) – French – much like Vagary or Coddiwomple – this is to drift unplanned, led only by the landscape and architecture around you

Resfeber (n) – Swedish – the mix of anxiety and excitement before a journey begins – this is the one I miss the most right now.

Sehnsucht (n) – German – A wistful longing for travels that have been and travels to come – I hope you would agree that it’s this feeling of sehnsucht that helps us get through until the borders reopen and we can once again grab our passports and resume our travel journeys.

The past week has brought more updates to travel protocols throughout the World. While not a complete synopsis, here are the highlights.

The TSA released a statement Tuesday extending the mask mandate on public transportation, including airplanes from the original expiration date of September 2021 until mid January 2022. Of course this deadline will be extended as necessary.

More travel companies have either announced they will require all travelers to be vaccinated, or have extended the time frame that vaccinations will be required. Just yesterday, NCL announced that vaccinations will be required for all passengers traveling through December 2021. Previously, this was set to expire in October 2021.

Germany has tightened restrictions for US citizens who are not yet vaccinated while restrictions for vaccinated travelers remain unchanged, at this time.

The islands of French Polynesia have also tightened restrictions for not yet vaccinated travelers and dropped one testing requirement for vaccinated travelers.

France has established online protocols for visitors with foreign vaccinations to have those converted to French Covid Certificates. These French Covid Certificates are currently required to enter restaurants, cafes and bars, along with public places including museums, cultural institutions and public transit.

Again, these are just a few of the protocols updated within the past week, it is not comprehensive.

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Remember a few weeks ago when I told you that the State Department is recommending that you submit your passport application at least 6 months before it expires? Have you looked at yours yet to verify the expiration date? Most travelers haven’t glanced at their passports in the past 18 months. Now is the time! I’ll wait while you go pull that passport out of it’s safe place and check the expiration date. The State Department has updated the turn around times for passport issue and renewal. They are publishing a wait time of at least 12 weeks for expedited service and at least 18 weeks for routine service. Just to give you a reference – Christmas is 19 weeks away!

Remember, your passport needs to be valid for the 6 months AFTER your trip. Maybe you are planning to travel for Spring Break? For some schools, that’s as early as the first week of March 2022. That means, if your passport expires within the next year you need to renew. While adult passports are valid for 10 years, assuming they are in good condition and are not full of stamps; passports that are issued to children under 16 are only valid for 5 years, with the same stipulations. For families that had 2020 vacations postponed those expiration dates for the kids can sneak up quickly.

So, go check now! Don’t get caught in the backlog and miss out on the next vacation opportunity.

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We put our vaccines to the test and vacationed at Universal Orlando for 8 days. Coincidently, Universal Orlando was our last vacation, in late January, 2020. We knew that summer crowds were in full swing, you can see them in the photo above. I think the quote of the week came from my daughter one evening as we were leaving the parks when she said “Well, there’s no social distancing in Florida!” She wasn’t wrong.

Here are just some of the differences we noticed as we compared this trip to those pre-pandemic

#1 – No housekeeping services in hotels! I missed this more than the rest of my family, but a week without service can be a long time. Those tiny in room trash cans fill up quickly and most of the larger trash cans around the properties have been removed.

#2 – Breakfast buffet – while our hotel did offer the full pre-pandemic buffet each day, it just didn’t feel right, especially as Orlando was a hot spot for new cases and there were very few masks to be seen. Luckily, the property offered a food and beverage credit for us to use daily at the onsite Starbucks, where we were able to get breakfast and take it back to our room.

#3 – Pack extra patience – We were lucky that our flights ran fairly smoothly, as did our entire vacation. However, we did our research, we knew what to expect. We knew that if we wanted lunch between 12 – 1 or dinner between 6-8 we needed to make reservations in advance. It was not unusual to see people without reservations turned away or asked to return after 9 or 10pm.

All in all we had a great time, we’re already planning to go back, but honestly, even before the current trends, it’s not something I would recommend for those not yet vaccinated. I’ll be happy to chat with anyone who has questions about the state of travel right now and moving forward.

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I walked down the aisle last weekend, on an airplane! Something I had not done since the first quarter of 2020. My family made the decision, once we were all fully vaccinated, to enjoy a week away on vacation. I will be back in the office early next week and look forward to helping you plan your next family vacation.

It’s been another busy week, full of veiled announcements regarding borders re-opening and the requirement of vaccines.

Canada announced that it will welcome fully vaccinated Americans beginning August 9th! That is great news for those who have been waiting to experience the diversity that Canada offers.

The French celebrated Bastille Day last week with much fanfare and an announcement from President Macron that beginning in August ” anyone who wants to visit cafes, bars or shopping centers must show a “health pass” that certifies they’ve been vaccinated or recently tested negative for the coronavirus.” The Eiffel Tower began welcoming fully vaccinated guests just a few days later on the 16th of July.

Several tour companies, including Brendan Vacations, Insight Vacations and Trafalgar, among others under the same parent company released the following on the 21st of July:

“We wanted to alert you that effective immediately, we are requiring all guests booked to travel to European destinations with any of our guided and FIT brands, are fully vaccinated. This policy will be in effect until September 30, 2021. We will continue to monitor the local requirements and will adjust accordingly.

Venues such as museums and restaurants are requiring proof of full vaccination or near-daily negative PCR testing results for non-vaccinated visitors. If your clients are not vaccinated, they would be required to take multiple PCR tests to participate in many of our included activities.

We wish for guests across our brands to experience travel seamlessly and joyfully. When faced with having to exclude guests from activities and subject them to frequent out-of-pocket on-trip testing, we feel that requiring all guest to be vaccinated to be the most responsible choice.”

It’s becoming evident that the pathway back to travel, aside from the Caribbean, is through the vaccine. This also explains the surge in Caribbean travel for families with children not yet old enough for the vaccine. I would be remiss in not advising clients who are considering traveling for Spring Break 2022 to book as soon as possible. Demand is higher than we’ve seen in years and many resorts are already sold out, as are the better flight schedules when dates are not flexible.

My last bit of advice for the week is to check your passport expiration date today! Many travelers haven’t had the need to check their passport in the past 18 months and are surprised to find it expired, or nearing the expiration date. Renewals and new applications are in high demand and taking much longer than the usual time frame. The State Department is recommending that travelers submit their applications at least 6 months before they intend to travel. Keep in mind that passports need to be valid for 6 months AFTER your vacation. Don’t let an expired passport be the reason you are stuck at home another year!

We’d love to help you plan your next vacation, it’s certainly something you don’t want to navigate yourself with the near constant updates in protocols. That’s what we’re here to do for you.

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