When are you booking your next trip??

I am new here, so i'm sorry if this topic has been covered.

But my husband and I are avid travelers and are the type to be planning our next trip before our first one even gets here. So everything going on with COVID-19 is obviously throwing us for a loop. We miss traveling but also want to be safe. So the question we have been going back and forth about is, when do we pull the trigger?? When do we say forget it, lets plan (and pay for) a trip? Should we wait for the borders to actually open or take a chance and plan something for the winter?

We are thinking about planning a trip to Thailand in January, so i would love to hear some opinions on when you're willing to plan your next international trip.

Only you can decide how much risk you're willing to accept.

The also are other factors to consider, such as when countries, such as Thailand, will begin opening their borders to visitors. And destinations within countries may have their own restrictions, so you'll have to take those into account, too.

Airlines gradually are ramping up service, first with a focus on domestic flights, then international. This Web site can provide a glimpse of what's happening to schedules: https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/

The travel experience certainly is likely to be different than what it used to be. Many airlines are requiring masks to be worn. They are changing boarding procedures and cabin seating and service. Temperatures are being checked. One airline apparently will require passengers to raise their hand to indicate they need to use the lavatory to prevent people from queueing. More changes are likely.

And you'll have to monitor the pandemic situation in the places you're planning to visit.

Although I have a glimmer of hope, I've largely written off international travel for the rest of the year. I would like to revisit India, perhaps in November, but there's no way to know at this point if that will be possible or practical.

I have booked three cruises in recent days: February 2021 to the sub-Antarctic islands of Australia and New Zealand; August 2021 to eastern Greenland and Norway's Jan Mayen Island; and March 2022 from Argentina to the Falklands, South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha to South Africa. These are remote places, many of them unpopulated. I'm traveling there on small expedition ships with no more than about 200 passengers. We use inflatable boats to land.

Someone on another Web site questioned the wisdom of booking the 2022 cruise, saying, "I think coronavirus teached everyone how the entire planet can change rapidly in a period of two months, not two years. Planning a trip for 2022 doesn't make much sense . . . ."

My response: "If they [the cruises] don't happen they don't. We'll deal with that if and when the time comes. I'm also considering other destinations. I can adjust rapidly to changing conditions; and have in years of travel across the globe. One more thing. It isn't often that you can get a ship to take you to some of the places where I'm headed. And trips to the Arctic and Antarctic are seasonal. You have to plan these trips ahead."

Besides there's not much financial risk in booking. The cruise line has reduced its deposit to 10 percent; it has relaxed the conditions and financial penalty for cancelling; and final payment isn't due until 60 days before the voyage begins. These are unusual times and travel companies are willing to be more flexible and accommodative. And the price was right. So it's wise to shop around and take those factors into account.

You don't have to decide right way. There's time. Thailand is a popular destination and you may find good availability of flights and accommodations if and when you decide you're willing to go.

[ Edit: Edited on 19-May-2020, 02:20 GMT by berner256 ]

Before this happened, my son and daughter-in-law told me that they would probably be available to go to the Galapagos with me in May 2021. I don't know if that will still be the case. My son and also my daughter and their spouses have booked a rock cruise in Dec-Jan 2021. It is only a 5 day cruise and I might go with them if they didn't mind and if I could get there. Apparently the ports are not important. But I doubt if I will go anywhere before then although my grandson has wanted us to come up to visit him - his wife has just had another baby. But that's just a 2 hour drive each way and no need to fly or even take the train.

Greetings from Boston Massachusetts!

We had a trip planned for this July. The main purpose was to attend the British Open golf tournament which was cancelled. We were also going to spend time in London/Paris/Normandy. We had the option to go next July. We opted to kick the can out to July 2022. We aren't comfortable that there will be a vaccine by next summer. That's the key.

I'm happy to stay local and within driving distance for a while. Boston has been a hotspot. We have a ski condo in the mountains and they have been relatively virus free. We are required to self quarantine when we go there but it is a great relief to be there without the worry.

So sadly, we won't be booking anything for a long time. I don't want to be on a plane even with an empty middle seat. All public transport is really something I want to avoid. I see a summer of visiting family via car trip or hanging out on my deck and enjoying the sunshine. Could be worse!

That said I am getting my travel yearning fulfilled via you tube walks of the ruins of Pompeii or the streets of Athens. Anyplace you want to visit is available online right now. So there's that!

To those young enough or fearless enough to travel - stay safe and healthy!

I'll be researching and booking my next trip in the UK as soon as we are allowed to travel widely and hotels here re-open (and pubs/restaurants too...I need to eat!). I'll be researching and booking my next 'foreign' trip as soon as the UK lifts its blanket 'only essential travel' restriction (which automatically invalidates ordinary travel/travel health insurance). For obvious reasons I can't place a time-scale on either but I'm hoping for the UK & Ireland from September onwards and 'abroad' from perhaps next Jan/Feb.

I am neither young nor fearless. I am, however, intelligent, sensible, responsible in both my behaviour and my outlook and fully aware of what risks may exist, with Covid or anything else. Hence my choice.

Others will have different opinions and that's absolutely fine. :-)

[ Edit: Edited on 19-May-2020, 11:59 GMT by leics2 ]

As for me, I'm just hanging out locally for the next year or so. I'm kinda planning something in November for a week, maybe, to visit my Dad in Arizona. That's it.

I have made plans for various trips I hope to take but I have made sure all my plans don't require too much pre payment especially anything far in advanced. I would definitely stick to independant travel next year just to have the flexibilty to change with the situation if required. If you make plans also make just in case plans. I would say this is a wait and see situation, I would probably wait and see if borders are open before putting money down also what restrictions the country you are leaving and the country you are going to might impose. I only have so much holiday time per year and don't want to waste 14 days of it in quarantine.

Quoting leics2

I'll be researching and booking my next trip in the UK as soon as we are allowed to travel widely and hotels here re-open (and pubs/restaurants too...I need to eat!). I'll be researching and booking my next 'foreign' trip as soon as the UK lifts its blanket 'only essential travel' restriction (which automatically invalidates ordinary travel/travel health insurance). For obvious reasons I can't place a time-scale on either but I'm hoping for the UK & Ireland from September onwards and 'abroad' from perhaps next Jan/Feb.

I am neither young nor fearless. I am, however, intelligent, sensible, responsible in both my behaviour and my outlook and fully aware of what risks may exist, with Covid or anything else. Hence my choice.

Others will have different opinions and that's absolutely fine. :-)

I would say almost exactly the same, although I'm hoping a trip within the UK may be feasible in August - we have an apartment booked in Newcastle, a city we know well and where we're happy to self-cater or rely on take-aways if necessary. We would travel by car, so no need for public transport either.

We then hope to do several other short UK trips or one longer one in September or October, and are monitoring overseas travel with a view to trying to get somewhere next February, depending on the possibilities. But we're not focusing on a specific destination - we will see which places open up sooner, which seem to have a decent infrastructure in place and will also consider what flights are needed - I would prefer a single flight to having to change, ideally.

At the moment I'm assuming that a planned trip September visit to Chicago (from the UK btw) won't go ahead although I haven't yet cancelled.

Having said all that, if you're set on Thailand and would like to have something in the diary I see no harm in booking providing a) you do so with a company that has a flexible refund policy and low deposits, as others have said, and b) you accept that you may not get to go.

We had to cancel our trip this month but are hanging on to our reservations for late September-early October to France in hopes we can go. We are renting houses out in the country where there haven't been many cases but right now I'm not sure we can even fly to France from the USA since our country is doing so badly containing the virus. We're just holding the reservations and hoping we can go and hoping restaurants and some sights will be open. If not, I suspect we'll just let it go, take a voucher from the airline and let the folks who are renting to us keep the rentals because I suspect they will need it far more than we will. The trip we recently cancelled was all on booking.com and we didn't lose any money at all on that one.

For next year, we're waiting a while to see how the world opens up before we book anything else. If you do book, be sure to keep arrangements flexible so you can get refunds if you want them.

BTW, there is nothing wrong with planning future trips. We are certainly doing that, just not making the actual reservations. There's plenty of time for that and the planning part is fun.

Quoting Beausoleil

BTW, there is nothing wrong with planning future trips. We are certainly doing that, just not making the actual reservations. There's plenty of time for that and the planning part is fun.

Exactly what I am doing right now and having fun doing it! I am planning quite bit ahead though, our great big get away (hopefully 2025 but most likely 2026)

Next trip I will be booking will probably be in summer 2021. I am now on my this years holiday and as everybody could guess, I am spending it at home

2021 summerholiday is when I will be having my next off from work so then I am hoping to go somewhere in Europe, now we are discussing Romania and England, but plans can change in a year so we will see