How are you all doing since Covid stopped travel?

As leics says, in the UK we've been under various levels of restrictions all year. But when they eased last summer we did take a few short breaks - Yorkshire in the summer, then Wells and Whitstable in the early autumn. Despite the enthusiasm for 'staycations' here we didn't find anywhere too crowded and we enjoyed getting away from home. But London has been under tight lockdown since mid December, ahead of the rest of the country, so we can't go anywhere at the moment, even a day trip. We've been walking in a local park, I joined an online camera club and I started a WordPress blog in parallel to the one i have here, where I'm 'meeting' lots of fun bloggers by taking part in challenges.

But I can't wait to get out and about again! We're planning to go up to Newcastle at the end of May (overnight stays in self-catering accommodation should be allowed from mid April) and to Ripon in Yorkshire in August. We have a weekend in Paris booked for our 40th wedding anniversary in early September but I've booked a hotel in Dorset for the same dates as back-up (both are cancellable). And again as leics says, we're hoping the Euromeet in Newcastle can go ahead later that month. It's already had to be postponed twice and I'm desperate to welcome my friends to one of my favourite cities! But I'm really not sure yet how many people will be permitted to come from outside the country.

My plans to visit Mexico again got cancelled (hoping to reschedule for fall) more due to the death of my BFF and travel buddy (from cancer, not Covid) and also due to the DMV being mostly closed, cannot get my REAL ID and a renewal of my drivers' license (due to my age, an office visit is unfortunately required).

I'm continuing to travel, mostly in the U.S. in a car that I bought in October. The focus has been on the outdoors, including state and national parks and wildlife refuges. I frequently travel with a friend who is an avid birder. She can rattle off the names of the birds she sees. I simply like to photograph them, along with plants and other beauties of nature. Wednesday we completed a two-week trip in Georgia and Florida.

We are now in the midst of planning a 17-day trip that begins April 14. We'll fly from our respective homes (Barbara lives in NYC) to Chicago, where we will board Amtrak's Southwest Chief for the two-day journey to Los Angeles. We'll rent an SUV, then travel to several state and national parks in the Southwest, including Death Valley, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Dead Horse Point, Arches, Canyonlands and the Grand Canyon's South Rim before returning to LA, where I used to live. I've been to all of the places previously, except Death Valley.

We remain hopeful that our August cruise to eastern Greenland and Jan Mayen will go. Two previously booked cruises with the same company were cancelled. They include one that would have taken place last month to the sub-Antarctic islands of Australia and New Zealand; and one next March from Ushuaia to Cape Town via the Falklands, South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha archipelagos.

Wednesday, we booked an April 2022 voyage on an icebreaker to the South Shetland Islands, North Antarctic Peninsula, Weddell Sea, South Sandwich Islands (Southern Thule, Cook, Saunders and Zavodovski) and South Georgia.

We still are hopeful that our November 2021 Middle East cruise will take place. We are eager to go through the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Hormuz. We've already been to all of the countries on the route, except Oman. Before or after the voyage we plan to visit India, if it reopens. It's one of our favorite destinations. We already have a preliminary itinerary that will take us to the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. My friend already has been to those places. This is new territory for me.

We hope to resurrect plans we made previously to visit friends, including those in Austria, Ukraine and elsewhere.

We both get tested before and after trips to make sure we are not asymptomatic carriers of the virus. We both recently received our second doses of the Moderna vaccine. We continue to wear our masks and practice social distancing, particularly indoors and in crowded places. Even though we are fully vaccinated, we've learned through years of travel that when it comes to health, safety and security one can't be complacent.

hello
i am eagerly waiting that evry thing become normal and we start travelling again. I am getting stuck at home and really want the vaccations.

I was visiting places in my country. Before, I didn't think about it like that, but when I was looking for places abroad, it turned out that in my areas there are many beautiful and interesting places that are worth seeing. I think the world needs such a break from tourists in overcrowded places. Take, for example, Italy - thanks to the fact that it was impossible to travel, things were cleaned and even in some places dolphins returned.

So I've mostly stayed in my home area, walking locally in the months when we've not been allowed to travel for exercise (we've not been allowed to do that since December 26th) and, when we have been allowed, driving further afield to walk.

Since all the universities are offering on-line courses because of the virus, I decided at my advanced age to return to school. I signed up for a course on 17th century French music at the Sorbonne in Paris. It's taken a lot of time because my French is mostly restaurant French and this was definitely beyond that, but I managed to finish the course and had a lot of fun . . . and discovered quite a few composers I'd never heard of that I really like. Covid gave me a lot of time I never would have had to do that so it's been good in that respect. We have all gotten a lot of extra reading done too. That's been fun.

We both are fully vaccinated and have reservations in autumn for France (where my restaurant French will be more useful) and we're sincerely hoping it will be open and we can go.