Is anyone reconsidering long distance travel plans due to the virus? We had scheduled 10 days off at the end of May for vacation, and had planned to go to Berlin & Amsterdam, flying through London. I normally would have this already booked, but I haven't yet. I admit, I am wondering what the state of the virus will be in three months, given what's happened in one.
COVID-19 is now in the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, with 2 deaths now in Italy. Normally I'm a big proponent of Live Your Life, but this strikes me as possibly becoming a big huge fucking deal. I would like to know what you all think.
Yes, we booked a trip to Paris, leaving the first week of April. We're also going to London for a couple of days. I'm still planning the trip as usual but we did get the travel insurance so we can cancel if needed. I think it will be fine but will reassess if needed.
I just got back from Spain and have a trip to Vietnam planned for May. I plan on keeping the plans, but if things get worse, I won’t worry about canceling Vietnam.
I just got back from Spain and have a trip to Vietnam planned for May. I plan on keeping the plans, but if things get worse, I won’t worry about canceling Vietnam.
You don't care about losing money? My rough googling of the subject seems to indicate that travel insurance will only possibly help in cases of you actually getting sick (aside from airlines cancelling itineraries or travel bans).
I just got back from Spain and have a trip to Vietnam planned for May. I plan on keeping the plans, but if things get worse, I won’t worry about canceling Vietnam.
You don't care about losing money? My rough googling of the subject seems to indicate that travel insurance will only possibly help in cases of you actually getting sick (aside from airlines cancelling itineraries or travel bans).
I'm only out $700 for the plane ticket so no, I don't care about losing the money. I won't book accommodations until closer to the date and the places my friend and I are looking at staying at are like $10/night.
I have Middle East planned for summer, but it's a direct flight and zero risk so I'm not worried about that one either.
We are cancelling our April trip to London and Paris. We’ll be able to get all our money from Airbnb back, and a credit from Air France. My husband was diagnosed with a serious heart issue after we booked our Airbnbs - so we are covered by their policy, and it’s also the reason we’re being extra cautious. Plus, I don’t want to be quarantined with my kids for 14 days lol
The only thing that would be a concern is if my work implements a mandatory quarantine for Indonesia like they have one right now for travel to china. I'd probably opt to work from home, but 4 weeks out of the office (2 for vacation, 2 for quarantine) would be rough. I work at a cancer center, so the quarantine makes sense. If I can't work from home, I get paid time off without using sick or vacation time.
Travel insurance rules are specific to the plan. We cancelled a trip to Switzerland 24 hrs before we were due to leave. We paid for coverage which included "cancel or reschedule at any time for any reason". Another time we paid for coverage that would cover cancelling or rescheduling in the event of illness or natural disaster. We were headed to FL and DS vomited a few hours before our departure. We delayed our trip by 2 days. I think going forward we will alleyways pay for the "cancel or reschedule at any time for any reason" coverage. Having tapped into coverage twice, it's worth it to us. (ETA: For Switzerland we just had to call and ask to cancel. We didn't have to provide a thing. It was so easy. For our FL trip we "had" to take DS to a doctor within 24 hrs and submit a signed medical form stating we were advised not to fly.)
OP- We actually had plans to finally schedule our next big trip. (Our elderly dog recently passed away, and we knew we would book something ASAP once he was gone.) Asia was on the list, and was a strong possibility. DS is immunocompromised so we are going to hold off on air travel for a good long while. We want to see what's going to happen with Covid-19 and wait for cold and flu season to pass.
Post by wanderingback on Feb 22, 2020 21:05:01 GMT -5
No not changing any plans. If I had something booked in China or even S Korea obviously that’d be a different story. But for every other continent I personally wouldn’t change plans and don’t plan on letting it affect my travel unless something new happens.
Travel insurance rules are specific to the plan. We cancelled a trip to Switzerland 24 hrs before we were due to leave. We paid for coverage which included "cancel or reschedule at any time for any reason". Another time we paid for coverage that would cover cancelling or rescheduling in the event of illness or natural disaster. We were headed to FL and DS vomited a few hours before our departure. We delayed our trip by 2 days. I think going forward we will alleyways pay for the "cancel or reschedule at any time for any reason" coverage. Having tapped into coverage twice, it's worth it to us. (ETA: For Switzerland we just had to call and ask to cancel. We didn't have to provide a thing. It was so easy. For our FL trip we "had" to take DS to a doctor within 24 hrs and submit a signed medical form stating we were advised not to fly.)
OP- We actually had plans to finally schedule our next big trip. (Our elderly dog recently passed away, and we knew we would book something ASAP once he was gone.) Asia was on the list, and was a strong possibility. DS is immunocompromised so we are going to hold off on air travel for a good long while. We want to see what's going to happen with Covid-19 and wait for cold and flu season to pass.
I'd love to know what company you used for the Switzerland cancel anytime insurance. I've heard horror stories about trying to claim travel insurance.
Captain Serious We booked through Travelocity both times. We haven't used them for booking travel in a few years. But every time we have used them, there's always insurance options at the tail end of the checkout process. We love booking through travel sites like Travelocity / Expedia / Orbitz if we're not using Hyatt points because insurance covers air/lodging, and it's one quick and easy phone call.
Post by Captain Serious on Feb 22, 2020 21:26:59 GMT -5
I have two trips planned, one domestic in May, and one to Egypt and Israel in November. I'm hoping the worst of this will have run it's course by then or that we'll have a better idea of what it is and how to avoid it, but I do want to make sure everything is refundable if we choose not to go. This is especially true now that Israel is considering denying entry to non-citizens.
Travel insurance rules are specific to the plan. We cancelled a trip to Switzerland 24 hrs before we were due to leave. We paid for coverage which included "cancel or reschedule at any time for any reason". Another time we paid for coverage that would cover cancelling or rescheduling in the event of illness or natural disaster. We were headed to FL and DS vomited a few hours before our departure. We delayed our trip by 2 days. I think going forward we will alleyways pay for the "cancel or reschedule at any time for any reason" coverage. Having tapped into coverage twice, it's worth it to us. (ETA: For Switzerland we just had to call and ask to cancel. We didn't have to provide a thing. It was so easy. For our FL trip we "had" to take DS to a doctor within 24 hrs and submit a signed medical form stating we were advised not to fly.)
OP- We actually had plans to finally schedule our next big trip. (Our elderly dog recently passed away, and we knew we would book something ASAP once he was gone.) Asia was on the list, and was a strong possibility. DS is immunocompromised so we are going to hold off on air travel for a good long while. We want to see what's going to happen with Covid-19 and wait for cold and flu season to pass.
We had a trip planned for China in Sept. That has been canceled, and we are now doing a cruise from Barcelona to Buenos Aires instead. Otherwise, DH’s scuba trip to Fiji in May is going on as planned.
You don't care about losing money? My rough googling of the subject seems to indicate that travel insurance will only possibly help in cases of you actually getting sick (aside from airlines cancelling itineraries or travel bans).
I'm only out $700 for the plane ticket so no, I don't care about losing the money. I won't book accommodations until closer to the date and the places my friend and I are looking at staying at are like $10/night.
I have Middle East planned for summer, but it's a direct flight and zero risk so I'm not worried about that one either.
I live in Korea. You have probably heard that over half of the 480 cases of Covid-19 that have been diagnosed here have been traced back to a particular Christian cult in Daegu. 9 of the members that were diagnosed here this weekend were in Israel last week on a pilgrimage. I would look for some more cases to pop up in Israel in the next 7-14 days.
My information comes directly from the KCDC website.
I guess if you haven't booked anything yet, it can't hurt to hold off. Could you get time off later in the year and just go then instead?
I would not cancel travel i had already paid for.
Sadly i don't have any upcoming trips planned so i haven't really thought about it. We actually were in Europe a month ago so I guess I am glad this didn't come up before that. It is highly unlikely we would have done anything differently anyway.
We’re planning to do London and Paris in May. Tickets are bought, accommodations are paid for (although we do have trip insurance). So as of now, we still plan on going. I don’t feel like it would be any different than traveling to a major US city like NYC or LA as of now. We’re obviously watching it to see how/if it spreads more into Europe, but unless they start saying that travel should be limited to those countries, we’ll still go. This will be a once in a lifetime trip for us (we’ve never had the $ to go before this), so we really hope it works out.
we have a cruise booked from Tianjin china in June that we will be rescheduling (hopefully pushing out to 2021 or cancelling completely). Instead of that trip we are going to Mexico. Other travel remains in place. we are leaving on a cruise in a week (caribbean) and Disney in October.
Post by dutchgirl678 on Feb 22, 2020 23:24:05 GMT -5
We booked a trip to the Netherlands and Iceland this summer and I am not worried about that. But I have a conference in Shanghai in September and we are monitoring the situation there. It may get moved to a different location.
Post by mrsukyankee on Feb 23, 2020 0:14:24 GMT -5
I live in London and I'm not worried about the virus. I travel every single working day on the tube and work with university students and professors who travel all over the place during this time. I wouldn't worry about coming here at all.
I think at this point I’d only hold off/cancel Europe if I had any preexisting health conditions. I’m pregnant, so I’m being extra careful. Like a PP said, more cases in CA now than in Europe (and I live in CA).
I live in London and I'm not worried about the virus. I travel every single working day on the tube and work with university students and professors who travel all over the place during this time. I wouldn't worry about coming here at all.
To me, it's not so much actually being in Berlin and Amsterdam as it is having to go through really busy airports and on planes for hours and hours.
I guess if you haven't booked anything yet, it can't hurt to hold off. Could you get time off later in the year and just go then instead?
I would not cancel travel i had already paid for.
Sadly i don't have any upcoming trips planned so i haven't really thought about it. We actually were in Europe a month ago so I guess I am glad this didn't come up before that. It is highly unlikely we would have done anything differently anyway.
No, unfortunately it took a lot of hard core convincing to get that time at the end of May for DH. He definitely can't take that much at one time for the rest of the year due to the nature of his job this year. I originally wanted to go in Sep or Oct.
Post by dreamcrisp1 on Feb 23, 2020 5:05:51 GMT -5
I live in Amsterdam and we haven’t had any cases here yet. I just practice my usual standards of cleanliness by washing hands and stuff. I’m not worried yet and I have a little baby. We’re going to Portugal in 2 weeks and Malta in a month. Be diligent but not fearful.
I live in Amsterdam and we haven’t had any cases here yet. I just practice my usual standards of cleanliness by washing hands and stuff. I’m not worried yet and I have a little baby. We’re going to Portugal in 2 weeks and Malta in a month. Be diligent but not fearful.
I’m in NL, too, and the recommendations so far are basically the same as what I assume the US is saying - practice good hygiene, no travel to certain areas of China and only necessary travel to other areas, watch for respiratory symptoms. So far we haven’t had any cases, but with the whole country having holiday break last week and this week, I am a bit concerned that will change quickly in the very near future, especially as all of the countries around us have had cases.
That said, I am traveling within Europe this week, so it hasn’t changed my behaviors yet.
I live in Amsterdam and we haven’t had any cases here yet. I just practice my usual standards of cleanliness by washing hands and stuff. I’m not worried yet and I have a little baby. We’re going to Portugal in 2 weeks and Malta in a month. Be diligent but not fearful.
I’m in NL, too, and the recommendations so far are basically the same as what I assume the US is saying - practice good hygiene, no travel to certain areas of China and only necessary travel to other areas, watch for respiratory symptoms. So far we haven’t had any cases, but with the whole country having holiday break last week and this week, I am a bit concerned that will change quickly in the very near future, especially as all of the countries around us have had cases.
That said, I am traveling within Europe this week, so it hasn’t changed my behaviors yet.
That and the standard of paracetamol and tea (ha!) means probably some cases that they may not even know about yet. I do worry being surrounded by cases when I look at the map because I have a 5.5 MO baby but hopefully it will be all good. We also haven’t changed behaviours as yet!