Let's Revisit the Travel That Didn't Happen

[wise_rita]

I might be jumping the gun here on post-Covid trauma recovery (knock on wood!) but I don't think we've ever fully covered what we had planned for travel, but didn't because of the pandemic.

What did you have planned, booked especially, that didn't happen?  Where you able to make it up in the two years since?

ETA: Did you lose money on cancellations?  Have a hell of a time fighting to get cash back or travel credit?  Still sitting on travel credit to use?

[wise_rita]

We were meant to go on a babymoon to Singapore to visit friends in late April 2020, and H and said friends were going to add Phuket onto that trip.

Said baby is now approaching 2 and we never did make it to SE Asia, as we moved out of Oceania to Europe in no small part because of Covid travel restrictions. The only thing we lost money on was some travel insurance policies, and though it wasn't a ton of money I'm still pissed they could get away with keeping premiums for trips that were physically impossible to take, while providing nothing.

2020 was meant to be THE year for my poor H. He had a bachelor party in Edinburgh to attend and a visit to his parents in Europe. The parents now live right down the road, so no tears there, but that bachelor party would've been amazing. Hopefully the dudes can reconvene around one of their upcoming 40th birthdays to make up for lost time, albeit with a lot more baggage (wives, babies) acquired during the pandemic!

[wildrice]

We got super lucky and our big 2020 trip was to England/Italy in January 2020. So we got back to the US before things got crazy. I was able to cancel my hotel and get a flight credit for the conference in Denver I had been planning on, and got a refund for the hotel in Philly that we had booked for April 2020 to attend a specific event.

We had been planning to go to Jamaica to a resort with my parents in November 2020, but were able to reschedule for November 2021. We also were supposed to go to Cancun with my parents, sisters, and their family in May 2021, but ended up instead rescheduling for Thanksgiving 2021 since not everyone was slated to be vaccinated in time for the May trip. Since we didn't want to go to Jamaica with my parents and then turn around and do a similar trip in Cancun 2 weeks later, we cancelled Jamaica entirely. It was just a resort reservation with no deposit, so there was nothing to refund. I am not sure if/when we will reschedule. We're talking about going to Turkey in spring 2023 with them instead

More than anything, we pushed back planning any other big trips for just my H and I. We did go to the Outer Banks last summer, but that was really only because it was drivable and we could make it very COVID friendly if we had to. We probably would have picked something more appealing to us if not for the COVID uncertainty.

We are going to Croatia next month. This was not a reschedule but it's definitely a "we've waited long enough and are ready to start traveling again" trip.

[dcrunnergirl52]

We had Japan and Thailand planned and booked for June 2020, obviously cancelled. We got all our money back. We are now hoping to go June 2023.

We had a cruise booked for January 2021. That was cancelled, and we got money back plus an extra future cruise credit.

We had Costa Rica planned and booked for January 2022 (so just a few months ago) but then cancelled when we decided not to go overseas yet. We then rebooked to go to California/Disneyland in January 2022. Cancelled that b/c of omicron. And, we all ended up with covid the week we were due to travel anyway. We ended up with flight credits and Disneyland tickets to still use.

We had Portugal booked for spring break 2022. After we got covid in January, we pivoted and cancelled that (thinking omicron was going to continue to be an issue) and booked a Disney cruise for February when we were all recovered and could travel without testing. Cruise was amazing. We ended up with flight credits that we used for the cruise.

We're now booked for Disneyland in June 2022 to use our tickets and leftover flight credits. We also have Italy booked for August 2022. I'm tempering my expectations based on past experience that any or all of this may need to be cancelled.

[wanderingback]

Me and my partner aren’t ones to plan trips many many months in advance, so we didn’t have any set plans for 2020. But I knew I was going to be in between jobs the summer of 2020 and planned to take about 8 weeks off so I had thought we had would do something then, but nothing was booked and we obviously didn’t go anywhere.

Since then last summer I did do a solo trip to Alaska and a couple of months ago we went to the Caribbean to spend time with my partner’s family to settle his mum’s estate, so it’s wasn’t a true vacation, but that’s all we’ve done since 2019 that involved flying.

I’m now pregnant and don’t feel comfortable doing airport/plane travel due to covid risk so it seems like our big travel days with multiple international trips per year are over for at least the next few years. Obviously never would’ve imagined that thinking back to 2019!

[mrsGreeko]

We had a trip to Japan booked for May/June 2020. Obviously didn’t happen. Got all money/miles back

The optimist that I am, rebooked the same trip with a couple tweaks to make it better for May/June 2021. Still didn’t happen. Got all money/miles back.

Because I’m an extreme optimist I rebooked the same trip with a couple more tweaks to make it even better for May/June 2022. I just cancelled again a few weeks ago. Japan seems intent to not open their borders any time soon or maybe ever. Got all money/miles back.

The real question is do I book it again for next May/June? I don’t think we will. I think I’m soured on going to Japan in the near future. So now I have to decide where to go with those miles next year. I have to watch and see which borders are reliably staying open because I am over the disappointment.

Otherwise we had a trip to New Orleans planned for late May 2021 that had to be cancelled the day before we left for non-covid reasons (one of my kids was hospitalized in a mental health hospital). I got all of my money/miles back except the riverboat cruise wouldn’t give me my money back so I was out $300. The VRBO owner offered me a kindness and gave me back 50% and my credit card travel insurance covered the other 50%.

We had a trip to Italy planned for March 2022 that we ultimately cancelled in January because their covid restrictions were too extreme for us to deal with. Got all money/miles back. Rebooked to Portugal where we went instead and had a lovely trip.

We did, however, go to Yellowstone for a week in July 2020, Disneyworld in January 2021, Maui in December 2021, and the Portugal March 2022. And hopefully Bahamas May 2022 (DH won a work trip), and Belize in August 2022. Then somewhere big in 2023. I’m eyeing Australia, Thailand, Brazil, Ecuador/Galapagos, Peru, Egypt/Jordan as possibilities, but depends on where I can get 5 miles tickets with my miles.

ETA: we also had a quick cruise off the CA coast booked for July 2020 because all three of our kids were going to be at overnight camp for the first and last time. Obviously cancelled. I did not get our $150 deposit back which really pissed me off. So I’m unlikely to book a cruise ever again in the near future.

[lust2hart]

Oh man. We had so much planned for 2020. We were married in 2005 and instead of one big 15th anniversary trip, we were planning to do shorter trips every other month or so. We did get to Mexico for a week in February. Luckily didn't have anything else officially booked, but were planning: a PNW trip with DH's family to celebrate his mom's 70th birthday; a roadtrip to SC for a cousin's wedding, to include stops in Nashville on the way out and possibly Huntsville, AL on the way back; a roadtrip to CO for another cousin's wedding; and long weekends to places within a 4-6 hour drive.

The cousins went through with their weddings and we did not attend, so can't make those up. Maybe we'll try for a 75th birthday trip for MIL. We haven't done any of the long weekends we'd been planning. But we did recently book flights to go to Spain and Portugal for 2 weeks in September. Our original plan was to do Germany/Oktoberfest in 2021, then that got changed to 2022, and then THAT got changed when we learned that DH's cousin is stationed in Spain for a couple of years - we decided to change things up and do Spain and Portugal this year and our next Europe trip will be Germany.

[Vespasia]

Our big trip cancellation was Italy in July of 2020 with my family for two milestone birthdays. We delayed it to 2021 and then 2022. My dad eventually decided that he isn't up to traveling that far anymore (he's in his 80s) so we cancelled for the final time and now we're all going to the Finger Lakes this June. We didn't lose any money on it ourselves but he did lose the deposit on the villa we were renting. 

We also had to cancel a trip to Belgium in February 2021 for the Cyclocross World Championships but were able to go this year in Arkansas. 

Finally, we were supposed to go to Guadeloupe in February of this year but cancelled it in late fall due to a lot of vaccine mandate related unrest. In the end, Air France cancelled the flights we would have been on anyway so I don't think we could have gone even if we had wanted to. We're trying to decide whether to try again next winter. We absolutely love Guadeloupe but limited flights make it a real pain to get to. We have a fair number of Air France points that could be used for this or somewhere in Europe for 2023. We're already booked for the Netherlands this fall. 

In general, everything was booked with points or fully refundable so we didn't lose any money. 

[dutchgirl678]

We had a trip to the Netherlands and Iceland planned for summer 2020. It took months to get a refund from Iceland Air and only after I found some email to a local authority that basically forced them to deal with us. Then in December 2021 we were scheduled to go to the Netherlands again to see family and celebrate the holidays. Booked in August since the situation looked good then but in December it was really bad again. Delta gave us a quick travel voucher but we lost the upgrade to Comfort + money. We had also booked a vacation home in the Netherlands in a Landal park. They were more than happy to cancel it for us, but didn't tell us we would lose all our money. Finally we were able to move it to June 2022. We are now scheduled to go to the Netherlands end of June but we ended up canceling the Landal home (but lost $150, not the whole amount). We decided this summer to go for three weeks and to spend one week in Crete with my parents. I hope all will be well.

[pandorica]

We had a trip to Puerto Rico planned for May 2020. We thankfully got all of our money back, except one flight was a travel credit. We didn't try to book any flight travel for a long time after that, since we have a kid who still can't be vaccinated and for a while was too young to wear a mask. We finally used the travel credit for a quick, kid free trip to FL just before it was going to expire.

We haven't tried to rebook this trip, and likely won't, at least for a long time. We wanted an easy first plane trip for DD, but now I'm pregnant and don't want to risk flying and then won't want to take the babies anywhere for a while. Super bummed we missed our travel window, since we didn't do much for 2019 either because DD was so young and difficult.

[mrsd2006]

We had a trip to Italy planned and a Viking river cruise to France, both for 2020.

Italy was through Delta Vacations, and they just gave us a credit and we finally rebooked and are leaving April 30 for 10 days. We also had one hotel booked outside of Delta, which was non refundable. They gave us a credit, and had been rolling it over. It was $1000 so it would have hurt to lose that.

Viking offered a refund, or a credit of 125% of the original cost, and gave 24 months to book a cruise. We took the credit and have to book a cruise before the end of June.

So we really didn't lose any money, but the trip to Italy is costing a lot more- mostly due to the increase in cost of flights. And the travel insurance we purchased for the first time ever lol.

[fernweh]

We had a trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Loas booked for May 2020. We were unable to get a refund and are sitting on a credit of about 90% of the original cost.

Vietnam has been delaying reopening to tourism - they were supposed to reopen last month but I haven’t confirmed that they have. The agency we booked everything with has extended our credit 3 times (originally supposed to expire after a year). If they are truly reopened we are planning to go in October this year.

[fernweh]

We also had a cruise booked put only had a deposit on it. They offered to double our deposit amount but we ended up just getting a refund for that because I don’t think I will feel comfortable cruising for awhile - at least until Covid is truly endemic.

[escrow]

Oh my goodness, insert laugh/sob gif. I was supposed to fly to Spain to visit one of my bffs who lives there on March 13, 2020. This was right as shit hit the fan, and I went back and forth no less than 10x that day on whether to just go and hope for the best or bail on the plans. My friend was like "hey if you get stuck here you can just hang out with me lol" oh my goodness. Obviously I decided to cancel the trip and that evening all flights incoming from Europe were halted. Luckily the airline has extended my credit to use by Nov of this year but of course all the fares are like twice as much. I need to get out there though, I miss my friend and we are getting freaking old.

Oh yes, there is more. I had tickets to see my favorite band get inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. SO much energy went into even getting tickets to this and I had grand plans to meet with many awesome friends. That was supposed to be May 2020, then it got postponed to Nov 2020 then eventually flat out canceled in favor of a virtual ceremony. AHHHHHHHHH I am still so damn sad about this. 

alleinesein haha

[pumpkin]

I was finally feeling better after some ongoing health issues and was ready to travel again. I had plans to join my BFF and her family at Disneyland for Spring Break in April 2020.

Then a friend of mine and I were booked for an African Safari in June/July 2020 (a bucket list item for me). And I was supposed to join another friend at her timeshare in Mexico in November 2020.

I had been looking forward to all those plans and the ones in the works but not yet booked. Someday!

[Pibs]

Ugh. We just booked 3 trips in the past 2 days and I'm exhausted thinking about it all despite being excited AF.

We had planned a trip to Italy with my brother and SIL that was literally scheduled for when they went into lockdown at the very beginning of COVID. We had to dispute our airline tickets with our credit card company but did get our money back. We were able to get money back for everything except for a hotel in Venice that we'd booked as non-refundable. We had trip insurance but didn't end up using it because the hotel was like $300 total and we felt super shitty taking money away from them with tourism struggling so hard. They were also generous with the timeline for rescheduling because I work in healthcare, though we weren't able to go in that timeframe because of COVID.

We've made a couple trips home and had family come out here, so family visits have been able to happen without too much trouble.

We booked a trip to Georgia (the country) for next month but due to Russian being dickheads, we're having to reschedule that for next year. Husband promised if Georgia got cancelled we could go back home for my other brother and SIL's Eurovision party, so we're doing that in May. We're also scrambling to crash brother and SIL's Rome portion of a trip they scheduled (different itinerary so we can still do our original one some day) that previously overlapped with our Georgia trip in May/June. And we're also throwing in a trip back home again for my cousin's wedding by way of St. Louis to visit husband's family in early June.

[wise_rita]

Pibs where is said Eurovision party being held? That sounds AWESOME!

[keweenawlove]

I had a Kenya/Uganda trip priced out with flights and tour packages picked out for April 2020. It was going to be a safari through the Masai Mara and then gorilla trekking in Uganda. It didn't happen for a variety of reasons and now because of life it's going to be awhile before we can do it.

[buckeyegirl]

I had a trip to Denver canceled in March 2020 and a Spring Break cruise to the Caribbean cancelled for April 2020. We had a couples trip planned to Isla Mujeres for June 2020 that was canceled. We had a 15 day San Francisco to San Diego road trip canceled for July 2020. All of these trips were canceled and we received refunds for everything except for our tickets to Disneyland. None of these trips have been rescheduled. The DL tickets don't expire so they'll get used eventually.

[Pibs]

Apr 27, 2022 2:28:14 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

Pibs where is said Eurovision party being held? That sounds AWESOME!

Iowa! It's really an excuse to go see my nephew & niece (small toddling humans) who won't be at the wedding the following month, but the Eurovision party she's throwing is the icing on the cake.

[majesty318]

Mainly, Machu Picchu which my friend and I had been trying to make happen for years. We finally had it set for May 2020, and I still remember having brunch shortly before the world came to a stop and thinking that OF COURSE this would all be resolved by May! We have yet to rebook as she now has a new job and I have a toddler.

Cartagena, Colombia for a wedding September 2020. They postponed to May 2021 and we went, but the city still had quarantine rules in effect. Add to that traveling with a baby, my parents, and it being 100 degrees the whole time - not my favorite.

Spain for a wedding, October 2020. They decided to have a baby instead of getting married. Just used our hotel credit for our Madrid trip earlier this month.

[jamaicam]

Uk for summer 2020. We were able to get our money back for flights and otherwise we hadnt booked anything. We are now going this summer, no matter what haha. We are going for 6 weeks (will include 10 days in Spain and probably 3 days in the Channel Islands), I figure that even if we have to quarantine, 6 weeks will still give us time to enjoy ourselves. I havent seen my neice and nephew or my grand mother since Christmas 2017 so I really need to go.

[mrsukyankee]

We booked a trip back to the States in the summer of 2021 - were meant to go to Zion National Park with my dad, SM, brother, SIL and their kids. Followed by Albuquerque. AirBnB did not refund all of our funds as we booked in 2020 during Covid (damn thinking it'd be all over) but our airlines did.

We didn't book anything else but were planning on going to the Canary Islands in the autumn of 2020, then 2021 and have now booked it for this autumn. We have also booked going back to the States but we're sticking with staying with family only in NM & PA (side trip to the Finger Lakes). Finally seeing my mom after 3 years.

[erbear]

We are on round 3 of a London and Paris trip from 2020. I hope we can go in June. We bailed on a March 2020 Anguilla trip that we don’t have plans to replicate.

[dreamcrisp1]

We moved to Europe in august 2018 for 2 reasons: 1) mba and 2) travel. MBA finished in august 2019 and we were meant to do a bunch of travelling afterwards. We got back from Portugal on March 11, 2020. Everything shut down here on March 15, 2020.

We were supposed to go to Malta in April 2020 but were able to reschedule for end of July 2020. It was a lull between things and everything was ok before it went crazy. My H was supposed to go to Canada for a wedding in May 2020 and that was cancelled. My goal was 30 countries by 30 and we were going to do Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland in September 2020. Of course, cancelled. I was supposed to go to Canada for a wedding in October 2020 and it was cancelled. She finally got married in October 2021 and I made it to the wedding.

We had stopped planning travel until things started to seem better. I’m still super cautious because we have now 2 little kids but we needed a holiday and we need to take our kids to Canada. My toddler hasn’t been and hasn’t seen family since he was 3 months old and he’s 2.5. 😭

we’re in Spain right now on holiday.

[brooke77]

Our big 2020 trip was Bali in July. Didn’t happen and we are hoping to go in 2024. It’s tough because we are moving this summer and again end of 2023/early 2024. (To an apartment while our new home is being built and then to our, hopefully, forever home.). Once we get all settled, we can hopefully plan our big trip 😀

[osumelissa]

We hadn't booked anything for 2020, luckily, when things shut down in March 2020. We were really close to booking flights to Copenhagen, but hadn't done it yet, so that was good.

Being optimists we did book a trip to Miami for Labor Day weekend 2020, but cancelled that. It had been booked using airline credit, so my boyfriend got that back.

We just returned from a three week trip to Italy - partly to make up for lost travel time and partly because we both turn 40 in 2022. We decided to start celebrating early