Had no intention of postponing our trip but alot has changed in the last 3 days. Canadian government advisory to not travel and warning travelers to get home as soon as possible or risk not being able to get home. Sad but out of our control. Going to try to rebook for November!
Given the host, fluidity and variety of respective travel advisories, reduced and/or suspended commercial flights, mandatory 14-day quarantining for passengers who have travelled internationally, closing borders, unknowns, bare grocery store shelves, mandatory working from home, closures of schools, daycares, public spaces, businesses, layoffs/furloughs, events and venues, hoarding, long lineups, pressure on healthcare systems/resources, and prudent preparation (and some panic behaviours) we're seeing, it's surprising and revealing in how folks can still be thinking of going away on vacation and travelling internationally now and in the near future. Isn't it time for prudent prioritization, risk management and avoidance with clearer, practical and critical thinking? Doesn't it make sense to look at the bigger picture... even though most of it is still unknown and evolving. Enjoy the low fuel prices at the pump, but realize there are not enough ventilators to help critical people survive. Let's each do our part to curtail the spread, and be kind to one another. This will pass and there will be much time for vacation in due course.
Here's an excellent visual learning tool explaining/demonstrating this in a math/science based manner. While watching this I couldn't help transpose the models shown as being people in the Sexy Pool. https://www.washingtonpost.com/grap...GbTdQtDRzUgWlnahARimcXmDTLXSkyZrJK0ZMttCVSyTc
I have kind of changed my tune about this. Clearly we don't want hospitals to be overwhelmed with patients leading to unneccesary deaths. So not being in large crowds seems smart and appropriate. That being said we're not going to cancel yet because there seems no point since our trip isn't until Memorial Day weekend. Who knows what the situation will be at that point? Hopefully better but if not then we will probable have no choice. I hope everyone is safe and stays that way! Good luck to all!
We are booked from May 2nd to 9th still a little ways away. Hoping things die down by then as of right now United is only waiving change fees up until April 30th. I’m sure if this gets worse they will extend it. Still playing it by ear. If it’s bad still I will postpone my trip. I really don’t want my first trip to TTR to be at the resort when they’re running at low capacity.
My preceding post (the one with the amateur statistics in it) notwithstanding, I agree with this, too. We first thought that The Donald was putting in place a complete travel ban a couple days after we got back from TTR on 03/09/2020, but no... it was a bit different than that. Which was good, as it would have meant that a few of our TTR friends would have been stuck in Mexico. Granted, there are worse places to be "stuck" than TTR, but still. The liver deserves a break from that place every few days, I think. We're booked on the 2020 Greek Islands cruise... and if they (Greek Guvmint) isn't letting people "in" then how is that going to go down? I just read my cancellation/refund policy for the cruise, and sure enough, there was a no refund/cancellation policy in place (it was already there, there wasn't any gamesmanship) for March 1, 2020 - No refunds after this date (which happened to coincide witht he due date for the final payment). Obviously, they'd not considered the possibility of a global pandemic (justified or not, it IS effecting all sorts of things as noted above). So, I emailed them to ask, specifically, what adjustments to the cancellation/refund policy there will be.... now. I don't want to cancel, as it seemed like the trip would have been fantastic (we were going to spend 3 nights in Amsterdam and one in London as well as the week going around the Greek Islands), but hey... I don't want to get stuck, either. We were at a bar in Houston last night, literally, and the bartender who works the corner upstairs bar where we usually hang out had just got home, his 40th b-day trip cut short because he did 3 days in Amsterdam and was going to Greece... and when he got to the border (he found out earlier but it's better for the story, visually) he got turned away. No outside traffic into Greece. Effectively, he lost about $10K, because the short-notice flight back from Europe was Not cheap, and he lost out on the pre-paid vacation. Ouch! So, I was talking to the other husband-budedies int he group last night and we decided that 2020 is definitely going to the the Summer for the TTR/DRM style house/pool parties. And... that's just fine. I could post example pictures from our good times last year, but Steve would get mad at me ... so use your imagination. I suppose I could jump over to CCS and drop an album... work-work-work...
Vacation is about fun and relaxation. Temptation is about the people and the party. Why would anyone want to travel now to a resort that will be less than 50% full? Always having on your mind about a virus. Worry about being quarantined. Concerned about catching something that probably won’t kill you but will not be pleasant. This is real. Postpone your vacation to a time that will be worry free in our happy place. If someone from Florida does go, please bring me back some toilet paper.
Ugggggh. This is starting to get real. Shutting down the beaches in Miami and Ft lauderdale now. I’m sure we’ll follow suit here on the west coast too. 5 weeks to go. Hopeful but not overly optimistic now.
This really speaks to us, so thanks for sharing @MandEOntario. I agree it's up to each of us to do our part to help reduce the spread, even if that means delaying a vacation. Plus, I'm not sure we want to be there in mid-April if the Bash parties at night have very few people there.
