Travel Changes?

[sayhello]

We are doing the Tauck Bridges Siene river cruise in early July. PIF is in a month. I am going to pay it off, airfare is already purchased. Not planning on canceling now. I truly believe that coronavirus is basically unstoppable and that at some point this year will be broadly in the community. I guess I just won't stop living my life over it, unless France shuts down for business like China did.

I saw on our elevator that tourism in France is down like 40%. I think a lot of that decline is from people from Asia who are choosing not to travel, but flights to and from Europe seem to be less than packed as well.

I have to ask. On your elevator?

Sayhello

 

[laceltris3]

I have to ask. On your elevator?

Sayhello

Sorry. Our elevators at the high rise where I work has little news clips for entertainment and one yesterday was about the decline in tourism in France.

 

[Calfan]

We are booked on a Japan trip with Thomson for June 16-July 1 (the first few nights on our own at TDR) and, at this point, we have every intention of going. Our PIF date is not until March 22, so I will continue to monitor the situation, but our thinking is similar to others: we aren't in one of the groups most vulnerable to coronavirus (elderly and those with compromised immune systems), and I'm still hoping the virus will begin to peter out in the months between now and our trip. It would definitely be a huge bummer if we got caught up in a quarantine, but at least if that were to happen my kids won't be missing school, since it is a summer trip. (They will be almost 16 and 18 at the time of travel, so not little ones.) Our hotel nights are all refundable at this point, and I could probably get our miles reinstated on Qantas (we used those for JAL flights). We've got flights in first and business on JAL that I worked hard to get, so it would hurt a little to let those go (but I would definitely do so if things deteriorate materially in Japan). The flights are non-stops between the U.S. and Japan so no other Asian country layovers. Bottom line is that it is DD's 18th bday trip that we all are really excited about, and while the newness of coronavirus is scary, as others have pointed out, the common flu is a much larger killer statistically at this point. (I will admit it has occurred to me that we might catch Japan with much lower crowds than typical in summer due to folks cancelling travel plans, which could be a huge plus.) In case Thomson decides to cancel on their end, I have been taking note of some possible alternatives for a family trip this summer and would likely pick a U.S. or Canada national parks trip.

 

[Magnum_PI]

Sorry. Our elevators at the high rise where I work has little news clips for entertainment and one yesterday was about the decline in tourism in France.

Mine does this as well, and I have been guilty of "reading about [x] in the elevator" more than once lol.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We're heading to London on Monday. We go 4-6 times a year, and I don't have any plans to change things at this point. I will be wearing a mask on the plane and bringing Clorox wipes everywhere. My biggest fear is some random quarantine issue. Wish me luck!

 

[Magnum_PI]

We're heading to London on Monday. We go 4-6 times a year, and I don't have any plans to change things at this point. I will be wearing a mask on the plane and bringing Clorox wipes everywhere. My biggest fear is some random quarantine issue. Wish me luck!

I just got back to the US from London 13 days ago. No covid19/illness yet (knock on wood!), and I am "immunocompromised" due to some medicines I take! I'm sure you'll be fine, enjoy your trip!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I just got back to the US from London 13 days ago. No covid19/illness yet (knock on wood!), and I am "immunocompromised" due to some medicines I take! I'm sure you'll be fine, enjoy your trip!

Thanks so much! We love it there. It feels as if this thing is about to explode, but hopefully we won't get caught up in it. I just read this: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51643621 Yikes!

 

[Magnum_PI]

@CaliforniaGirl09 I know what you mean about feeling like it's about to explode. Especially as I was reading the CDC is saying that an outbreak in the US is inevitable, and we're better off preparing for it to interrupt our lives now. That said, if it's coming, may as well continue living and enjoy the travel. Maybe I'm being too cavalier, but if it's coming anyway I'm not sure that staying home is really going to protect us if we're all still going to go to work/school, doing domestic travel, using public transport, etc. Again, enjoy and try not to worry!

 

[sayhello]

@CaliforniaGirl09 I know what you mean about feeling like it's about to explode. Especially as I was reading the CDC is saying that an outbreak in the US is inevitable, and we're better off preparing for it to interrupt our lives now. That said, if it's coming, may as well continue living and enjoy the travel. Maybe I'm being too cavalier, but if it's coming anyway I'm not sure that staying home is really going to protect us if we're all still going to go to work/school, doing domestic travel, using public transport, etc. Again, enjoy and try not to worry!

I totally agree with you! I'm really not sure what they expect us to do to prepare, anyways.

Sayhello

 

[Magnum_PI]

I totally agree with you! I'm really not sure what they expect us to do to prepare, anyways.

Sayhello

I think they're just letting people know "hey, if it starts spreading here, you're probably going to see things like large events being cancelled, you might need to make arrangements to telework for a while, think about what might happen if public transport isn't available to you for a while, ask your kids' school what the plan is if they're asked to close, etc." so that people aren't surprised if/when these measures need to be implemented here. The reporting on it sounds pretty dramatic, but the actual verbiage from the CDC is more like "FYI, these things might happen - don't be surprised by them if we end up needing to implement these things".

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Ugh. The Rhine region of Germany isn't looking great right now and I'm really nervous about our ABD Rhine cruise this summer now. We also have trips planned to Mexico in a few weeks (I think we'll stick to that - I'm just mostly nervous about being on the flights right now, but maybe I'm overreacting) and I'm supposed to do the Cali ABD this summer. Our Rhine ABD deposit is non-refundable at this point and, while my Cali ABD is refundable until Monday, I kind of feel like rolling the dice on it. Guess I'll wait it out and won't purchase flights for any of these trips right now. Worst case scenario, I move the ABD deposits to something next year. I could also reschedule Mexico without a huge financial loss. Such a bummer

 

[aggiedog]

Either the virus will die down in the warmer months, like the flu, or by that time it will be everywhere anyways. No way to really close borders truly for this.

I think I'd be more worried about traveling in the near future, when mass quarantines are still a possiblity.

 

[morgan98]

Either the virus will die down in the warmer months, like the flu, or by that time it will be everywhere anyways. No way to really close borders truly for this.

I think I'd be more worried about traveling in the near future, when mass quarantines are still a possibility.

Like I have said upthread we are faced with traveling soon. My husband is boarding a flight to Milan in a few hours. Anyway, I think it is already pretty much everywhere already. The reason Italy is finding so many cases is they have actually tested over 9,000 people, many of which have no symptoms but may have come into contact with a high risk person. Other countries are not testing that broadly at all. And you know how Europe is - the borders are open and the South of France, for example, is much closer to the cases in Lombardy, than Southern Italy is. So, I have an idea there are cases out there, that look like flu and people are not being tested. It is winter and coughs, sniffles and fevers are everywhere. I myself had a bad case of flu three weeks ago - including temperature of over 103 degrees for a period and I had some shortness of breath/difficulty breathing deeply. I had not been to China, but I got home from a trip to California not even a day before it hit me suddenly and hard. Did I have Cornoavirus? Who knows who I came into contact with.

I just think we cannot randomly quarantine every place that has a case or even in some cases a suspected case. We are at some point going to have to weigh the risk of the virus spreading vs. shutting everything down and causing the world's economy to collapse. I am not saying money is more important than life, AT ALL. But I am the potential of putting millions on lockdown is somewhat crazy too - at least in my opinion.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

@CaliforniaGirl09 I know what you mean about feeling like it's about to explode. Especially as I was reading the CDC is saying that an outbreak in the US is inevitable, and we're better off preparing for it to interrupt our lives now. That said, if it's coming, may as well continue living and enjoy the travel. Maybe I'm being too cavalier, but if it's coming anyway I'm not sure that staying home is really going to protect us if we're all still going to go to work/school, doing domestic travel, using public transport, etc. Again, enjoy and try not to worry!

Thanks! I'm with you

 

[neurosx1983]

I'm a physician and I probably shouldn't be falling into the trap of the hype in the news, but for some reason now that news of the outbreak is front and center all over the place is starting to make me a bit concerned. Especially because of the quarantine risk.

The fact that Europe is becoming the focus of this also is more striking, as we are going there in a couple of weeks.

Question for you guys though: Would the fact that ABD is NOT cancelling a trip (so far) make you more comfortable traveling to a country with the virus? For instance the ABD italy trip is still on track for a couple of weeks from now. And of course our london/paris trip.

 

[sayhello]

I'm a physician and I probably shouldn't be falling into the trap of the hype in the news, but for some reason now that news of the outbreak is front and center all over the place is starting to make me a bit concerned. Especially because of the quarantine risk.

The fact that Europe is becoming the focus of this also is more striking, as we are going there in a couple of weeks.

Question for you guys though: Would the fact that ABD is NOT cancelling a trip (so far) make you more comfortable traveling to a country with the virus? For instance the ABD italy trip is still on track for a couple of weeks from now. And of course our london/paris trip.

ABD would not be going if they thought there was any sort of serious threat to their guests. *However* if you should get quarantined for any reason, ABD will likely not be able to help you get out.

Sayhello

 

[lovetotravel]

I'm a physician and I probably shouldn't be falling into the trap of the hype in the news, but for some reason now that news of the outbreak is front and center all over the place is starting to make me a bit concerned. Especially because of the quarantine risk.

The fact that Europe is becoming the focus of this also is more striking, as we are going there in a couple of weeks.

Question for you guys though: Would the fact that ABD is NOT cancelling a trip (so far) make you more comfortable traveling to a country with the virus? For instance the ABD italy trip is still on track for a couple of weeks from now. And of course our london/paris trip.

Your concern is valid!

If there’s one company I am comfortable in traveling with, it’s ABD. We cancelled our ABD Asia trip because we could do it without significant loss and did it before our PIF, not to mention it included stopovers in China, Japan, and Korea. It would have been a nightmare to go home to get flight that did not go through these countries. China and Korea are level 3 - do not travel. If it was after PIF, we would have waited for ABD to cancel as I trust them not to go if there was a severe travel alert 3 and know they would refund or reschedule our trip and flights. Italy is a level 2, so I guess ABD will wait until it’s a 3 to cancel? But it could turn to a 3 in days while a trip is there and then what?

 

[lovetotravel]

Just saw that Delta is offering refunds/exchanges for northern Italy travel including Venice until March 15. Possibly because it’s a level 2? If ABD ends in Venice, looks like you can change your flights with Delta without penalty.

 

[Grifdog22]

Your concern is valid!

If there’s one company I am comfortable in traveling with, it’s ABD. We cancelled our ABD Asia trip because we could do it without significant loss and did it before our PIF, not to mention it included stopovers in China, Japan, and Korea. It would have been a nightmare to go home to get flight that did not go through these countries. China and Korea are level 3 - do not travel. If it was after PIF, we would have waited for ABD to cancel as I trust them not to go if there was a severe travel alert 3 and know they would refund or reschedule our trip and flights. Italy is a level 2, so I guess ABD will wait until it’s a 3 to cancel? But it could turn to a 3 in days while a trip is there and then what?

I agree. By profession I am a litigation defense attorney so I over analyze and evaluate risks and possible outcomes of all parameters. I'm still going to France in early May, with OYO before and after, but only because the travel is with ABD. It sounds corny, but I absolutely trust the Disney brand.

 

[lovetotravel]

I agree. By profession I am a litigation defense attorney so I over analyze and evaluate risks and possible outcomes of all parameters. I'm still going to France in early May, with OYO before and after, but only because the travel is with ABD. It sounds corny, but I absolutely trust the Disney brand.

We have an ABD Costa Rica early summer that’s past PIF and we intend to go unless cancelled by ABD.