Travel poll

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Some hotels want me to pay 100% when I book, what is that? Nope, makes me think they are in financial distress and might not be there for the trip.

Generally it's not too difficult to find rates that are fully refundable. Most I've seen are cancellation notice 24 hours in advance, some are 48 or 72 hours. We've actually encountered a few that were fully refundable a few hours before the time of day we booked it (like for instance 4 hours before 6pm if we booked at 6pm on whatever date).

Typically speaking we book these rates often they are slightly higher in price but if you're kinda in doubt or just want that extra protection I'd look for that if possible.

On our February Utah trip we booked a hotel that did need all the money up front, but it's not a chain hotel, it's the only hotel location and it was in the mountains. I think you'd be more likely to find 100% up front pay in situations like that. For them it's often about the inability to book someone else a room thus losing money on that. That's just a business thing not a financial distress thing. But a Hilton? Different story. And on that note a Hilton (or any other brand) does not denote security in the location being there. Many of these are franchise locations which may have different management competency but with an over-reaching booking policy denoting the terms of payment.

 

[slo]

I voted that our travel habits are unchanged.

COVID honestly never changed anything for me. I never stopped working since I was considered an essential worker. DD20 didn’t have HS that year, but travel ball went on as normal, so we still traveled and stayed in hotels. We went to WDW in November 2022 when masks were starting to become optional. Then we returned in June 2023.

I’m immunocompromised, and I still haven’t had COVID (that I know of) and DH had COVID this past February. I’ve been so blessed to not have had it since my infusions make it easy for me to get anything. I still wear a mask on airplanes, and my DD20 does too. Last year we were 2 of 4 people that did. Airplane air grosses me out, and now that COVID happened, it grosses me out even more. I’ll be wearing a mask on airplanes for the rest of my life.

Moving forward…..I see us traveling more. Not because of COVID being over, but because we’re empty nesters and our DD20 has just retired from softball, so we have the time to start doing more things. Financially we can’t afford big expensive trips (like Hawaii or an Alaskan cruise) since we help our DD with college expenses, but we will go on our normal WDW trips and there’s so many other places I want to go, that won’t cost an arm & a leg. I’m looking forward to it.

 

[pinkxray]

It’s hard to pick an answer. When covid hit DD was 2 and DS was 4. Travel had slowed down a lot for us bc Dd was a nightmare on our Jan. 2020 Disney trip. We also had 2 young kids in daycare and money was not available for big trips. I also had some health issues right when Covid hit to the point of I didn’t leave my house for about 10 weeks(had liver surgery the day before the first Covid pt was known in our state)

With all the kids finally being awesome to travel with and no more daycare expenses, travel has increased. Pretty sure this would have been the case covid or not. I haven’t really started doing any international travel yet, but that is more bc I find it much more enjoyable to do things closer to us with the kids. As they get older that might change. Once I can sleep on a long flight without my kids waking me up to help them find something, we will do more trips further away.

 

[design_mom]

We travel less. Sigh.

My husband is not a traveler. He just doesn't see the value in it. (I knew he hadn't traveled much before we got married, but I mistakenly assumed that EVERYONE likes to travel. The concept of someone not liking it is so foreign to me.) He doesn't refuse to go, but he doesn't suggest or help plan, or anything. He also complains about the cost, and gets anxious about things. He'd be happy to just keep going back to places he knows (Disney is one) and never go anywhere new.

In the mid-2010s, I finally said "the kids are growing up and we don't have that much time left with them. I want to show them some things. I'm planning it." and he went along with it. We had several years of good vacations (national parks, etc.) before COVID hit.

Now we're kind of back to where we started... he's not interested in going (too much money, too much vacation time) and one of the kids is out of the house and the other one is busy (she loves to travel though, so I feel confident she'd clear her schedule.) And... yeah... the tentative nature of things now makes planning less fun. So many things have to be booked in advance. Hate to make non-refundable reservations because... who knows? Etc. But anyway, kind of back to square 1.

But, uh... does anyone have Hawaii planning trips? He had long promised to take me to Hawaii for our 25th wedding anniversary which happened, you guessed it, during COVID. So we did not go. He said "sorry, we'll go someday, I promise." I especially Maui and the BIg Island. Any planning tips?!

 

[bennifer]

But, uh... does anyone have Hawaii planning trips? He had long promised to take me to Hawaii for our 25th wedding anniversary which happened, you guessed it, during COVID. So we did not go. He said "sorry, we'll go someday, I promise." I especially Maui and the BIg Island. Any planning tips?!

As a matter of fact, I just got home from the Big Island and then Aulani last week! And to give some background, my husband never liked to travel, and then only liked going to the same places because he was familiar with them. New places he still gets anxious and cranky and refuses to help plan, but that's ok because he'll still go even grudgingly. And then usually ends up loving it, or at least tries to.

So the BI. We did Kona for 3 nights, Volcano for 1 and Hilo for 2. If you are looking for a relaxing beach vacation, don't go to BI. It's the only Hawaiian island that has active volcanoes and the coast is mostly rocky. You will need water shoes if you go into the water. If you like snorkeling, sightseeing, volcanoes, rainforests, swimming with sea turtles and National Parks, you should love the big island! The longer I'm away the more it's pulling me back. I really loved it.

 

[design_mom]

As a matter of fact, I just got home from the Big Island and then Aulani last week! And to give some background, my husband never liked to travel, and then only liked going to the same places because he was familiar with them. New places he still gets anxious and cranky and refuses to help plan, but that's ok because he'll still go even grudgingly. And then usually ends up loving it, or at least tries to.

So the BI. We did Kona for 3 nights, Volcano for 1 and Hilo for 2. If you are looking for a relaxing beach vacation, don't go to BI. It's the only Hawaiian island that has active volcanoes and the coast is mostly rocky. You will need water shoes if you go into the water. If you like snorkeling, sightseeing, volcanoes, rainforests, swimming with sea turtles and National Parks, you should love the big island! The longer I'm away the more it's pulling me back. I really loved it.

I don't know how to snorkel, but I want to see the volcanoes and the national parks!

 

[Skywalker3]

We travel just as often as before. Pandemic didn't change the amount of travel. We still do Orlando about twice/year, and a few other short, close trips.

One change we did have was that DH and I haven't taken a trip w/o the kids, just us, in many years. We used to do that more often, but I think we've been at a phase, where wanted to make sure the kids would be ok if something happened to us. Before, we knew we could depend on DH's parents if need be, if something happened, but they have a lot more health problems now, and we don't have any other family/friends who could really step in.
I will add that I am starting to feel some sense of urgency to get out and about more, just in case we start having more health and/or mobility issues.

Our youngest is 17, senior in school, and off to college next year, so we very much plan and hope to do a lot more traveling then. We did need to build up some savings., and with DD in college last 2 years, and unexpected expensive house repairs put a dent in things.

Pandemic didn't change our work situation at all. It actually made it better, since I can now work from home 4 out of 5 days/week, which was never an option before. DH is also work from home all the time.

So hopefully....we can finally plan a trip to England, and maybe a River cruise. and maybe take a family trip out west, national parks.

 

[bennifer]

I don't know how to snorkel, but I want to see the volcanoes and the national parks!

We didn't snorkel on the BI, I don't know how to swim and we were too busy doing other things anyway!
You can't go wrong going to the BI then! It's beautiful!

 

[dvcgirl67]

We're traveling about the same now as we did pre-pandemic, but did wait until 2022 to get back out there. Our travel will pick up in the coming years as we'll be retired. It's all international travel.

With respect to Disney, I really think that a lot of families were revenge traveling there since they reopened. I believe that phase is over, and lots of those families are "one and done", or 'once every five years". It makes sense that the weather keeps people away in the summer these days. But that didn't seem to be the case the last couple of years, so seems more like the occasional Disney traveler is tapped out.

 

[ronandannette]

I voted unchanged, although the Covid years were different. Canada's borders were locked down almost completely at first, and the requirements for pre-entry testing and quarantine and whatnot lasted well into 2022. We did travel out of the country when we were able, starting in February of 2021, but boy, was getting back in nerve-wracking!! We have travelled more here domestically since then than we used to, which I guess is a good thing. Our next major vacation will be a cruise of the Canadian Maritime provinces, which we've never seen and are very excited about.

Truth be told, the biggest impact on our travel over the past few years has been the increases in COL and the absolutely terrible currency exchange rates. It costs us 35% right now to convert to US$ and that is a BIG hit to the budget. We did change some things around quite drastically, life-wise, and have now eased some strain on our finances so we can comfortably afford vacations again. We're able to keep up our normal routine which is one big trip every year (like the Maritime cruise this fall) and one smaller getaway, which we did last winter (went to see a Raptors game in OKC and tagged on a couple of days visiting with a friend in Kansas). DH will also try for a few days of golfing somewhere and maybe I'll do a girls weekend, but we shall see. It's all good!

 

[nycdisneygal]

Way less Disney trips but thats because I am not thrilled with the changes and for the money we are going to other fabulous places (we did do Disney in Tokyo which is much more amazing than DW) and also my youngest is old enough to travel further and enjoy different places. My work is very demanding and if I am not away I am working so I make sure to travel (we dont have that much vacation compared to prior job though).

 

[disykat]

During the initial time of the pandemic and until numbers decreased I didn't travel. Then for a time my destinations changed and I stuck to car trips. Now I am back to traveling more "normally" but travel less because of other circumstances. I didn't know how to vote in the poll, so I went with changed destinations because that's how I was in the earlier part of Covid aftermath. This year I went to Europe, a chunk of it on a cruise, so I can't say I'm not back to normal.

Because of travel I had spent a lot of time planning and coordinating that was cancelled due to the pandemic, I am very hesitant to do a lot of planning and more likely to join in travel that is more planned for us or a road trip where I feel more in control. It's been over 4 years since I spent March 11th cancelling a flight etc. to Kauai that was supposed to happen on March 12th. That memory sticks with you!

 

[The Mayor]

Unchanged. Take a trip every fall and shorter weekend trip during the rest of the year.

 

[aprilgail]

Traveling way more now than ever- have trip to Greece next month, then Universal in Orland in Oct, London ,Paris, Switzerland and Italy planned for April and Punta Cana planned for June- not at all concerned over germs- if I get covid again I get it- cant keep from getting a cold.