When do you think the border will reopen?

[pigletto]

While keeping the border closed is likely the right thing to do, I still feel like I'm in mourning. That probably sounds overly dramatic! Like, I'm in mourning for what 'once was'. Does that make sense? Remember when we didn't give a second thought to going to the grocery store, going out to dinner, visiting family/friends or crossing the border to our southern neighbours? We've cancelled 2 Disney trips and 1 non-Disney trip. My job is travel related, so I'm basically at a standstill. Come September, we usually start looking at sunny destinations to give us a break from winter, yet here we are. Everyday I try to be grateful for our health, dh's stable job, and our family and friends. Still, I can't help but feel that sense of mourning. Today's border announcement is far from unexpected, but it just adds another drop of sadness to the whole dang situation.

I totally understand what you are saying and I think the majority of people would. I sent my sister in law a picture of my son who was about 12 hugging my nephew who was about 2 that popped up on my timeline. It was from three summers ago . She sent back “God i miss when people could hug each other and you all could spend the weekend with my kids “ .
And I’m so grateful my newest nephew and my sister are healthy and happy in Florida where they live but I might not meet him until he’s more than a year old. I just can‘t wrap my head around it.
It’s the pits isn’t it ? I get it. There are far far worse things and I am grateful for the health of my family and loved ones. But it’s ok to be sad for all the things we are missing out on too. I get it.

 

[Aladora]

While keeping the border closed is likely the right thing to do, I still feel like I'm in mourning. That probably sounds overly dramatic! Like, I'm in mourning for what 'once was'. Does that make sense? Remember when we didn't give a second thought to going to the grocery store, going out to dinner, visiting family/friends or crossing the border to our southern neighbours? We've cancelled 2 Disney trips and 1 non-Disney trip. My job is travel related, so I'm basically at a standstill. Come September, we usually start looking at sunny destinations to give us a break from winter, yet here we are. Everyday I try to be grateful for our health, dh's stable job, and our family and friends. Still, I can't help but feel that sense of mourning. Today's border announcement is far from unexpected, but it just adds another drop of sadness to the whole dang situation.

I 100% get where you are coming from. I have had to cancel our first ever cruise, a trip for DH to go to Geneva to tour CERN, a sisters only trip to Vegas and an August DL trip.

DH travels a ton for work here within BC, mostly to First Nations land. Many of the locations have asked for people to stay away but he did one trip recently and has another one happening next week. The one a few weeks ago he drove to Vancouver and flew from there but the plane was chartered for him by the band and he was the only passenger. The trip next week he is driving 2 days there and 2 days back to avoid having to fly.

I was talking to him just a few days ago and I was saying that while I have been able to keep my chin up for the most part, this week was starting to test me a bit. Nothing new happened really but it is all getting to be a bit of a slog to get through. We are now in the 5th month of this and I am just tired.

 

[samsteele]

I suspect most of us have now internalized - but don't want to really admit - that we are not safely leaving the country until at least this time next year and our American cousins will not be visiting us and spending their $ here until the same. Its painful to accept. I hope for better but am bracing myself for the reality.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Mind you, in that case it's stated the employee didn't know they were infected, but still, how long until people who are infected show up to work anyways, because their CERB has run out and they have no other recourse? I know what I'd rather see done with CERB, but I won't get into them here to try keep the politics side of this conversation out of it. Needless to say though, I do worry about the result of ending it.

This is where businesses NEED to start giving sick days just for cases like this. A person can be sick...the mandate would be to go get tested...once it is negative, they can come back to work. We can not keep relying on the government to keep printing more money. At some point....it WILL have to stop. Will this hurt small businesses...YUP!!!! But at what point do we stop depending on the government to keep printing money. Our deficit is spiraling out of control. Our grandchildren't grandchildren will be taxed for this for the next 150 years!!!!!!
I work for a family owned business. There are many branches across western canada and even into the US. Can this business give me sick days so that I don't infect our whole office plus customers that come into our building. Can they...yes....but will they NOPE!!!! I told my boss...then you need to be prepared for people to come into work and infect the whole office. What will they do when that happens at one of the branches we have. Smaller businesses will have an even harder time to absorb that cost...and I feel for them. But do you want to be " that busniness " that has had that happen? My guess is probably not. It will do even more harm to their business.

This is exactly how I feel, so you are not alone. I work a second job to pay for our trips and those long days are really hard now that I have no count down to look forward too . We usually travel to Disney at least once a year and to Mexico once or twice depending on the year. Our family and friends are all healthy and that is what is important but it is still hard.

This is me too!!!! I had been working a second job until the covid hit ( and the business folded - Pier 1 ) I recently got another second job at Homesense...just to keep adding to our travel fund. But it is hard to slog to work on a late Friday afternoon, to work another 3.5 hours after working 8 already....knowing that the trips we had planned won't be happening. It is hard to swallow.

While keeping the border closed is likely the right thing to do, I still feel like I'm in mourning. That probably sounds overly dramatic! Like, I'm in mourning for what 'once was'. Does that make sense? Remember when we didn't give a second thought to going to the grocery store, going out to dinner, visiting family/friends or crossing the border to our southern neighbours? We've cancelled 2 Disney trips and 1 non-Disney trip. My job is travel related, so I'm basically at a standstill. Come September, we usually start looking at sunny destinations to give us a break from winter, yet here we are. Everyday I try to be grateful for our health, dh's stable job, and our family and friends. Still, I can't help but feel that sense of mourning. Today's border announcement is far from unexpected, but it just adds another drop of sadness to the whole dang situation.

I can totally relate. we had a few trips that we had talked about, planned out, were watching seat sales, collecting various points. All that is done right now. I dread our long cold winters ( especially in northern Alberta ) and we had just about pulled the trigger to do a last minute getaway just days before all the covid lockdowns happened. Now, i am not hopeful that we will be able to see warm tropical sand and water ( even next March/April or May ) to help me get through the winter. Now we worry when we go south to visit our dd and the grandbaby for a weekend, that we need to be extra vigilant about how we feel when we get home, from an area with higher active cases.

 

[bcwife76]

It's going to make planning vacation time off difficult for sure. My husbands' company, their vacation calendar goes from mid march to mid march and your time off for that calendar MUST be booked by mid February for approval. And it's not-changeable. So here we were this past February, booked a week in March for Aulani (which we made by the skin of our teeth before the shut down happened and quarantined upon arriving home, eventhough it wasn't made mandatory until the end of March). A week in early July for Lake Tahoe (ended up going up to Penticton for a couple of nights), a week off in late August for WDW/Dream cruise (now we're going to the Kootenays) and a week off in mid October for DL/Disney Wonder cruise (think we will do a two night staycation in downtown Vancouver). And that is IT for time off til the new calendar and how does he plan in Feb 2021 for another year of vacations that may not happen?

Yes I know, first world problems but it's still annoying and quite frankly, it stinks. He works LONG, hard hours from mid November til January with no time off except weekends (even then they look for staff to volunteer for Saturdays). No one can take vacation in that time and we are just thankful that Christmas this year falls around a weekend so he'll get 4 days off then.

 

[22Tink]

While keeping the border closed is likely the right thing to do, I still feel like I'm in mourning. That probably sounds overly dramatic! Like, I'm in mourning for what 'once was'. Does that make sense? Remember when we didn't give a second thought to going to the grocery store, going out to dinner, visiting family/friends or crossing the border to our southern neighbours? We've cancelled 2 Disney trips and 1 non-Disney trip. My job is travel related, so I'm basically at a standstill. Come September, we usually start looking at sunny destinations to give us a break from winter, yet here we are. Everyday I try to be grateful for our health, dh's stable job, and our family and friends. Still, I can't help but feel that sense of mourning. Today's border announcement is far from unexpected, but it just adds another drop of sadness to the whole dang situation.

Not overly dramatic at all! I feel exactly like this. Mourning is a great way to describe it. I miss all of the things we used to do without having to worry about getting sick or making someone else sick. While I also agree that the border needs to remain closed, I’m sad for the trips it means we won’t be taking.

 

[Jrb1979]

Not overly dramatic at all! I feel exactly like this. Mourning is a great way to describe it. I miss all of the things we used to do without having to worry about getting sick or making someone else sick. While I also agree that the border needs to remain closed, I’m sad for the trips it means we won’t be taking.
A

Yes it's sad that many of us are missing out on some vacations but there is many places in this country worth going on vacation to. If it wasn't for Covid I never would have visited Collingwood. Its a beautiful city to visit.

 

[22Tink]

Yes it's sad that many of us are missing out on some vacations but there is many places in this country worth going on vacation to. If it wasn't for Covid I never would have visited Collingwood. Its a beautiful city to visit.

True enough! I unfortunately can’t leave my province without a 14 day quarantine upon returning because of protocols at my place of work so we’re just staying put for now. We’re short staffed thanks to COVID too so I can’t really take any extended trips even within B.C. We did buy kayaks this summer so we’ve been enjoying those close to home. Our cancelled trip to California still hurts though.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

https://news.paxeditions.com/news/t...will-be-pushed-back-covid-19-insurance-coming

An excerpt from the above webpage:

Of course, finding travel insurance that includes COVID-19 coverage also plays into today’s challenges.

Some Canadian insurers have already broken rank by adding out-of-country COVID-19 coverage to their menus, and this is something Sunwing will be doing also, in due time, Dawson confirmed.

In fact, just this past weekend, Manulife, Sunwing’s insurance partner, presented a product to the tour operator that includes an option for COVID-19 coverage, he said.

While the details and release date is under wraps, the program likely will not include coverage for travel to the United States where COVID-19 cases are nearing 5.5 million, said Dawson, noting that Sunwing doesn’t intend to offer Florida this Christmas anyway.

Still, Sunwing’s soon-to-be-released insurance product, said Dawson, will be “something good.”

 

[hdrolfe]

https://news.paxeditions.com/news/t...will-be-pushed-back-covid-19-insurance-coming

An excerpt from the above webpage:

Of course, finding travel insurance that includes COVID-19 coverage also plays into today’s challenges.

Some Canadian insurers have already broken rank by adding out-of-country COVID-19 coverage to their menus, and this is something Sunwing will be doing also, in due time, Dawson confirmed.

In fact, just this past weekend, Manulife, Sunwing’s insurance partner, presented a product to the tour operator that includes an option for COVID-19 coverage, he said.

While the details and release date is under wraps, the program likely will not include coverage for travel to the United States where COVID-19 cases are nearing 5.5 million, said Dawson, noting that Sunwing doesn’t intend to offer Florida this Christmas anyway.

Still, Sunwing’s soon-to-be-released insurance product, said Dawson, will be “something good.”

Does this mean a winter getaway some place warm might be possible? Interesting.

 

[bababear_50]

Wow
While Florida tops the list for number of popular snowbird destinations, California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada also offer warmth and sun for winter-weary retirees. Other popular warm weather states include Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
The Canadian Snowbird Association estimates that at least 350,000 Canadians spend three to six months in Florida, while another 100,000 spend between one to three months in the state.
I know I have an Evil stepmother that goes to Texas each year ,,,(I believe they call themselves Winter Texans).
Hmmmmm. this is going to be one rough Fall/Winter.
I guess she could fly down , but I am not sure she can even get Insurance,,especially with her age and pre existing medical conditions.
All of the above states are strife with high numbers of Covid too.


Mel

 

[Jrb1979]

Does this mean a winter getaway some place warm might be possible? Interesting.

Barring that the mandatory quarantine is lifted. I have no interest in an all inclusive. Being able to get insurance so I can sit on a beach all day would be use to me. I don't go on vacation somewhere to relax. I can do that at home. All my vacations involve being on the go the whole time I'm away.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

@hdrolfe Wouldn't it be wonderful? I know you and I are able to work from home, and many cannot.

@Jrb1979 What is wrong with laying poolside/beachside, playing in a waterpark, paddleboarding, snorkeling while at an all inclusive where you don't have to cook, clean, etc. The beauty about an all inclusive is that you can be as busy as you want to be, or just chill.

Anyways, I still prefer cruising, but if we cannot do our own excursions then that kinda sucks.

 

[hdrolfe]

Barring that the mandatory quarantine is lifted. I have no interest in an all inclusive. Being able to get insurance so I can sit on a beach all day would be use to me. I don't go on vacation somewhere to relax. I can do that at home. All my vacations involve being on the go the whole time I'm away.

My son prefers to be busy when we travel which is why we normally do Disney or cruise. There are some AI's that have water parks with water slides and such that I think he would enjoy, and if I am able to sit and read on a beach, I would be happy! But I also don't have a big home and the chance to not have to cook/clean/make beds would be a nice break, especially when you add in the nice weather compared to winter in Ottawa!

@hdrolfe Wouldn't it be wonderful? I know you and I are able to work from home, and many cannot.

@Jrb1979 What is wrong with laying poolside/beachside, playing in a waterpark, paddleboarding, snorkeling while at an all inclusive where you don't have to cook, clean, etc. The beauty about an all inclusive is that you can be as busy as you want to be, or just chill.

Anyways, I still prefer cruising, but if we cannot do our own excursions then that kinda sucks.

I agree, I can work from home for two weeks when we return if it's necessary, I do understand many people can't, but the article did also speak to perhaps removing that for certain areas. And yes, the chance to sorkel, paddleboard, water slides, no cooking or cleaning? In the warm weather when it's cold here... Yup, sign me up! I'd rather cruise but since I don't see that happening since they all leave via the US, and there is no way I'm going to feel safe there for awhile.

So yes, thanks for posting that, gives me some hope!

 

[Jrb1979]

@hdrolfe Wouldn't it be wonderful? I know you and I are able to work from home, and many cannot.

@Jrb1979 What is wrong with laying poolside/beachside, playing in a waterpark, paddleboarding, snorkeling while at an all inclusive where you don't have to cook, clean, etc. The beauty about an all inclusive is that you can be as busy as you want to be, or just chill.

Anyways, I still prefer cruising, but if we cannot do our own excursions then that kinda sucks.

Nothing wrong with doing that if that's what you like. I just prefer to not be stuck at resort for a week. Just before this all started my family went to Myrtle Beach for a week. Being able to explore the city and nearby areas was wonderful. We went to the beach in the morning but the rest of the day we went to different places in the area and tried many different restaurants that we don't have here. I would be bored out of my mind at all inclusive. Hate snorkeling, paddleboarding or sitting at a beach.

Love exploring new cities I have never been too.

 

[Aladora]

Wow
While Florida tops the list for number of popular snowbird destinations, California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada also offer warmth and sun for winter-weary retirees. Other popular warm weather states include Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
The Canadian Snowbird Association estimates that at least 350,000 Canadians spend three to six months in Florida, while another 100,000 spend between one to three months in the state.
I know I have an Evil stepmother that goes to Texas each year ,,,(I believe they call themselves Winter Texans).
Hmmmmm. this is going to be one rough Fall/Winter.
I guess she could fly down , but I am not sure she can even get Insurance,,especially with her age and pre existing medical conditions.
All of the above states are strife with high numbers of Covid too.


Mel

My father and the StepMonster Snowbird in FL every winter but after they came home this year they are talking very seriously about selling.

 

[samsteele]

Still, Sunwing’s soon-to-be-released insurance product, said Dawson, will be “something good.”

Certainly thank you for the update. Good to know what's brewing.
I would warn, for those who are looking to take advantage of this coverage and go somewhere with sand, sun and surf to escape the cold this winter - prob Caribbean because its Sunwing - traveling with someone who becomes seriously ill and incapacitated on a trip is a nightware. I've done it. I never want to repeat it. Forget the vacation - you are scrambling to find a hotel near the hospital and spending your days waiting at the hospital and searching for online translations to ask hospital staff and find out what is happening to your loved one. Then you visit them every day in recovery and feel terrible that this happened. Then you watch them suffer trying to get to the airport and then board the flight to get home. And if you have the thrill of flying Air Canada, know they won't give you a wheelchair to assist unless booked 2 weeks in advance. Look forward to physically carrying and supporting your family or friend and then draping her on your luggage cart on top of the luggage to get through the airport. While you watch generally healthy passengers with their toy dogs perched on laps getting wheelchair and airport golf cart assistance. I did this. Never again. Everyone has to balance the cost of their vacation. Sometimes it costs a lot more than we are ever prepared to accept.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Nothing wrong with doing that if that's what you like. I just prefer to not be stuck at resort for a week. Just before this all started my family went to Myrtle Beach for a week. Being able to explore the city and nearby areas was wonderful. We went to the beach in the morning but the rest of the day we went to different places in the area and tried many different restaurants that we don't have here. I would be bored out of my mind at all inclusive. Hate snorkeling, paddleboarding or sitting at a beach.

Love exploring new cities I have never been too.

I'm thinking if you look at THIS resort you might change your mind about AIs!!! The amount of stuff they include is staggering, I don't think you'd be bored. It includes far too many things to even list. Have no idea about your budget but seriously, give it a glance (we were booked to go but then i got nervous about their ability to safely feed me)

Here's the link to their resort PLUS the list of what's included for fun
https://www.hotelxcaret.com/en/https://www.hotelxcaret.com/en/all-fun-inclusive/

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

My SIL is a part time travel agent and that resort is one that gets booked a lot!

 

[kittyab]

Well until there is a vaccine or travel insurance will cover Covid, we will wait till go back to Orlando.