Longing for travel? 2021 hopes, plans?

[Freedomin5]

No plans to travel in 2021. There are too many unknowns and uncertainties and potential unforeseen changes in policies. We flew twice internationally in 2020, and it was extremely anxiety provoking. Here are my reasons why traveling is probably not happening for us:

1. COVID testing before departing China to Canada
2. COVID testing (x5) upon arrival in China from Canada
3. Mandatory 14 day quarantine in Canada
4. Mandatory 14 day quarantine in a government facility in China that may become a mandatory 14+7+7 day quarantine without prior notice, like Beijing right now (14 days in government facility, 7 days home/government facility, 7 day health monitoring).
5. That equates to at least 5-7 COVID tests (up both nostrils, not the nice throat swab)
6. Changes in government policies at any time closing borders
7. Unexpected flight changes/flight cancellations
8. Flights are limited and very expensive (Cdn$5000 one way from Shanghai to Toronto)
9. Potential of getting stuck outside our “home” country of either China or Canada

I’m not traveling for fun until:

1. COVID testing is no longer required
2. Mandatory quarantine is no longer required
3. Flight availability is more stable
4. No more random border closings

[Adventine]

@Freedomin5 : ooof. That's intense.

[Sugaree]

With the new testing requirement to re-enter the US, I'm having to reconsider my Central America trip.  I don't particularly want to get stuck outside the country for 10-14 days.

Having just gone through it, my major concern was obviously contracting covid in a foreign country and being stuck there and getting very sick. However, that wasn't the only issue.

The same policy was implemented by Canada right before I traveled to the US recently for medical care. My main problem was that the test needed to be done within 72 hours of the flight, but test results can take longer than 72 hours to receive.

So if the results came even an hour late, they were no longer valid, so I would need to rebook for 3 days later, get a new test, and hope that the results came back on time. Repeat until successful and pray not to get covid and/or a false positive in the meantime.

At the same time, the airline was canceling flights left, right, and center, so at any point they could have moved my flight, which could make my test useless. Trying to book a flight home had already been a serious challenge because my original flight home had been canceled, and then my rebooked flight also got canceled. I ended up booking for 3 days longer than I had originally planned.

None of it was the end of the world, testing was easy and my results came on time, but it meant there was a fairly intense low-level anxiety throughout the entire trip, because I just didn't know. In some areas, people wait in line all day for a test and sometimes don't even get one.

Had it not been quite critical to go, I would have canceled as soon as the policy came out. I'm supposed to go back in a few weeks, but now that both countries require testing, it's just not happening.

That said, I don't know the details of the US policy and if it's as strict as the Canadian one, but regardless, I'm not doing that again any time soon unless I absolutely have to.

The resort I'm supposed to be at has an on-site clinic where they can do the rapid tests (which the US is currently accepting while Canada is requiring the PCR) and have results in 1-2 hours, so I'm not too terribly worried about the testing itself.  I've got 80 days to make a decision before reservations start becoming less refundable.  I'm curious as to what Biden will put in place given that he's already said that he will not allow the reversals that trump just made to go into effect. 

[Just Joe]

I really want to go to the beach but I think we'll continue to stick around the house and continue to tinker with our hobbies.

MAYBE we'll go camping. Lots of lesser visited campground parks within an easy drive. Wouldn't want to stay in a campground where folks are jammed up close to each other with their campers COVID or no COVID as our camper is a tent trailer and thus offers less privacy.

[Freedomin5]

With the new testing requirement to re-enter the US, I'm having to reconsider my Central America trip.  I don't particularly want to get stuck outside the country for 10-14 days.

Having just gone through it, my major concern was obviously contracting covid in a foreign country and being stuck there and getting very sick. However, that wasn't the only issue.

The same policy was implemented by Canada right before I traveled to the US recently for medical care. My main problem was that the test needed to be done within 72 hours of the flight, but test results can take longer than 72 hours to receive.

So if the results came even an hour late, they were no longer valid, so I would need to rebook for 3 days later, get a new test, and hope that the results came back on time. Repeat until successful and pray not to get covid and/or a false positive in the meantime.

At the same time, the airline was canceling flights left, right, and center, so at any point they could have moved my flight, which could make my test useless. Trying to book a flight home had already been a serious challenge because my original flight home had been canceled, and then my rebooked flight also got canceled. I ended up booking for 3 days longer than I had originally planned.

None of it was the end of the world, testing was easy and my results came on time, but it meant there was a fairly intense low-level anxiety throughout the entire trip, because I just didn't know. In some areas, people wait in line all day for a test and sometimes don't even get one.

Had it not been quite critical to go, I would have canceled as soon as the policy came out. I'm supposed to go back in a few weeks, but now that both countries require testing, it's just not happening.

That said, I don't know the details of the US policy and if it's as strict as the Canadian one, but regardless, I'm not doing that again any time soon unless I absolutely have to.

The resort I'm supposed to be at has an on-site clinic where they can do the rapid tests (which the US is currently accepting while Canada is requiring the PCR) and have results in 1-2 hours, so I'm not too terribly worried about the testing itself.  I've got 80 days to make a decision before reservations start becoming less refundable.  I'm curious as to what Biden will put in place given that he's already said that he will not allow the reversals that trump just made to go into effect.

It’s not just the testing requirements. I’d be more worried about sudden flight cancellations and border closings, like what happened in the UK. If there is a sudden surge of cases in Central America and the US closed its borders, even the US embassy can’t charter a flight or rescue you because you traveled against government recommendations. Our embassy is very clear (as in, we received an email from them) that we are traveling and living abroad at our own risk.

[Adventine]

I actually helped organize several charter flights for my coworkers stranded abroad. I would not wish the experience on anyone. The flights were expensive, prone to last minute changes, and were a bureaucratic nightmare in terms of paperwork and government clearances.

For anyone interested in the state of worldwide travel regulations, this is a good free resource: IATA COVID-19 Travel Regulations Map

The general trend I've seen is that most countries require proof of a RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours of the flight. No other test types accepted. The RT-PCR test is more expensive and time-consuming, but it's also considered more accurate. I can see the US conforming to this international norm soon.