A Year of Covid
Today a family member who was exposed to COVID had to cancel an airline ticket, as they must now must quarantine instead of traveling. While they’re grateful for the airline’s flexibility and refunding of the ticket (full disclosure: they were within the 24-hour cancellation period for refunds), it was nonetheless disheartening to realize that, a year into COVID, this is still where we are.
Germany is imposing a new lockdown (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9391639/Germanys-Chancellor-Merkel-blames-Kent-variant-cancels-Easter.html), the UK is restricting not only inbound travel but now also limiting UK residents’ ability to leave (https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-52544307), and New Zealand’s prime minister is raising concerns about how soon a “trans-Tasman bubble” can be opened for travel by Kiwis and Aussies (https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/will-we-see-an-australia-new-zealand-travel-bubble-by-may).
So with a year of COVID, the world continues to be, well, smaller. My last Resy reservation was in March 2020, my last trip outside the US was in July 2019, and even with vaccinations increasing in the United States, the guidance for travel remains cautious. The CDC continues to recommend avoiding travel if possible (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/travel-during-covid19.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Ftravelers%2Ftravel-in-the-us.html) but after a year of being limited in life outside our homes and essential work locations, most people in the US are questioning when they can finally have the freedom to book long-delay summer vacations, visit relatives, or take a weekend trip to a favorite destination. Airlines in the US report a significant uptick in travel, and for the most part it isn’t business travel, but both rising infections in some parts of the country and the uncertainty of what lies ahead even with more vaccinations risk a drop in leisure travel as well.
For now, we’re waiting, hoping, and anticipating for travel to become the normal, ongoing, reality again.
-Laura Flippin | Wheels Up
