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Things You Can Do to Help Others During the Coronavirus Outbreak

One of the side effects of all this social distancing and quarantining is that it’s difficult to volunteer to help others. But ways of assistance are emerging. On the large scale, companies are coming up with methods to provide products and support. Travel companies are too; for instance, cruise lines are offering their vessels as hospital ships. And on the small scale, individuals are inventing creative ideas for working together. I’ve gathered a bunch of both below. Keep in mind that I’m based in New York City, which is an epicenter of the crisis, so I’m pointing out several NYC-based efforts, but I’m sure other communities are pursuing such actions too, and I’ve tried to include local efforts when I found them. If you know of others in your own area, please share them in the comments. And if they’re not happening in your community yet, perhaps you might even be inspired to start such a project?

Donate blood

The Red Cross reports that there is a severe shortage . If you meet the health criteria and are able to donate blood, platelets or AB plasma, contact the Red Cross about making an appointment in your area.

Contribute to the production and distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

•Sew masks: In a creative response to the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPEs), some healthcare workers have put out calls for volunteers to sew CDC-compliant face masks, which are then sterilized before use. Deaconess in Evanston, Illinois, was one of the hospitals that tried this, and it was so successful that they were inundated with masks. They suggest that people reach out to healthcare facilities in other areas to see if the same project would be helpful to them.

•Support a group making face shields: In a similar effort to the homemade mask project, but with a focus on face shields, a group of New Yorkers (made up of engineers, healthcare professionals, professors, researchers, students and makers) is collaborating to create and distribute protective face shields for healthcare workers. The project has a crowdfunding page, as well as designs that can be shared with other makers.

•Donate to a grass-roots PPE manufacturing effort: A WendyPerrin.com reader just told us about another group of helpers with backgrounds in medicine, technology, and academia who have banded together to form 3DCorps, a nonprofit initiative using 3D printing to make reusable and sanitizable PPEs. You can learn more and/or donate to their crowdfunding campaign here.

•Donate your own or your school’s equipment: And of course if you happen to have any masks or gloves to share—or if you have connections to a school that has available PPE gear from its lab programs—see if any of your local facilities are accepting donations.

•Since 1948, Direct Relief has been working in the U.S. and overseas to equip healthcare workers with medical resources during natural disasters, and to help anyone affected recover from the experiences. Their COVID-19 efforts include distributing masks, gowns, and gloves to American medical facilities with confirmed cases, and coordinating with regional response agencies in South America and the Caribbean. The website includes in-depth information on their coronavirus work, as well as information on how to donate or become a strategic partner.

Donate to a food bank or relief organization

Even now, many of these are still finding ways to deliver services and meals to shut-ins, homeless people, the elderly, you name it. And when quarantine restrictions are lifted they will require all the resources possible to catch up. The big-name ones are easy to find (United Way, Red Cross, etc.), but think about local groups in your areas too: Food Bank for New York City, Feeding Tampa Bay, and Gods Love We Deliver are still providing and delivering meals and supplies, to name a few. Feeding America has a tool to help find your local food bank.

Chef José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen is doing a lot of good work too. They have been providing meals in disaster-hit areas for more than a decade, though his work started to get more attention after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 and he served millions of meals to residents. Now, his volunteers are preparing and distributing grab-and-go meals to families and school children in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New Orleans, Madrid, and other places.

Low-income and homeless families are being particularly hard hit by the pandemic’s economic fallout. In Philadelphia, childhood-poverty nonprofit Cradles to Crayons has created a special Emergency Essentials fund to collect and distribute things like diapers and hygiene items. You can donate here.

Volunteer

Both remote and in-real-life volunteering options are emerging, and we’ve listed a few here as inspiration and ideas for what might be available near you. We would love to know of more, so please leave any suggestions in the comments below.

As mentioned above, many local food banks are still operating and need people to package food for delivery or even make the deliveries (using safety procedures, of course). Including Gods Love We Deliver and the Food Bank for New York City (which also needs volunteer tax preparers). In the capital, DC Food Project has put together a long list of varied organizations that need volunteers or supplies (scroll down to the “How to Help in Your Community” section).
The elderly need additional help during this crisis; this article list service providers in New York, but it should give you an idea of what’s available elsewhere too.
Lawyers may be able to use their skills remotely. The Volunteer Lawyers Project is accepting participants for its free legal advice service, and those interested in immigration rights might contact organizations like Al Otro Lado, which is looking for attorneys, law students, law professors, bilingual translators.
Help the blind via the Be My Eyes app. Install the app, and then get live video calls from sight-impaired members who may ask you to read label instructions, check expiration dates, distinguish colors, or navigate surroundings.
New York Cares, which is a clearinghouse organization that connects volunteers with a wide variety of projects across the city, has suspended its work for now, but is collaborating with city agencies to figure out next steps and is collecting emails from interested volunteers so that projects can be fully staffed once they’re ready to go.
Meals on Wheels is another great organization that delivers meals to the elderly and shut-ins. Now that their vulnerable population is dealing with the pandemic too, the organization needs more support in various ways. The need for volunteers varies depending on the local situation, but donations are welcome. Check the website to find out about the national organization and the local chapters.
Invisible Hands is a free volunteer-run delivery service that’s in NYC right now, but there are similar organizations popping up around the country. Sign up and you will be contacted to carry out simple tasks as needed, like picking up groceries or prescriptions for neighbors and then leave them outside the recipient’s door to limit interactions.

Buy gift cards

Purchase gift cards from local restaurants so that you can support them now while they need the money, and eat there later when restaurants re-open. It’s a helpful solution that requires very little effort, and it translates easily to other industries a well: salons, handymen, cleaning services, tutors, etc. As you can imagine, travel businesses that rely on people actually traveling are also having trouble taking care of their staff right now. For instance, Cranky Concierge is selling gift cards for its booking, flight monitoring, and emergency assistance services.

Shop local

If you need something from the grocery store, pharmacy or hardware store, think about whether there’s an independent, mom-and-pop shop that might need your support in order to make it through. Some are even offering delivery options so you can stay inside if you prefer. And if you’re a regular at a coffee shop and are missing your daily visit, find out if they have set up a virtual tip jar. A few cafes in New York have done that via Venmo, and it’s a thoughtful, simply way to support the baristas and servers who have helped get your mornings off to a good start.

Think global

As travelers, we’ve all made deep connections with the people and places we’ve been lucky enough to visit. Are there ways we can offer support to them now? A simple gesture is to send a message or make a phone call. Maybe there was a guide or driver you bonded with on a trip years ago. Why not send an email or a text to say hello and see how they’re doing. Or maybe you volunteered on a past trip, visited a nonprofit organization, or met an inspiring community leader. If so, reach out and ask whether they need donations now, or how you can help later when travel is restored.

Postpone trips instead of cancelling

If you have any trips booked in the next few months, postpone them instead of canceling them outright. The destinations you were intending to visit will need your goodwill later on down the road. On the same note, consider planning a trip now for the future. Some experiences need to be booked really early anyway; expeditions to Antarctica, for instance, fill up 12 to 18 months in advance.

Connect with your neighbors

Put an hour into your schedule every day to call or video chat with family and friends, or to reconnect with old pals. It’ll make them—and you—feel better. You might also call around to local children’s hospitals or senior centers to see if they need phone buddies. A nursing home in Texas is asking people to send letters, artwork, and photos to keep their residents’ spirits up.

Or you could do errands for those who are unable to do them on their own. In New York, some Yale students created Invisible Hands, a free volunteer-run delivery service: Sign up and you will be contacted to carry out simple tasks, like picking up groceries or prescriptions, and then leave them outside the recipient’s door to limit interactions. Nextdoor (iPhone, Android) is an app that serves a similar purpose. It was originally used by neighbors as a bulletin board to announce garage sales, lost pets and the like, but it has been repurposed to aid during the current situation by connecting volunteers with neighbors who need various tasks or information, like childcare resources or delivery runs. Just like with other social media, you create a profile, and then you add some info about your availability. Those in need of assistance can then contact you through the app.

In a few Brooklyn neighborhoods, families have come up with a creative way to help their kids stay in touch with each other: They’ve started putting rainbow drawings in their windows. Since kids can’t visit their friends in person, they can look for these rainbows in friends’ windows as they go on family walks, making a kind of I Spy game throughout the area. There’s even a Rainbow Map.

One of our readers pointed out that religious and spiritual centers are a source of support now too. “This is a good time to connect to the spiritual,” she said. “Communities of faith are doing huge outreach with online services and volunteers connecting people and doing errands etc.”

Foster a pet

Restaurants, bars, and stores aren’t the only spots affected by the lockdowns. Without the usual rounds of walk-in visitors, animal shelters are looking for other ways to find homes for their charges and are asking the public to adopt or foster a furry friend to ride out the lockdowns. Taking in a pet doesn’t just help the animal—studies show that having a pet is good for your mental health too. Paws Chicago, Animal Care Centers of NYC, and Best Friends are a few shelters that have recently put out calls for people to foster or adopt new pets. Try contacting a local shelter so you don’t have to travel far to meet your new best friend. And in case you’re wondering, walking a pet is considered an exception to the stay-at-home orders in San Francisco and southern California.

Support the arts

Despite being closed, many museums, theaters, galleries, concert halls and cultural venues are offering free streaming performances and other videos from their archives (see our full list here). Consider donating to them to keep the virtual doors open now and to help them keep the real doors open later. Small community arts organizations are particularly vulnerable to economic crises like this.

Take care of yourself

Most important, follow the recommendations of the CDC for preventing the spread of the virus. The New York Times has a comprehensive article on preparedness, including everything from home-cleaning instructions to how to stay connected digitally.

Many fitness companies and teachers are offering classes online, both free and paid. YMCAs are offering free online classes (also called videos on demand on some sites) including options specifically for senior health, cardio, meditation, and teen coping resources. Other instructors are even presenting their classes live via Facebook, which makes the workout feel a little more social.

Take care of yourself emotionally too. The National Association on Mental Illness has a thorough list of information and resources, covering everything from online support communities to help paying bills and getting medications. The CDC has a page on managing anxiety and stress, which lists symptoms to be aware of and tips for coping. There are many online counseling services these days. To name a few: The Crisis Text Line provides support with trained volunteers via text messaging; TalkSpace is another text message therapy option but with licensed therapists; Better Help offers video, phone, chat, and messaging options with licensed therapists.

Be a smarter traveler: Read real travelers’ reviews of Wendy’s WOW List and use it to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter @wendyperrin, and Instagram @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Hike Trails and Stroll Through Gardens Without Leaving Your House

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Staying home is the safe thing to do right now, frustrating as it is to have to hunker down indoors now that spring is here. So we’ve found ways to help you connect with the great outdoors—all over the globe. Take a break from the anxiety and escape to one of the parks, gardens, or wilderness trails listed below. Or, if you’re in need of a culture boost, check out our ideas for virtual museum visits, landmark tours, and live concerts. Know of other cool virtual outdoor adventures to keep us travelers happy? Tell us about them in the comments.

National Parks

Google’s virtual experience Hidden Worlds of the National Parks is very cool. Through a combination of immersive videos, 360-degree tours, and interactive photos, park rangers share the secrets of five U.S. national parks and the animals that live there: Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico; Kenai Fjords, Alaska; Hawaii Volcanoes National Park; Bryce Canyon, Utah; and Dry Tortugas, Florida. In one video, viewers fly with the bats out of Carlsbad Caverns; in Dry Tortugas, they “swim” through a shipwreck.

Hiking Adventures

To get yourself moving, though, see how far you can get on the Appalachian Trail…virtually, of course. Walk the Distance is an app that tracks your steps and applies them to the 2,000-plus-mile “AT” that stretches between Georgia and Maine. As you get farther along the trail, you’ll unlock checkpoints and see photos of your location. You can even see where your friends are so that you can motivate each other to keep moving. The app is available for iPhone and includes a few other routes as well, such as the Boston Marathon and some national park trails.

The YouTube channel Tall Sky Walker has a playlist of virtual outdoor hikes. The idea is to watch them as you’re on the treadmill, so that you feel like you’re actually on a wilderness trail instead of stuck within four walls. The scenery is gorgeous: a shoreline stroll around Moraine Lake in Banff; a snowy walk through Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park; a waterfall-to-waterfall hike also in Oregon. Even without a treadmill, these videos are worth the watch; they’re relaxing and serene, and yet surprisingly refreshing.

Train Trips, Drives, and Bike Rides

You can find plenty of virtual road trips and bike rides on YouTube. Virtual Road Trip’s videos compress drives through locales including the Delaware River Valley and the Hudson River Valley. The 4K Relaxation Channel features a bike journey along the California coast and a five-hour drive along Scenic Byway 12 in Utah (which is part of the American West you might not know about, but should).

Prefer to be a bit lazier? Sit back and soak in the Norwegian landscape as it crawls by in Slow TV’s seven-hour video of the train ride from Bergen to Oslo or the nine-hour train to the Arctic Circle, which you can watch in each season: winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Gorgeous Gardens

Gardens are getting into the game too. Stroll among the flowers of the United States Botanical Garden; walk through the trees of Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Rockford, Illinois; or feel fancy in the manicured park and gardens of the 18th-century Château de Bouges in France’s Loire Valley.

And since the coronavirus can’t stop cherry blossom season, you’ll want to find ways to watch those beautiful blooms. Cherryblossomwatch.com is an extensive website tracking the cherries in Washington, D.C. The National Park Service has a Bloom Watch too. If you have the patience, you can watch them grow live (and slowly) in Macon, Georgia, via a webcam partnership from Wesleyan College and Visit Macon. Or to feel a little immersed in the pink, head to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which has a virtual walk-through of its Japanese Hill-and-Pond garden and its Cherry Esplanade. (You can also explore other parts of the BBG via Google street view.)

Zoos and Aquariums

If you crave something a little “wilder,” plenty of zoos and aquariums are coming to the rescue. For instance, every weekday at 3pm ET, the Cincinnati Zoo’s Facebook page will feature different animals in a “Home Safari” video, in which zookeepers will share fun facts (hippos don’t actually swim!) and include a home activity for the kids.

Then there are all the live cams that are popping up. Monterey Bay Aquarium is giving everyone constant companionship with various video streams. Choose from the jelly cam, the coral reef cam, the penguin cam, shark cam, an open sea cam, and others. You can even gaze out over the Monterey Bay itself. Similarly, the San Diego Zoo is putting its animals in the spotlight. Get to know their apes, koalas, polar bears, and other adorable denizens. Watching them is addictive.

Dispatch from Japan: What It’s Like to Be There Now

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PLEASE NOTE: Our ongoing efforts to check in with travelers who are currently overseas does not mean we advocate travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. State Department has advised U.S. citizens to reconsider travel abroad. Public health officials advise older adults and people with underlying health conditions to abstain from travel entirely. They also recommend “social distancing” for everyone, which means keeping about six feet of space between yourself and others, which is hard to do on planes or trains and in airports. That said, Japan is no longer on the CDC’s list of high-risk countries to avoid. The U.S. has now surpassed Japan in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths.

Bill Schierl and Sarena Melotte are in Tokyo today. The husband and wife, who live in Wisconsin, had planned the trip to see Sarena’s old college friend and to spend time in Kyoto, Kanazawa, and Tokyo on a week-long journey scheduled to start March 8. As the date approached and the coronavirus spread, they had a decision to make: Japan’s coronavirus case load seemed to be leveling out, while in contrast, the U.S.’s cases were on track to surpass it. As of today, that’s the reality: According to Johns Hopkins, the U.S. is suffering with 2,345 known cases (50 deaths) and trending upward, while Japan has 773 (22 deaths) and the curve is flattening. After a lot of consideration, they decided to go ahead with the trip. We talked to them on March 13 as they arrived in Tokyo, to hear about their experiences and understand their decision-making process.

Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto. Photo courtesy Bill Schierl

What is it like to travel in Japan during this time of the virus? How does it feel?

Sarena: There is a sense of heightened awareness. We were in China last year, and that’s also a culture that wears face masks all the time anyway, so to see that here isn’t a culture shock for us. But knowing why. Still, I felt pretty comfortable; we are taking all the standard precautions.

Bill: Overall, I think people are a little happy to have tourism. Our guide this morning said 50 percent of her business canceled. That’s very typical—even walking to the bamboo forest and through the shop areas, there’s just no people. You hear about the economics of something like this on the news, but in real life, you see the economics: the person who is running a small little vendor shop and there’s no one walking by anymore.

Sarena: In Kyoto, a man told us that he had not seen foreigners since January. He owns a business and he was very happy that we came in. It’s a sad situation when that’s the reaction you’re getting. We don’t want to be portrayed that we were very flippant about [the decision to come to Japan] or didn’t weigh it heavily. We didn’t want to be seen as the obnoxious Americans who didn’t take into account the greater good, who were just “Yay, there’s nobody here, this is great.” While it was nice that there weren’t a lot of people, we always knew why. Everyone we’ve met has just been lovely. Two older women on the bus this morning were all smiles, and everyone is going the extra mile. The taxi driver literally got out of the car and pointed to where we were going to make sure we got to the right place. Everyone was so helpful.

A garden in Kyoto, one of many places with very few tourists. Photo courtesy Bill Schierl

How is it affecting what you’re doing and seeing?

Bill: The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art was closed in Kyoto, but you could still enter the building and see some exhibits. TeamLab was closed in Tokyo. Some of the samurai homes were closed yesterday. But in Japan, so much of what you’re going to see anyway is a temple or a garden, or bamboo gardens. We’ve been outdoors 95% of our days. That’s what we’ve felt best about is that we’ve been outside most of the time.

Sarena: Our itinerary hasn’t really changed, but it’s hard to compare apples to apples. When we walked through the samurai district, we could take a photo with no one behind us. Our guide said it was weird; there was a school near us and it was unusual that you wouldn’t hear the sound of children. There was literally no one in it. But on a normal day it would have been extremely busy.

empty outdoor alley in samurai district in Kanazawa Japan

The samurai district of Nagamachi, Kanazawa. Photo courtesy Bill Schierl

Are you seeing fewer crowds everywhere?

Bill: The major train station in Tokyo is still busy. There’s people around; we can only assume that there’s less people around by Tokyo standards.

Sarena: Let’s put it this way: We got out of the train station and jumped right in a taxi, there was no queue.

empty Shinkansen train in Japan with one traveler waving

An empty Shinkansen train. Photo courtesy Bill Schierl

The U.S. now has more cases than Japan. Do you feel safer there than you would here?

Sarena: It helped knowing that the culture that we were stepping into was for-the good-of-the-group minded, that everyone is doing their part. The hotel staff was showing us how to work the TV and it turned on to a sumo match and there wasn’t anyone in the audience. Japan had started these practices two to three weeks ago. We’re scrolling through social media today, and our community at home is only now feeling the effects: social distancing and our local university ending classes. I really don’t know what we’re going to step into at home.

Bill: The average person on the street here has remained welcoming and we haven’t felt anyone to be distancing, even riding mass transportation. Based on our own CDC’s recommendations, we’ve chosen not to wear masks because when you put it on you touch your face more and it doesn’t prevent it. But here, there is probably only one percent of the population that we see unmasked. But nobody has moved a seat if we sat down next to them.

What were the pros and cons that you considered as you were deciding whether to take the trip or cancel it?

Sarena: Number one on our list was being socially responsible: all the health reasons, and also we didn’t want to be the two people who leave our small community, travel, and come back sick—so we are going to take precautions and monitor our own health.

Bill: A con was that there’s not any travel insurance you can get that fully covers cancellation because of epidemics or pandemics. A pro was that Japan has a culture of cleanliness and knowing that everyone already wears masks, that they were already at a heightened sense of dealing with the virus and had already taken steps. We felt a little more comfortable that way. And the Delta flight home was still going. And before leaving, at that time Japan did not have an escalating number of cases; the curve had already flattened.

Also, we registered with the STEP program, so the embassy here knew that we were in the country and we’ve received alerts and information. So it was a pro, knowing beforehand that there was a U.S. embassy and that if things came to the worst, we had a place to go and take refuge. What the reality of this is, I don’t know, and I’m glad we haven’t had to know, but it was a sense of comfort knowing before we left. And we packed in preparation, in case we got ill. We had go-bags and all the things from home you would want if you were sick.

Coronavirus safety signs are posted in trains and cars. Photo courtesy Bill Schierl

How did the President’s speech and new travel restrictions for Europe affect your thinking?

Bill: We haven’t really followed the news in the last week that we’ve been here—it’s as vacation goes. In the last two nights there wasn’t even a television available. We are flying into Minnesota, which is an airport that is not doing any restrictions and health verifications. My question was, should we come home immediately, but this morning we called Delta and found out the flight is still a go—it’s not being rerouted. So we’re feeling comfortable that it will be ok. But just knowing that all of a sudden they banned travel from Europe as a whole—just saying Europe was a broad brush—we were concerned that they could all of a sudden say Asia. That created a little nervousness and desire for verification.

Did any officials in Japan tell you anything about the virus or protection concerns or possible quarantines when you entered the country?

Bill: People talked about the virus openly and there were messages around, but there was no one who spoke to us at customs.

Sarena: There was nothing in your face, but there were definitely overhead announcements on public transportation. At every single shop they covered the hand driers to decrease the touch points, and every single shop and restaurant has hand sanitizers right at the door. I have never used this much hand sanitizer. And I never realized how much my nose itches.

tourist couple selfie in front of countdown clock to Tokyo Olympics in Japan

Countdown to the Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for summer 2020 but which may be postponed. Photo courtesy Bill Schierl

How Frequent Travelers Are Approaching Upcoming Trips

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Some of you have been writing in, asking whether you should change your travel plans and, if so, what is the best way to work with your Trusted Travel Expert to do so. We’re seeing that travelers who made non-refundable payments, and who either did not buy insurance or were not covered by their insurance, are being offered credits toward future travel instead of refunds. In fact, certain countries—Italy, France, and Greece among them—have been passing laws (designed to protect local businesses) that dictate credits rather than refunds. (Being offered a credit instead of a refund seems to have become standard in other sectors of the U.S. economy too, with everything from sporting-events tickets to gym memberships.) Where travelers are given a choice between a credit and a refund, often they decide to postpone their trip rather than cancelling it altogether. We asked a few of you to share how you came to your decision to postpone rather than cancel—and your decisions are a heartwarming testament to how committed you are to your place as global citizens.

“We have another trip to Italy planned for September with our best friends…”

Adam Amsterdam; New York, NY
Planned: Milan and Venice, March 7–14
Status: Postponed

“We were keeping our eye on the virus and when it started showing up in Venice and Milan it was like, uh oh. I wasn’t as worried about contracting it as I was about finding ourselves there and getting quarantined. I was thinking the one thing I know about all of these epidemics, whether it’s Zika or Ebola or the bird flu, is that whatever they tell you the first couple of days always changes because they don’t know enough. So I figured we’d monitor and make a decision when the date got closer. When they closed La Scala and the Duomo and canceled Ash Wednesday mass in Milan, I thought, That’s bad. I thought: even if we go, how much are we going to enjoy it if people are nervous and restaurants are closing early and sights are closed? We thought it’s just not worth it. Venice and Milan will be there, we’ll go back some other time. So we decided to postpone the trip. Now it seems like it was the right decision. We were scheduled to land on this past Saturday, so Sunday morning we would have been in Venice and we would now be on lockdown there until at least April 3, because they’re not letting people travel between cities without dispensation from the authorities.

Our Italy travel specialist, Maria, was, as you’d expect, phenomenal. We had a phone call, and she said these are extraordinary circumstances; notwithstanding our cancellation policy, we’re happy to give you a dollar-for-dollar credit if you plan a trip with us for the future. That was so beyond what she was required to do. So that just confirmed for me that she runs a really good business and is in it for the long term. And that was the right thing to do. And our airline also waived cancellation fees and change fees.

We have another trip to Italy planned for September with our best friends. The four of us are taking a trip to the Amalfi coast. We’re all turning 60 in 2020, and we decided we’d go to Positano and Ravello to celebrate that milestone. Hopefully we’ll still be able to do that.”

“Until this morning, we were fully prepared to go…”

Priscilla Eakeley; Chatham, NJ
Planned: Morocco, March 13–22
Status: Postponed

“My husband and I, along with our daughter and her husband, and her two kids, ages 10 and 12, were scheduled to fly on Royal Air Maroc on Friday, March 13. When you look at the charts, Morocco has only two reported coronavirus cases. I was not afraid of contracting the virus on the way over because I was equipped with all kinds of wipes and everything else. And I was not concerned about contracting the virus while we there. My husband and I have no underlying health issues, so that wasn’t a concern, even though we are both considerably north of 60. But I was very concerned about getting back. I spoke to Wendy, and she had another angle on this: God forbid I contract the coronavirus, do I want to be in isolation in a Moroccan hospital?

Until this morning, we were fully prepared to go. Everybody I know encouraged us not to; I think we were the last holdouts. I was thinking that, health-wise, we were just as well off over there as here. But the President’s announcement last night was a huge game changer for us. First, there was the advisory that Americans not travel anywhere abroad, period. Morocco is not Europe, but his speech [announcing that non-U.S. citizens are banned from flying to the U.S. from Europe]—it sent shockwaves through the travel industry as well as us. And, second, the lack of clarity means, who knows? We’ve been to Morocco before and we love it, but the point of this trip for us was about seeing it through our grandchildren’s eyes. They’re young, we’re not, so we canceled. My daughter and her family are still going.

Our travel planner, recommended by Wendy, has been absolutely fabulous throughout, and managed to get full credit for our portion of the land costs—credit we can apply to a future trip. Wish I could say the same about Royal Air Maroc—they refused to refund or even credit our seats, even in the wake of everything that’s happening. Unbelievably bad customer service.

We are supposed to fly to Milan in mid-May, and the verdict is still out about whether we’ll be going. We have until mid-April to pull the plug, and really hoping that everything is better by then.”

“You couldn’t make a decision and stick with it because things were changing every day…”

Carroll Lachnit; Long Beach, CA
Planned: Norway, March 15–30
Status: Postponed till the fall

“We really started watching things carefully maybe ten days ago. It was the increasing drumbeat of concerns about exposure, and the general fact that the virus was moving beyond China and moving closer.

My husband is perhaps a little more attuned to risk things than I am. So it’s been an interesting experience to see the variance in our risk tolerance. As we saw cases begin to crop up in Norway, we began to get concerned. We were going to do Northern Lights viewing. We would spend minimal time in Oslo and be in a fairly remote place. We were ticketed on the way in to go via Munich and on the way out through Frankfurt, so watching the numbers climb in Germany was another issue.

Catherine Hamm in the LA Times wrote a great column about the questions to ask yourself when deciding whether to go. My husband and I sat down and read the article together, and I had six “go’s” and four “no-go’s” — and his were just the opposite. Just paying the money is not a reason to go, and you can’t force someone to go if they’re going to be uncomfortable. And he has some health issues, so he placed a call to his doctor who said he should not travel. And that was it. We’re not going to do this if your physician says you shouldn’t go.

On March 5, we emailed the travel specialist whom Wendy recommended to us, to say we don’t want to cancel, we want to postpone. She sent us back a lovely note that she would try to move as many pieces as possible to a later date. And I just slept so much better. It was every day: are we, aren’t we, are we, aren’t we. You couldn’t make a decision and stick with it because things were changing every day and Norway had more cases every day. And while last week I might have felt, not exactly alarmist, but more are we being chickens here? Now I see that we were ahead of the curve and made the right decision.”

“I am not going to say that I wasn’t concerned. But I would also say that I’m not going to completely stop living my life…”

Phyllis Bossin; Cincinnati, OH
Planned: Australia, April 25–May 15
Status: Postponed till December

“We were going with another couple, and our position was: If the plane is flying, we’ll be there. Which is what I really believed until yesterday, when we decided it was time for Plan B. It’s a long flight with a lot of people on the plane, and being in a contained area for 23 hours is a lot. And the CDC is saying that people who are older shouldn’t fly.

I am not going to say that I wasn’t concerned. But I would also say that I’m not going to completely stop living my life. My husband is a physician, and he has contacts through work with the CDC, so we’re on top of it. But we didn’t even discuss not going on our trip to Honduras (we just got back from scuba diving there for a week). The plane was packed, and nobody was wearing a mask. But as each day goes by, people get more fearful because it keeps getting worse. And the only thing that seems to be stopping it is social isolation. So we all agreed there were prudent reasons to reschedule. We are postponing, not canceling. We asked Stuart to duplicate our itinerary exactly, and we are going on December 1.”

“Viking sent us a letter saying…we’ll give you a credit for two years. That was tempting, but we still wanted to go…”

Heidi Fielding, Minneapolis–St. Paul, MN
Planned: Cruise to Italy, March 25–April 6
Status: Postponed to April 2021

“We’d never gone on a Viking ocean cruise, so we were excited about that. We’re both retired from airlines, so we’ve done extensive travel, but not many cruises.

About three weeks before departure, the virus hit in Asia, and Viking sent us a letter saying that we hope you travel but if you do want to cancel, we’ll let you cancel up to 24 hours ahead and give you a credit for two years. That was tempting, but we still wanted to go. Then a few weeks later, Italy was starting to have problems and finally shut down, and that was two weeks from departure. Our cruise had four ports in Italy, and we were supposed to disembark in Venice at the end. We knew it wouldn’t be a problem to rebook the cruise, but we had also booked business-class airfare and were concerned we could lose a lot of money. Then we spoke to Delta, and they said we could rebook without any change fees. That was the key. We weren’t concerned about getting sick as much as our itinerary completely changing or being in quarantine if the U.S. decided not to allow anyone in from Italy. We’ve already been to Venice, so we weren’t concerned about missing Venice; our concern was the possibility of not even being able to get through it.

So we talked to Mary Jean’s team—they were keeping us up-to-date—and they immediately got us booked on another cruise for April 2021, with the cabin we wanted. We were happy with the decision. The only downside is being in Minnesota in March.”

PLEASE NOTE THAT AS OF MARCH 11, 2020: The U.S. State Department has advised U.S. citizens to reconsider travel abroad and to avoid travel by cruise ship. Non-U.S. citizens are banned from flying from Europe to the U.S. for at least 30 days. Public health officials advise older adults and people with underlying health conditions to abstain from travel. They also recommend “social distancing” for everyone, which means keeping about six feet of space between yourself and others. That can be hard to do on a plane, on a train, or in an airport.

Dispatch from Paris: What It’s Like to Travel in France Right Now

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PLEASE NOTE: Our ongoing efforts to check in with travelers who are currently overseas does not necessarily mean we advocate international travel during the COVID-19 epidemic. Public health officials are advising older adults and people with underlying health conditions to abstain from travel.

In our continuing effort to answer readers’ questions about travel in this uncertain time, and to touch base with those who are traveling internationally now, we are interviewing readers who are currently overseas. Although we are speaking with them at the moment they are abroad and publishing as quickly as possible, we realize that the situations in those locations and around the world are changing quickly, and therefore travel alerts, health advisories, and even these travelers’ opinions may soon be different.

We are grateful to WendyPerrin.com reader Deborah Wente, who spoke with us from Paris on Sunday, March 8. Mrs. Wente is a frequent traveler to France. She spent a college semester in the south of France. lived there after graduation, and now visits the country every year. “I know the city well, I’ve been in Paris five times in the past four years,” she told us over the phone as she walked around Montmartre. “Life is normal.”

At the time of the interview and writing of this article, the U.S. State Department had France at a level 2 travel alert—for terrorism concerns from April 2019. The coronavirus count in France did see a surge in the past week: On March 6, when Mrs. Wente flew from Chicago’s O’Hare airport, the count was 577 cases and 9 deaths. When she and I spoke on March 8, the count was 959 cases and 11 deaths. (It’s not clear whether this apparent surge is from actual virus spread or from increased reporting.) School closures in two departments (similar to states) were announced March 6, and the Paris marathon has been rescheduled from April 5 to October 18.

Though a lot of this escalated once Mrs. Wente was already in Paris, she said she and her family never considered canceling. The trip was to celebrate the 18th birthday of one of Mrs. Wente’s nieces, who is living in Toulouse. The rest of the group consisted of Mrs. Wente’s other two nieces, her sister, and their 81-year-old mother, who accompanies Mrs. Wente on her other trips to France each year. (Public health officials are advising older people, and people with underlying health conditions, not to take planes right now and to keep space between yourself and others.) The Louvre and other museums are open.

Mrs. Wente, from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, shared photos, video, and candid thoughts with us:

Q: Was there really no hesitation in your group about travel to France at this time?

A: The only thing was when my sister, maybe last Wednesday, sent us a text, saying the Louvre is closed. And people are still saying that. French people are still saying that, and it’s not true. It’s been reopened. But we never thought twice. I brought wipes to wipe down the plane, and we brought hand sanitizer, but we never thought about canceling.

Contrary to some misconceptions, even by Parisians, the Louvre is open. The entrance looked uncrowded when Mrs. Wente passed by, but she saw a long line to get into another museum, the Pompidou Centre. Photo courtesy Deborah Wente

Q: Why not?

A: Well, it seems a little blown out of proportion. But I did read something in The New York Times that helps me understand that they’re trying to get it under control. I also just feel like I don’t worry about terrorists when I come to Paris. If it’s for the greater good of society, then at some point I might not go, but I just feel like you have to live your life. My mom is in the vulnerable category, but we kind of didn’t worry about that either.

Q: What is it like there now? How does it feel?

A: I’ve been to Paris a lot, I know the city well, and I speak French so I talked to my Uber driver and other people. The Uber driver said, “Look at the French, we don’t care, we’re going to live our lives.” He thought tourism was down; he said they were seeing fewer travelers. But another woman I spoke to in Place du Tertre by Sacre Coeur said it’s just not a big weekend. It’s early March and cold and raining; it’s not high season. Then yesterday I was walking past the Pompidou, and it was packed. That was Saturday mid-afternoon. Tons of people. So I don’t really know if it’s quieter. Is it because it’s early March?

One woman Uber driver kind of went on a rant about how she cleans the car all the time and wipes stuff down when passengers leave and doesn’t touch any of their stuff. But other than her, they’re just like meh.

family stands to take a photo in the rain in Paris France

It was rainy and cold the weekend Mrs. Wente and her extended family visited Paris, and she wonders if the season was part of the reason it seemed less crowded. Photo courtesy Deborah Wente

Q: What have you been doing during your trip? Is the coronavirus affecting what you’re doing and seeing?

A: We went to the Rodin Museum and it was quiet, but it was Friday afternoon. We went to the Breizh Café in Le Marais. We went to our friends’ house for dinner about 45 minutes outside the city. And today, my sister went to the Catacombs with her daughters; I didn’t go because I’ve done that. And then we went to the Village Royal; it’s a little street with high-end stores, and an artist put up a canopy of pink umbrellas there. I took a photo because I was trying to show that it’s not that crowded. We walked past the Louvre but we didn’t go in. There are people, but it’s not crazy packed. There was that huge line to get into the Pompidou yesterday. We thought about going to another museum today but didn’t want to wait in line.

Q: Have you been reading or watching the news in Paris? How is it different from here?

A: I get the New York Times daily briefing and the Times’ coronavirus briefing, and that’s all I’ve been reading on vacation. I did learn how to clean my seat on the airplane. I’m washing my hands and sanitizing and doing the things that the CDC says are important.

Q: What kind of precautions are you seeing around the city?

A: There was hand sanitizer at our hotel. The restaurants have sanitizer. The Breizh Café had a big hand sanitizer, but they’re still bringing out baskets of bread. It’s all the France that I know and love. I’m standing right now in Montmartre, and there’s a man playing the accordion, and it’s like a French movie.

Life is normal. We’ve maybe seen like three masks on people. There are always Asian people with masks anywhere you go. We just haven’t seen that many masks.

Q: Do people seem more stressed?

A: People are so nice. We had so many special little experiences with people. Like three older women we met at a restaurant. When the waiter brought dessert and a glass of Champagne for my niece’s birthday, we started singing “Joyeux Anniversaire.” And they joined in singing and then came over and chatted with us. One was 83 and used to sing in a chorus. It was so nice.

Q: How is being there different than being in the US?

A: I feel like people at home are way more concerned. I have been watching on Facebook, and it’s spring break now, and a lot of my friends have kids in school, and they are cancelling trips. I haven’t watched the news here, but I feel like there’s way more hype at home. I get that it’s important and we want to stop it from spreading, but I feel like it’s much calmer here in Paris. There were more people wearing masks in the Chicago airport than here. I saw the picture of the plane that ran in your Italy story. Our plane was not empty. I walked through, and coach was pretty darn full.

Mrs. Wente didn’t see many people wearing masks as she walked around the Sacre Coeur area in Montmartre.

This Is How We Make Your Trips Better: Our Global Travel Summit

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From Sunday through Tuesday (Jan 26 – 28), Wendy, Brook, Jill, Neil, and I will gather in New York City to host our 3rd Global Travel Summit. The Trusted Travel Experts on The WOW List are convening from all corners of the globe, and we’re excited about it because it’s one of the most effective opportunities we get to connect with them—face-to-face—and reinforce the gold standard of quality that our readers expect from them.

As you may have seen, earlier this week we announced The 2020 WOW List of Trusted Travel Experts—Wendy’s rigorously vetted collection of the world’s best trip designers. But our oversight doesn’t stop just because the List has been published. In addition to closely monitoring reader reviews, Wendy and Brook are in frequent email and phone communication with our 100-plus WOW Listers throughout the year. Then we all gather in one place for our Global Travel Summit to hear from the Trusted Travel Experts (TTEs) first-hand about travel trends, news, and any changes at their destinations that might affect you and your trip planning. We review how the TTEs think, how they communicate, and how their systems and processes work, so that we can help you collaborate with them better. We also share with them what we’ve learned from you: the biggest travel-planning challenges you cite, your biggest pet peeves, and the kinds of experiences that mean the most to you. That way, they can create and deliver the unforgettable travel experiences you dream about.

When WOW List TTEs see a WendyPerrin.com trip request in their inbox, they know that traveler is a VIP, and they want to do their best to exceed your expectations. Brainstorming and sharing ideas at our WOW List Summit is one of the many ways they—and we—ensure they can do that. Here are a few photos from our previous summits, and we look forward to sharing more insight with you next week.

Maria Gabriella Landers and Joe Yudin

From left: Jonathan Epstein, Maita Barrenechea, Natalie Ewing, Zachary Rabinor

Andrea Ross

Allie Almario

Meg Austin and Cranky Flier Brett Snyder

Wendy

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

How You Are Changing the Travel Industry. Yes, You.

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We can’t thank you enough for so thoughtfully filling out the “Start a Trip” questionnaires on our website, and for providing such detailed post-trip reviews when you return from those trips. There are good reasons why we ask you to share your thoughts with us both before and after your travels. As you know, your reviews help Wendy constantly refine her WOW List of Trusted Travel Experts. But here’s what you might not know: We also rely on your input—anonymized, of course—to help WOW List trip planners understand what sophisticated travelers really want and need right now. When we gather with the 2020 WOW List experts for our Global Travel Summit in New York (Jan 26–28), we’ll make sure they know your preferences. Thus, by sharing with us the sorts of travel experiences you want most, the biggest trip-planning challenges you face, and what you find most valuable and memorable about your travels, you help make everyone’s next trips better. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ve told us you want out of travel in 2020. Are we hearing you right?

What you’re asking for in 2020

To get off the beaten tourist track
To spend time on the water for at least a day
To hike to villages, meeting interesting locals en route
One-of-a-kind boutique accommodations with a sense of place
A flexible itinerary you can change whenever you like
Expeditions to see nature and animals
Custom-tailored experiences unique to your interests

Your biggest pet peeves

Tourist crowds and lines
Follow-the-yellow-flag group tours
Guides who recite a history textbook
Chain hotels

The biggest challenges you cite

Avoiding crowds, lines, tour groups, tourist traps
Getting shut out because you waited too late to book (e.g., Christmas in Morocco; spring break in the Galapagos; safaris in July/August)
Keeping the kids engaged and enlightening them
Combining beach with culture (or otherwise making a trip not feel like all one kind of thing)
Pinpointing the best timing for your trip (and the best days to visit sites)
Determining where to save vs. where to splurge
Finding something you (or your neighbors) haven’t done already

The one-of-a-kind experiences you love most

Having a landscape all to yourself (e.g., lunch alone in a vast lavender field)
Private boat excursions
Cooking classes with local families in their homes
Dining in wineries with the winemaker
Sleeping in castles
Exclusive behind-the-scenes access at museums and landmarks
Entry to monuments and museums before they’re open to the public
A hotel-room view so spectacular that you could sightsee for hours from your window
A savvy local guide who makes spontaneous recommendations that end up being a high point of the trip

The Best Places to Travel in 2020: Where to Go Now and Why

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We’ve scoured the globe and selected the most rewarding places in the world to see in 2020. Whether because they’re under-the-radar or up-and-coming, whether because of new cultural attractions, much-anticipated hotel openings, a dining renaissance, or new cruise itineraries, these destinations are in that magical sweet spot: well equipped and ready for discerning travelers, but not yet overrun by tourists. So go on, visit a spot that’s new to you this year, or dig deeper into a place you thought you already knew. Or heck, just find a beautiful beach to tune out and relax on. In our list of Where to Go in 2020, we’ve got inspiration for everyone.

The Amazon: Expand Your Understanding, Support Its Recovery

Aerial view of Anavilhanas National Park Islands, Rio Negro, Brazilian Amazon

The Anavilhanas Archipelago in Brazil’s Amazon is home to wildlife including jaguars and manatees. Photo: Shutterstock

The Amazon’s forest fires have been making headlines for months. Martin Frankenberg, a Brazil specialist on Wendy’s WOW List, wants travelers to understand that they can actually do good for the rainforest by visiting: “The income generated by responsible tourism has the potential to provide an alternative to damaging activities in the region.” Travelers can also visit safely, since “the areas where the fires are burning are quite far from the touristed sections of the rainforest.” They’d be wise to visit soon: “It’s impossible to assure how much this disaster will impact and change the biome. So, the time to experience the forest is now.” Martin and his team are based in Brazil and know how to craft an itinerary that will not only observe the most respect to the Amazon environment but will also help travelers have the most immersive experience.

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Antarctica: Go now, it could get a lot more crowded soon

Zodiac cruise through the ice, Antarctica. Photo: Abby Suplizio

Antarctica is about to see a lot more ships. Go now before the experience changes. Photo: Abby Suplizio

An unprecedented number of cruise ships destined for Antarctica are being launched. Eight were delivered last year, and almost as many are expected in 2020. The variety of vessels (ranging from 100 to 530 guests and from casual to ultra-luxurious) opens Antarctica up to travelers who might never have considered the journey before, says WOW List expert Ashton Palmer. It also raises questions about how cruise companies will manage the influx of people. “Most ships are members of, and follow the guidelines set, by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators,” says Ashton. “This self-regulated group has guidelines that require no more than 100 passengers are ashore at any given time.” Growth will raise a challenge, though; Ashton predicts ships limiting the number of sites they visit or the number of landings they make each day. “I would recommend people consider visiting sooner rather than later because more ships will mean more competition for landing sites and also potentially more overcrowding.”

Start an extraordinary trip to Antarctica

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Turkey’s Northern Aegean Coast: What the Mediterranean used to be like

dog and cat on charming street in alacati village turkey

Alacati is one of the charming villages to visit when sailing Turkey’s northern Aegean Coast . Photo: Sea Song

“It is still authentic and pristine,” says Karen Fedoko Sefer, a Turkey specialist on the WOW List, “but I do not know how long this will last.” She’s talking about Turkey’s northern Aegean coast, a picturesque stretch of villages, small towns, and historical sites where people are turning their mansions into beautiful boutique hotels, where all of Turkey’s top-notch olive oil and wines are born, where travelers can go hiking and foraging for herbs in the mountains and then cook them with their truly farm-to-table dinner. While much of Europe is seeing worsening tourist crowds, the local people here are trying to preserve this coastline and keep mass tourism out. To experience it respectfully, leave Istanbul and drive along the Marmara Sea. Wind around the Gallipoli Peninsula, to Ayvalik for some olive oil tasting, and then to Junda Island where you can stay in a restored seaside mansion and sail on a private yacht. The next day, take a cooking class in Edremit, where you can pick herbs from the fields for the dinner you’ll prepare. Then it’s on to Urla, for a wine tasting from ancient vines that have been restored and which are now producing world-class pours. A short flight from Izmir will take you back to Istanbul.

Start an extraordinary trip to the Aegean Coast

You’ll be marked as a VIP and get a trip like this. Learn more in our Insider’s Guide to Turkey’s Aegean Coast.

South Africa: Safaris are now possible in just one week

Three cheetahs lounging, Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa

Cheetahs in Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa.

New nonstop flights to the African continent from the United States are a welcome trend for all us exotic-travel lovers who are so time-poor. It started last year when Kenya Airways launched a nonstop between New York’s JFK and Nairobi (see “Kenya: New flights make African safaris easier” in Where To Travel in 2019). This year, there’s even bigger news: United’s introduction of a nonstop route between Newark and Cape Town. It’s been 20 years since there was a nonstop flight from the U.S. to Cape Town, and it will cut flight time down to just 14.5 hours from New York. Travelers no longer need to fritter away valuable vacation hours flying via Europe, or transferring via Johannesburg, in order to access the increasingly exciting food, art, and cultural offerings of Cape Town. Better yet, a safari is now possible even if you’ve got only one week of vacation. You can sample two or three first-rate safari lodges or tented camps, and top that off with a couple of days in Cape Town, all within a 9-day/8-night period (a week plus a weekend). As for the next nonstop to Africa on the horizon, the country to get that will be Morocco. Following Royal Air Maroc’s launch of nonstop service between Miami and Casablanca earlier this year, American Airlines will start flying nonstop from Philadelphia to Casablanca in summer 2020. So both the top and bottom of Africa will soon be that much more accessible. It’s about time.

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Oslo: An architectural boom

exterio rof Munch Museum opening in Oslo 2020

The Munch Museum is opening in Oslo this year, one of several big cultural venues arriving in 2020. Photo: Munch Museum

Art and architecture fans are excited about Oslo this year, thanks to the unveiling of three eye-popping additions to the city’s skyline. “Oslo is getting a makeover,” says Jan Sortland, Wendy’s WOW List specialist for Norway. In the spring (tentatively April), the new Munch Museum will be unveiled. Designed by innovative Spanish architecture firm Estudio Herreros, the building is made from recyclable concrete and steel and will finally give The Scream a permanent home where it can always be on view. The National Museum is also moving into larger digs in 2020. In addition to providing expanded gallery space (conservators will be moving in more than 100,000 pieces before the opening), the sleek gray expanse is focused on creating open and inviting public spaces, including a rooftop terrace, an airy library, and several cultural and performance venues. Oslo’s new National Library will also open in the spring of 2020, opposite the waterfront Opera House. The library will be almost lacy and translucent, with a façade that will glow different colors at night, depending on what activities and events are going on inside. Visitors can of course browse the extensive book collections, but will also be able to take advantage of a movie theater, media workshops, gaming zones, lounges, and a restaurant.

Start an extraordinary trip to Norway

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Panama: Under-the-radar tropical islands

pier and overwater bungalows in Bocas del Toro Panama

Bocas del Toro on Panama’s Caribbean Coast has all of the turquoise water and none of the hurricanes. Photo: Costa Travel

Thanks to its rapidly expanding airport hub, Frank-Gehry-designed Biomuseo, and improving tourism infrastructure, Panama has been climbing onto people’s radar for the past few years. While most people know the country for its famous canal, WOW List specialist Pierre Gedeon is hoping travelers will start paying more attention to its lush rainforests, local traditions, ancient forts, outdoor activities and coffee plantations. What’s more, its coastal islands are home to new luxe resorts that immerse travelers in Panama’s natural environment while also protecting it. A 400-acre, private-island resort off the country’s Pacific coast, Isla Palenque has eight thatch-roofed casitas and one villa constructed out of sustainably sourced local materials. Guests can hike through primary rainforest, snorkel through the Chiriqui National Marine Park, learn about the island’s pre-Columbian cultures via anthropological excursions, or soak in the sun on the island’s seven different beaches. Solar-powered Isla Secas, opened in 2019, is another eco-retreat off the Pacific coast; it’s set on a 14-island archipelago with private casitas. Over on Panama’s Caribbean coast, the Bocas del Toro archipelago is where sun seekers will find the Red Frog Beach Island Resort. This is a more classic Caribbean-style resort with villas, lofts, and condominiums, but thanks to its location near the equator, it is outside the hurricane zone. From mid-December through the end of April is Panama’s dry season; to spot humpback whales, visit the Pacific Coast between August and October.

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Negev Desert, Israel: Remote relaxation at a beautiful new resort

turquoise infinity pool looking out over the Negev desert at the Six Senses Shahurte

The Six Senses Shaharut will give travelers an oasis of infinity pools in Israel’s Negev Desert. Photo: Six Senses

Carved out of a cliff in the Arava Valley of the Negev Desert, the Six Senses Shaharut is due to open in the spring of 2020. Until now, travelers’ only high-end desert-oasis option was the Beresheet. The Six Senses will be more remote, with only half the number of rooms (60 suites and pool villas). The difference, says Jonathan Rose, Israel specialist on The WOW List, is that the experience will feel more exclusive and will offer the luxe touches that the Six Senses brand is known for, including its signature spa and hammam treatments. Guests can try overnight camel camping, hiking, rock climbing, safaris, and wine tours, or learn about Six Senses’ local sustainability efforts at its Earth Lab.

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Madrid: An old city gets a new spark

In Madrid, the Four Seasons and the Mandarin Oriental will give their shared neighborhood a little boost. Photo: Four Seasons

With the opening of the Four Seasons and the re-opening of Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid will be turning heads again in 2020, says WOW List Spain specialist Virginia Irurita. As she explains: The area around the hotels, Barrio de las Letras and Puerta del Sol, had long been eschewed by Madrileños for being too touristy but is now undergoing a renaissance, with new shops, restaurants, and pedestrian-friendly streets that will encourage mingling between locals and travelers. Small businesses, artisan shops, galleries, and mom-and-pop cafés and restaurants are also opening in the surrounding neighborhoods, raising Madrid’s profile as a destination for those interested in art, design, and gastronomy.

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Taninthari Region, Myanmar: An untouched time capsule—for now

myaw yit pagoda in dawei measured in Mir Ji Dawei,temple of the Dawei area is located on a small island of the Andaman coast. - Image

Visit the Myaw Yit Pagoda in Dawai, a town in Myanmar’s Taninthari region along the Andaman Sea. Photo: Shutterstock

The Taninthari region in the south of Myanmar remains untouched and charming—a place where visitors (who are few and far between) will find quaint fishing villages, spectacular beaches, fishermen who still dive for pearls, and the semi-nomadic Moken peoples, whose ancient culture is based on the sea. Bordering the Andaman Sea and the Tenasserim Hills, the area’s key towns to explore are Dawei, Myeik and Kawthaung. Travelers can also charter a boat and sail the pristine Mergui Archipelago. Why do this now? “The place is changing,” says Toni Neubauer, a Myanmar specialist on The WOW List. “After a two-year suspension, plans are again underway to build Southeast Asia’s largest deep-sea port and a special economic zone in Dawei, the capital of the region.” This quiet coastline could soon be transformed into a major commercial center.

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Matera, Italy: The new Puglia

Matera, Basilicata, Italy: landscape at sunrise of the old town (sassi di Matera), with the ancient cave houses carved into the tufa rock over the deep ravine

Matera’s sassi, ancient cave dwellings, are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Photo: Shutterstock

Puglia has been hot for a few years now. It’s the region of Italy located just across from the Amalfi Coast (it’s in the heel of the boot-shaped country) and, thanks to its reputation for friendly people and charming villages, its popularity has skyrocketed. “When you walk around in the small towns it is very easy and fun to interact with the locals and truly feel part of the local community,” says Andrea Grisdale, one of Wendy’s WOW List specialists for Italy. But for those who are ready to explore an even lesser-known gem of Italy, nearby Matera is where they should be headed. And soon. The town, located in the Basilicata region about an hour from Puglia, is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Its pride is the sassi, more than a thousand ancient dwellings and churches carved into the natural rock of the town’s steep limestone ravine. The historic grottoes haven’t always been so appreciated, however. After seeing them in 1950, Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi declared the cave homes decrepit and unsanitary and ordered that all residents be cleared out and moved into new housing projects. As a result, the area was abandoned and devolved into a crime-filled slum. Luckily, within ten years locals were already working to save and rehabilitate their unique historic town, and eventually their efforts paid off. In 1993, UNESCO recognized the sassi for their outstanding universal value, and today, the caves have been transformed into hotels, bars, restaurants, shops, and private homes. “Matera is not the easiest place to reach, which is why it has managed to remain relatively unknown,” Andrea says. “When you are driving toward Matera and it finally comes into view, the first thing that most people tell us comes to mind is that it resembles strongly the way Jerusalem is portrayed in so many movies.”

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Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands: A beloved resort returns

wooden pier reaches from ocean to shore at th Rosewood Little Dix Bay resort in Virgin Gorda

Rosewood Little Dix Bay will reopen in 2020 after a four-year, multi-million-dollar renovation. Image: Rosewood

In 2017, Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc on the Caribbean, including Virgin Gorda. The quiet and undeveloped island is back in business, and in March, Rosewood’s esteemed Little Dix Bay resort will unveil its multimillion-dollar renovation. The island is known for the Baths, a natural geological formation that is simply beautiful, but it’s also the perfect home base to island-hop to other spots, like Anegada or Jost Van Dyke. Little Dix Bay is set in 500 acres of natural gardens and, if it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s famed for being the eco resort that conservationist Laurance Rockefeller built as his family retreat more than a half century ago.

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Gascony: France’s unsung food mecca

Summer landscape - view of the countryside close to the village of Lavardens, in the historical province Gascony, the region of Occitanie of southwestern France -

Gascony is a culinary destination that isn’t crowded with tourists yet. Photo: Shutterstock

Foodies should head to Gascony sooner rather than later. This agricultural region in the southwest of France doesn’t boast any celebrity chefs, fancy hotel chains, or corporate wineries—and that is exactly its draw. The rich food, roadside distilleries, lively local market towns, and rolling farmland are the stars of this rural area, which remains slower-paced and less trafficked than the beaten paths of its neighbor Bordeaux. A good way to access Gascony’s culinary (and cultural) nooks and crannies is via the scenic Canal a la Garonne, on a canal barge cruise. Much smaller and homier than river ships (and, in some cases, completely private), barges meander slowly through the countryside, stopping frequently to explore villages, sights, and restaurants. Many of the vessels are owned and operated by locals, an arrangement that enables guests to make meaningful—and delicious—connections.

Start an extraordinary trip to Gascony

You’ll be marked as a VIP and get a trip like this. Learn more in our Insider’s Guide to European Canal Barge Cruises.

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How to Get the Best Business Class or Premium Economy Flight Experience

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Figuring out how to get the best value on air travel is one of life’s most infuriating challenges. It’s not just about the dollar value of airfare either: The algorithm travelers have to invent in order to rank competing priorities of seat comfort, seat location, checked luggage fees, overhead bin space, boarding order, Wi-Fi access, power outlets, inflight entertainment options, and mileage rewards is more complicated than the one Google uses to return your everyday search results.

To help travelers cut through the noise, we asked air-travel booking guru Brett Snyder for insights and strategies on how to get the best flight experiences and airfare values. Snyder founded a company called Cranky Concierge, which specializes not only in ferreting out the smartest routes and fares for your specific trip, but also in monitoring your chosen flight to let you know asap if anything goes wrong and, even more crucial, provide emergency rerouting assistance if your flight is delayed or canceled, or if you miss a connection. Snyder’s deep knowledge of the air travel world is one reason we invited him to speak at our 2017 Global Travel Summit, and it’s also why we tapped him for the following tips. “The idea is that there are trade-offs in travel,” Snyder told us. “And you can pick and choose the things that matter to you to find the best options for what you want and need to do.”

At the 2017 Wendy Perrin Global Travel Summit Brett Snyder of Cranky Concierge shares tips on how to get the best flight experience for your dollar

At the 2017 Wendy Perrin Global Travel Summit, Brett Snyder, founder of air-travel-assistance company Cranky Concierge, shares tips on how to get the best flight experience for your dollar.

How to Get the Best Business Class Flight Experience

The challenges:

“Lots of airlines have ‘flat beds’ now, but not all flat beds are equal,” Snyder cautions. “[Travelers] don’t always know what the seats are like. How would you know that the Emirates 777 doesn’t have fully flat beds, or that different aircraft on the same route don’t have the same seats?” Two other critieria to consider are the cabin’s seat layout (do all seats have direct aisle access?) and whether each seat is a private cocoon. “Having a leading business class [used to mean] you had to have flatbed seats, but then the goalpost moved and became direct-aisle access,” Snyder says, before explaining why this is important: “United still has some planes without direct-aisle access, which means most of their seats are 2-2-2. So if you’re traveling with kids, you can be sitting next to them—it’s still a flatbed but at least you’re there with them. But Virgin Atlantic, across the fleet, the seats are basically individual seats. You can have your kid near you, but not right next you, and you won’t see them from your seat because they’re meant to be private.”

The solutions:

Snyder recommends three tools that help inform a clear picture of what you’ll be getting in a particular business class cabin.

One is SeatGuru, where the seat maps show the layout of the cabin. “Those seat maps won’t tell you much about how great or terrible the product is; you’ll just see a square where the seat is,” he says. “But it’ll tell you whether you’re sitting together with someone or not.” The catch is that airlines often have multiple configurations on each aircraft type, so you need to make sure to compare the airline seat map with Seatguru on your specific flight to make sure you’re looking at the right one.

Brett’s other tool recommendation is online trip reports. These are photo-heavy, often very detail-oriented reviews written by travel bloggers about their specific flight experiences. “A seat map will tell you there are flatbeds, but a trip report will say, Yeah and they’re shredded and half of them didn’t work,” Snyder says. “We send these to clients all the time if they’re trying to decide between two flights.” He names One Mile at a Time, The Designair, Travel Codex, and TravelSort as a few he regularly points his own clients to. Some trip reports span the whole flight experience: what the lounge is like, the check-in process, the boarding process, the inflight food, and more. “Typically what I do is Google, for example, ‘Emirates 777 business class trip report’: include the airline, the aircraft, the cabin, and the words ‘trip report’. Then look at the pictures,” Snyder says. “That’s what we’re really trying to show people with this: what it really looks like on the airplane.”

How to Get the Best Economy Flight Experience

The challenges:

If you can’t afford business class—or simply prefer to spend your travel dollars elsewhere—how do you nevertheless maintain some level of comfort and dignity?

The solutions:

Snyder has three suggestions for making your flight comfortable if you opt to turn right, rather than left, when you board.

To save money, but still have a better overall flight experience, consider coach or premium economy on the way home. “One example I like is if someone is going on their honeymoon,” Snyder says. “They get married, they’re going to the airport soon after, and they want to sit in business class—they want the champagne and to continue in the halo of the wedding. But after two weeks, you just want to get home, so maybe you don’t care. If you had to choose [where to delegate your funds], you could just sit in coach. Another example is if you’re going to Asia and even if it is your honeymoon, let’s say going over it’s a daytime flight, but coming back it’s an overnight flight, so you might want business class on the way back so you can sleep. Just piece it together based on the budget you have and what’s important to you.”
Get to know what “premium economy” really means. “An increasing number of airlines have premium economy, but it’s very different from what people in the United States think,” Snyder says. “It’s not just a coach seat with a little more leg room.” Real premium economy, he explains, has wider seats, more legroom, often a leg rest, upgraded food, priority boarding, a smaller cabin. “So it almost feels like domestic first class, which isn’t all that great but it’s better than coach. For some people, that’s a great upgrade over what you’re used to, and it’s a whole lot nicer and more affordable.” Snyder notes that American, Delta, and United all have a premium economy category and do a good job with it, as do foreign carriers Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, Alitalia, Japan, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, and Air New Zealand.
Snyder speculates that the number of low-cost airlines flying over the Atlantic is likely to increase in the near future, so travelers should keep their eyes open for news on this front. “Norwegian is the most visible of these so far,” he says. “They are flying to a ton of places, and it’s only going to continue. They also have cheap one-way fares. Long-haul one-way flights are traditionally very expensive,” Snyder explains, so this development is valuable: Travelers can now use miles for a one-way ticket to Europe, then buy a ticket home that won’t be outrageously expensive. Snyder raises all the usual flags about low-cost airlines: You have to pay extra for food and baggage, etc., and if something goes wrong with your flight, an airline like Wow doesn’t have the same support as, say, United, where there’s a network of airline partners to help take you where you need to go. Still, Snyder says, the low-cost airlines have their benefits: “We have often found that it can be cheaper to buy two one-ways on Norwegian than a round-trip.” Interestingly, all of this is good news for every traveler, not just those trying to fly on a shoestring: Snyder expects this competition to drive down pricing on the bigger-name airlines.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Holiday Travel Ideas from Sophisticated Travelers

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Idyllic tropical beach with white sand, turquoise ocean water and blue sky at Antigua island in Caribbean

Antigua island in the Caribbean

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Mendoza, Argentina

Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Costa Rica

kayak on turquoise water Koh Lipe island Thailand

Koh Lipe, Thailand

the red sand of Chile's Atacama desert with tall mountains in the distance

Atacama Desert, Chile

Sahara Desert, Morocco

Galapagos Islands

Leafy town square with fountain in a picturesque village in Provence, France

Saignon, Provence, France

Masada, Israel

Egypt

Udaipur, India

A lot of travelers write to us seeking suggestions for unusual Christmas-New Year’s destinations. They want to go where everybody else isn’t going. Depending on what sort of experience they’re after, Wendy might suggest anything from Malta to Abu Dhabi.

As for the holiday travel plans that WendyPerrin.com travelers have already made, among the most popular locales are Argentina, New Zealand, and Thailand. Travelers who want to explore the world closer to home are bound for Mexico, Costa Rica, the Caribbean Islands, and Belize.

If you haven’t planned your holiday trip yet, now is the time, as many flights and resorts fill up months in advance. For inspiration, browse the lists below that show where your fellow travelers are headed. We’ve also got helpful monthly articles on Where to Go When. If you have other ideas or plans for your winter travels, let us know in the comments where you’re headed!

Top 10 Countries Booked by WOW List Travelers for Christmas/New Year’s Trips

Argentina
Mexico*
Chile
Costa Rica
Morocco*
New Zealand*
Caribbean Islands
Thailand
Belize
Egypt*

* = tied with the country listed above it

Top 16 Countries Already Booked By WOW List Travelers for Winter Trips
(November through February)

Mexico
Thailand
Chile
New Zealand
Argentina
Vietnam*
Morocco
United States*
Caribbean Islands
Costa Rica*
Cambodia
The Galapagos Islands*
Australia
Belize
France*
Italy*

* = tied with the country listed above it

Ice Cream Treats You’ll Want to Plan Your Next Vacation Around

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I like ice cream. Well, any dessert, really. It’s one of the hobbies I have when I travel: sampling desserts and candies as I investigate new places. I tell myself it’s sort of an anthropological study: Differences in flavors and dining habits say a lot about a culture, right? But if I’m honest, the truth is that I just want to eat sweets. And what’s so wrong about that? Travelers don’t necessarily need a big important reason to pick one destination over another. For me, if there’s a particular museum exhibit on view, a random festival going on, a campy literary connection to a place, I can plan a whole trip around that. Cases in point: I chose Bali because of the views and the ubiquitousness of banana-chocolate desserts (they are everywhere!), and a big part of the reason I went back to Singapore, where I used to live, was for a food tour with a friend. Sadly, I have yet to plan a whole trip around an ice cream cone, but that can’t be too far off, especially now that I’ve been looking back at these sweet memories. Here are delicious scoops of inspiration for your next vacation. And if you have any other dessert suggestions for me, please leave them in the comments!

The western city of Oradea, in Romania, is remarkable for its well-preserved collection of Art Nouveau architecture—one of the most impressive in Europe. But when you're finished touring the beautiful buildings, stop for a pick-me-up at Sweet Magnolia on the main pedestrian shopping street. In addition to a rich and buttery salted caramel (one of the best I've ever tasted), they offer some more creative flavors too, like a vegan vanilla infused with charcoal to give it that eyebrow-raising black color.

avocado ice cream cone from Mister in Vancouver

In Vancouver, I had a high-brow/low-brow ice cream day. I started with this is scoop of avocado ice cream from Mister Artisan, where they start with a soft paste and use liquid nitrogen to freeze it right before your eyes, and then serve it in a charcoal waffle cone. Then I moved on to…

This Ocean Delights Taco from On Yogurt, also in Vancouver: a blue waffle cone folded into a taco shape and filled with blue vanilla sea salt ice cream rolls (rolled flat on a frozen tablet as if it was a crepe being fried) and then topped with a mini chocolate cupcake, Froot Loops, a condensed milk drizzle, and a gummy whale.

Ice cream sandwiches are the star at Cream, which first opened in Berkeley, California in 2010 and now has outposts all over California as well as in Florida and Nevada. Choose your favorite cookie, ice cream flavor, and topping to come up with your own dream 'wich—or get even more decadent and opt for a donut, brownie, or waffle as your wrapper.

At Philadelphia's ice-cream institution Franklin Fountain, the staff wear bowties and serve their scoops in Chinese food takeout containers—all of which add to the old-timey atmosphere. And while that makes it fun to grab a sundae here, the real draw is the ice cream itself, which is made "Philadelphia-style," meaning without any eggs and therefore without any need to be cooked—making the texture lighter and creamier than what you might be used to.

I'd never heard of a bread sundae until I went to the Green Tea restaurant in Hangzhou, China and had my entire dessert world blown. This one is called Bread Temptation: a cube of buttery toasted bread filled with smaller cubes of buttery toasted bread and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Those of you who love desserts that combine textures and temperatures are going to swoon over this too.

Tucked into a narrow alley off the main street in Dubrovnik's old town, Dolce Vita, is popular for its crepes filled with ice cream and its iced coffee (which is cooled down with a scoop in the glass), but the shop's main ingredient can definitely stand on its own. My favorite flavor: tart yogurt with berries.

On a recent trip to Italy, my mom and I learned to make gelato, from scratch, at Amandola Gelateria in Foligno—and then chef-owner Ricardo let us try every flavor in the shop. I would fly back to Umbria solely for this gelato; it was that good. And it's easy to understand why: Every day Ricardo handcrafts about two dozen flavors with the freshest ingredients (like the clementines he juices himself), and when each batch reaches the 24-hour mark, it gets replaced. I volunteered to eat all the leftovers, but with more than 30 flavors every day, I need some help. So who's going to Foligno with me?

My new favorite dessert: bingsu, a.k.a. snowflake, a.k.a. shaved frozen milk, a.k.a. Korea's coolest export (even cooler than K-pop). It's lighter than ice cream and less sweet…so you can eat more of it! This particular pile of creamy white fluff was dished at Nunsaram Korean Dessert Cafe in Singapore, then topped with bananas, chocolate sauce, almonds, and chocolate ice cream, but you can get just about anything on it.

Vanilla and salted caramel from Gelados Santini in Lisbon. There will likely be a line out the door; it is worth it. Attilio Santini started this ice cream company back in 1949 and the current venue’s red and white decor still feels delightfully old-fashioned.

Biscotti ice cream is a popular flavor in Locarno, Switzerland, but one of the best versions is sold at the unassuming-looking Pizzeria Gelateria Primavera restaurant. No fancy decor, no cutesy colors, no line—but plenty of delicious ice cream. I balanced the rich biscotti with cool chocolate chip and felt that I’d discovered a winning combo. The whipped cream is thick and unsweetened, which was not my thing, but I wished there were more of those crisp rolled cookies.

Singapore's AEIOU cafe came up with a brilliant take on the Indonesian avocado coffee trend: They give you a double shot of espresso and an avocado milkshake, and you get to combine the two at your table, mixing your own perfect proportion. It’s called es alpukat (meaning ice avocado) and it’s the best thing you can do with an avocado since guacamole.

This colorful bowl was created at the Nobu outpost in the One&Only Cape Town. It's mochi ice cream in green tea, mixed fruit, and raspberry flavors, over a bed of ice. Artistic and tasty.

Siem Reap can get insanely hot, so you'll need a regular dose of ice cream to cool you down. Skip the questionable carts lined up on Pub Street and grab a stool at the Gelato Co. instead. The dark chocolate and coffee are especially good. You'll probably have to get a cup; the cones melt too fast.

Ahhh: mango and lychee ice creams from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, in New York City. The tiny shop features a lot of interesting flavors: durian, taro, black sesame, pandan, and more.

One of NYC's most popular dessert spots, Big Gay Ice Cream started its life as a mobile food truck, but now has three brick-and-mortar shops (plus one in Philly). This makes it a lot easier to get a fix when you're craving giant sundaes in homemade cones. All the offerings here start with soft-serve vanilla, chocolate, or coffee ice cream, and the delicious gimmick is the toppings: unusual combos named after pop-culture icons, like the Bea Arthur Cone and the Rocky Roadhouse Cone.

This may look like an uninteresting dome of white stuff, but looks can be deceiving. Watch the video to see what's inside, and then make a reservation at The Tasting Room in Franschhoek, stat! Reservations fill up months in advance for this whimsical multi-course food experience, one of the coolest things you can do in South Africa.

Bad picture, good dessert: a flight of eight different ice creams and sorbets at Triple Creek Ranch in Montana. The food at this luxury ranch is stellar, so you’re going to have a hard time saving room for dessert, but I have faith in you—you can do it.

This is called a moffle: a waffle with mochi baked into it. With ice cream. And berry topping. And whipped cream. I found it in Hong Kong (no surprise there, HK is even quirkier than Singapore when it comes to dessert and snack foods) last year, and I’ve seen other versions at street food fairs in the States since then. Keep your eyes open—your stomach won’t be disappointed.

Sorry for the blurry shot; I wasn’t seeing straight because of all the flavor packed into that diminutive cup. This is a spicy-sweet masala chai ice cream sundae dreamed up by a young woman named Pooja Bavishi, who handcrafts ice cream inspired by the Indian flavors of her childhood kitchen. In addition to the chai, some of her popular offerings include rose with cinnamon and roasted almonds, Turkish coffee, and ginger root. You can find her cones, sundaes and pints at the popular Brooklyn Flea, and at a few specialty shops around NYC—they are worth seeking out.

I wish I could remember the name of the little ice cream cart that sold me this tasty cone (along with the nice vendor man who taught me to say every flavor in Portuguese). I would fly back to Lisbon and stalk the waterfront just to find it so that I could have another scoop of this creamy banana gelato that tasted just like fresh, ripe fruit—but better.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter @wendyperrin, and Instagram @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

The August Vacation Value You’ve Been Looking For

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Summer has a way of sneaking up on you. Suddenly it’s the end of June. If you haven’t made your summer vacation plans yet, we can suggest a world-class trip that won’t require traveling too far or spending too much. August is an ideal time of year to visit one of our favorite cities: London. It’s a short flight (relatively speaking), it’s not too hot or crowded in August, you’ll find reduced prices for airfare and hotels (and many museums are free), and of course there’s so much to see and do, not only in the city itself but in the plethora of historic villages and sights in the countryside that you can make easy day trips to (which we recommend doing either independently by train or with a private driver-guide). London in August is such a smart move that that’s when Wendy took her own family there—and you can read what each of her young sons had to say about it in Do’s and Don’ts For Your Trip To London and How and Where to Spot Supercars in London (late summer is the optimal time for that). Here’s more from Jonathan Epstein, Trusted Travel Expert for Britain, as to why London in August makes so much sense:

Business travel to London dries up in August, which means more room and better deals in hotels, like The Marylebone. (Photo: The Marylebone)

Hotels are less expensive.

That’s because business travel to London dries up in August. “Corporate travel is the bedrock of higher rates in major cities,” says Jonathan. “In late summer, these bookings vanish in London.” What does this mean for you? Deals. Jonathan negotiates exclusive August offers for his travelers at top four- and five-star hotels. Depending on the location, he might secure discounts on stays over three or four nights, upgrades, complimentary meals, or free cocktails. Ask him about his connections at prime hotels such as One Aldwych, Rosewood London, the Corinthia, the Marylebone, the Milestone and the Egerton. An apartment rental is another way to maximize value, especially if you’re a family or large group; learn more about that option in our London Vacation Rentals: Insider’s Guide.

The weather is better.

Unlike in many cities in Europe, August temperatures are mild in London. Highs are between 68 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit—and who doesn’t want weather like that for sightseeing?

Everything is open, but the crowds are much smaller.

“In many cities like Paris and Rome, attractions and restaurants close in August,” Jonathan says, “but in London everything is still open!” Because August is one of the slowest months of the year in London—with fewer tourists and fewer locals—you’re less likely to have to wait in lines or battle big crowds as you explore.

Buckingham Palace opens to visitors only a few months each year—during the late summer. Photo: Pawel Libera/London and Partners

Late summer brings special events.

Buckingham Palace is only open to visitors for a short time each year. Guess when? During the late summer. This year, admission includes entry to “Royal Gifts,” an exhibition of official gifts presented to the Queen over the past 65 years.

Old Vic theatre exterior at night London

The Old Vic is one of London’s most famous theaters. Photo: Pawel Libera/London and Partners

It is easier to get great seats to London’s plays and musicals.

When tourists numbers go down—as they do in late summer—opportunities to see some of the West End’s famous theater productions open up. (You can see what’s playing at LondonTheatre.co.uk and find last-minute deals at TKTS.co.uk.)

This article has been updated; it was originally published in 2016.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

WOW Moment: An Extraordinary Church Ceremony in Ethiopia

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Robin and Linda Louis, frequent WOW List travelers from Vancouver, had already been to Africa several times. In fact, they had enjoyed a WOW Moment in Namibia only last year. So it was not easy to dream up another WOW Moment for them so soon, this time in Ethiopia. But dream we did. Wendy consulted with Cherri Briggs, her Trusted Travel Expert for Africa who was orchestrating the trip, and Cherri managed to pull off a remarkable—and, admittedly, over-the-top—surprise.

Wendy’s WOW Moments are exclusive insider experiences that are added to certain trips arranged via our WOW trip-planning system. Learn how to get your own WOW Moment here: Wendy Wants To Amp Up Your Trip! They vary greatly, depending on the location, timing, length, and logistics of a trip. For instance, a WOW Moment could be a meeting with a noteworthy local, or an unusual family activity, or a special-access tour.

Or it could be the surprise that Robin and Linda Louis got in Ethiopia. Eager to find out how it went, we recently spoke with Linda on the phone:

Q: What drew you to Ethiopia?

A: We have been all across North Africa—Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt—as well as Tanzania twice, Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa. So I was reading about Ethiopia and Ethiopian culture, and the religious aspects of it really appealed to me as an interesting mix of Old Testament and Catholicism and Pentecostal Christianity. And it turns out Ethiopians are the most devout people I’ve ever seen or met anywhere. And the nicest, friendliest people as well. And there are churches and monasteries everywhere you look. It was really interesting.

ethiopian church ceremony with many priests walking in procession

“There are churches and monasteries everywhere you look. It was really interesting.” Photo: Robin Louis

Q: Walk me through your WOW Moment. What happened?

A: Ethiopian churches are really little, and they’re divided into three sections: one that nobody goes into, one that the priests can go into, and a smaller outer section that some people can go into but often not women. So, during church services, most of the people are outside. In Ethiopia it’s not unusual to see groupings of people outside churches or walking for miles—sometimes on a special feast day—dressed in white, walking to the churches.

On our second or third morning in Lalibela, our guide Elias led us to a village where some women were outdoors, cooking injera (flatbread) for the priests. Elias had me try our hand at cooking. Then we walked up a little hill and came to a church where there were dozens of priests, as well as musicians—particularly drummers—and a young deacon who greeted us. Then the high priest came and asked our names—because the first thing they do in a procession like this is to pray for someone, and then for the people of Ethiopia, and then for the people of the world. The priests and deacons and musicians sang and danced and proceeded around in a circle with their umbrellas, which are often the ones that they hold over the representative of the ark of the covenant. There were a few other people who came along and kind of joined and watched in the background, but this event was not part of a regular service—it was for us!

Q: Were you surprised?

A: We’d visited a lot of churches but hadn’t actually attended a service. So when we first walked over the hill and saw the church, I assumed that we had stumbled on a normal service. But then we realized they had been waiting for us!

What was special is that they brought us into their culture. They made us a part of it, rather than our just watching it. The deacon who had arranged it was able to explain some of what was going on. Being a woman in a lot of these places, you are on the outside, but they made me feel very welcome. The high priest asked our names and blessed us and prayed for us and our family. I’m not particularly religious, but I have to admire people who have beliefs like that and follow them. It was a perfect WOW Moment for me.

ethiopian church ceremony with many priests gathered outside by trees singing

“In Ethiopia it’s not unusual to see groupings of people outside churches or walking for miles—sometimes on a special feast day—dressed in white, walking to the churches.” Photo: Robin Louis

Q: Were there any other favorite Ethiopia trip moments you’d like to share?

A: We did have a cooking lesson with a chef at her school, and that was a lot of fun. I also loved the market in Bahir Dar (where the Blue Nile Falls are). I love these markets—they’re crazy. The people in the market gave us samples, and Elias explained all the different spices and grains and rices, and we could dip our hands in and taste things. There were no other tourists.

We had fabulous food and went to some really interesting local restaurants at night—places where local people would go for the evening for a date. We also visited a couple of families. And once, when we were going into the Semian Mountains, Elias stopped the car near a woman who was cooking injera in front of her house. We got out and chatted with her—through Elias—and learned the whole process. We liked having our guide Elias with us throughout the trip. You can’t do these kinds of things on your own or in a busload.

Wendy Wants To Amp Up Your Trip!

On every third qualifying trip, Wendy will add to your itinerary a surprise WOW Moment. A WOW Moment is an exclusive insider experience that helps make a trip extraordinary. Each WOW Moment is totally different. They vary depending on a huge range of factors, including the country you’re headed to, the timing of your trip, logistics, availability, and more. You can read a sampling of the more over-the-top WOW Moments (those most conducive to editorial coverage) here. Learn which trips qualify, and how the process works, here: Wendy Wants To Amp Up Your Trip!

Airfare Sale This Weekend to Europe and Beyond

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We just found out about a great sale for flights to Europe and beyond leaving this month, and wanted to pass it on to you.

TAP Air Portugal is offering 50% off all of its flights—economy and business class—starting Friday February 8 at 7 a.m. ET through Sunday February 10 at 6:59 p.m. ET.

This Portugal-based airline made it onto our list of the most exciting new flight routes for 2019 because—in addition to its current routes from New York–JFK, New York–EWR, Boston Logan, and Miami airports—it’s launching new service from Chicago O’Hare, San Francisco and Washington-Dulles to Lisbon in June.

The nice thing about this sale is that TAP’s flights don’t terminate in Portugal—you can continue on to more than 80 other spots in Europe, Africa and North or South America, including Switzerland, Ireland, and Tel Aviv. And on top of that, the airline’s stopover program lets you add up to five nights in Lisbon or Porto at no additional fare.

The only catch is that tickets must be purchased online at www.flytap.com. and you must use one of these promo codes: TP50, TAP50, or MEGAPROMO50. The sale fares will apply to both one-way and round-trip tickets for all travel commencing by February 28, 2019, and completed by March 31, 2019. For more information, see https://www.flytap.com/campaigns/megapromo.

Wow Experiences Around the World: Did You Know These Were Possible?

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Most travelers have no inkling of the extraordinary experiences they can get around the globe, if they only knew to ask…and knew the right fixer to arrange them. That’s why we invited our 2019 WOW Listers to reveal their favorite insider experiences that nobody is asking for but should be.

Uncovering these types of encounters and adventures is part of Wendy’s “WOW Moments” project—her mission, on behalf of sophisticated travelers, to make their travels more rewarding than they thought possible. See Wendy Wants To Amp Up Your Trip! to find out how you can unlock a WOW Moment too.

What dream do you want to make happen this year? Which of these is calling to you?

Remember, if you want an extraordinary trip, use Wendy’s trip request form so you are marked as a VIP traveler, so you get Wendy’s trip monitoring, and so your trip counts toward a WOW Moment. For more details, see The WOW List: How To Benefit Most.

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Family Vacations That Adults Will Love Too

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When you’re a parent who lives to travel, one of life’s biggest challenges is to pull together family vacations that are sophisticated enough for you, yet kid-friendly enough for your offspring. I’ve taken my own boys (now 15 and 16) to more than 50 countries, and you can see a few of our favorite places from more recent trips in the first Instagram post below. I also asked the trip designers on my WOW List of Trusted Travel Experts to share their ideas for other unusual and exciting family vacations. What would you add? Tell us in the comments below.

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And on Facebook, we heard from WOW List trip designers, as well as travelers. Here’s how they make family trips rewarding for the whole clan:

Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

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Family Vacations That Adults Will Love Too

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