Tag Archives: coronavirus

Hotels Adapt to the Covid-19 World with New Cleanliness Campaigns

3 Replies

Hotels around the world are introducing myriad branded campaigns to reassure guests that they’re taking steps to protect them from the coronavirus outbreak. Some are testing out robots as housekeeping staff or creating rooms that clean themselves. Most, though, are doubling down on the basics. From international five-star boutique brands to near-ubiquitous domestic chains, many hotels and resorts are announcing inspiringly-named plans to expand their cleaning procedures and re-evaluate guest interactions.

While opening dates, guest limits, and legal regulations vary by country and state, there are many similarities among these plans, such as more frequent overhauls of public areas, wipes and sanitizer stations throughout properties, sealed plated meals, digital check-ins, and the removal of pens, remotes, and other shared items from rooms. But the most notable commonality is that hotels want them to be highly visible to guests. The hope is that if visitors can see proof of cleanliness—and understand the steps being taken by staff members in that vein—they’ll feel reassured. That’s why most have branded their protocols with a strong-sounding name, partnered with globally respected public-heath advisers, and publicly detailed their plans on their websites.

Below, we’ve compiled many of the safety and sanitization programs introduced by major accommodation brands around the world. As of yet, there is no global certification process for cleanliness; however, some countries have introduced voluntary certification programs, and we’ve listed those too.

It remains to be seen how well any of these plans will actually be carried out at each individual hotel—so please let us know in the comments what you’re finding at these properties if you stay at any of them.

HOTELS AND RESORTS

Accor (which includes Banyan Tree, Delano, Fairmont, Orient-Express, Raffles, and Sofitel)

Th Accor group unveiled its newly branded ALLSAFE standard, developed in conjunction with Bureau Veritas (a 200-year-old international company that specializes in testing, inspection, and certification). A detailed description of the ALLSAFE standards are available on Accor’s website; they include measures such as providing guests with sanitizer, wipes, and masks; guest temperature checks; front-desk partitions; contactless check-ins; capacity limits in bars and restaurants when re-opened; and mandatory staff training at each property. Accor has also partnered with AXA insurance to provide telemedicine consultations and access to AXA’s network of medical professionals.

Aman Resorts

Aman has partnered with Diversey (a company that specializes in sanitation and maintenance products and services) to enhance its cleaning procedures based on guidelines from the World Health Organization, as well as from the local authorities at each location of their 37 international properties. The company promises increased staff training and thorough sanitization, although specific protocols may vary from property to property based on a country’s rules and guidelines.

Anantara

Anantara resorts are one brand in the Minor Hotels company based in Thailand, where the Tourism Authority of Thailand has launched a certification process (see below). These plush properties vow to up their sanitization efforts, social distancing plans, and contactless services (including airport transfers, check-in, dining, and fitness), and are consulting with Ecolab, a U.S.-based water, energy, and hygiene technology services company, on new procedures. In keeping with the culinary experiences and cooking classes that have long been a signature part of the Anantara brand, properties are also focusing on immunity-boosting cuisine.

Avani

Avani, like Anantara above, is part of the Minor Hotels group. In addition to digital check-in and check-out, Avani is setting up sanitization processes for luggage and incoming supplies. It’s also looking into sanitization technologies, such as UV sterilization and copper anti-viral coating for keys and other high-touch items, and HEPA-grade air purifiers. After room-turnover cleaning, each room will be sealed for a 24-hour waiting period before the next guest can check in. Avani has also said it will review its third-party partners (transport, tour services, etc.) to make sure they meet the brand’s standards. The number of guests at gyms will be limited and socially distanced, and there will be a mandatory waiting period between groups. As for staff, the procedures vary by country when it comes to frequency of temperature checks; in general, masks are required. In a lighthearted twist, Avani is encouraging its workers to decorate and personalize their masks, an initiative it is calling “Smile Through the Heart.” You can download a PDF of all the new rules in this AvaniSHIELD program here.

Cleaning of Canopy Hilton Hotel, Friday, April 24, 2020 in Washington, DC. Photo by Will Newton

Some hotels, like Hilton will provide post-housekeeping seals on doors and the ability for guests to open their rooms with their own phones. Photo: Will Newton/Hilton

Best Western

Best Western says it has been using UV sterilization wands to clean high-touch items in rooms since 2012, as part of its I Care Clean program. The COVID-19 upgrade to this plan is called We Care Clean. In addition to increasing social distancing in public areas and at check-in, the program outlines specifics such as: Removing unnecessary items like decorative pillows and bed scarves from guest rooms and instituting a waiting period of 24 to 72 hours between guests during which the room (and even its hangers) will be disinfected. Read the full plan from Best Western. Best Western is also one of several hotel brands that has agreed to follow the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s (AHLA) new initiative for best practices in the U.S. hotel industry (see USA, below).

Four Seasons

After repurposing the Four Seasons New York into accommodations for healthcare workers, the brand is implementing changes across its properties via the introduction of its Lead With Care program, with input from Johns Hopkins Medicine International. The details include a hygiene officer at each property, hourly cleaning of public areas, rooms disinfected daily, a-la-carte restaurant service with digital menus, health-focused employee training, and in-room amenities kits with masks, sanitizer, and wipes. The program is overseen by a special COVID-19 Advisory Board, made up of hotel leadership and representatives from Johns Hopkins Medicine International.

Hilton (which includes Conrad, Curio, Embassy Suites, and Waldorf Astoria)

Launching in June, Hilton’s program is called CleanStay with Lysol protection. As the name implies, the effort is in partnership with the makers of Lysol and Dettol (a company called RB). Staff from the Mayo Clinic’s Infection Prevention and Control team will serve as consultants on quality assurance, training, and new approaches. In addition to what’s becoming the standard safety upgrades (e.g. contactless check-in, guest-accessible disinfecting wipes in elevators and other high-traffic spots, more frequent cleaning of public spaces), Hilton will also introduce its CleanStay Room Seal on guest-room doors, to indicate to guests that no one has entered the room since it was cleaned. That cleaning is said to be upgraded too, with a focus on ten high-touch areas for disinfection (remote controls, handles, light switches, etc.) and the removal of amenities such as pens, paper, and guest directories. Hilton is made up of 18 brands, which have a total of more than 6,100 properties.

Hyatt (which includes Andaz and Park Hyatt)

Hyatt’s plan, called the Global Care & Cleanliness Commitment, sees the chain working with the Global Biorisk Advisory Council to earn GBAC Star accreditation. This quality mark—overseen by a branch of ISSA, the cleaning industry’s global association—denotes facilities (hotels, medical facilities, planes and trains, schools, and more) that meet high standards for cleaning, disease prevention, professional training, and public safety. By September 2020, every Hyatt property is supposed to have at least one trained Hygiene Manager onsite to enforce these new protocols, which will include enhanced and more frequent sanitization, hospital-grade cleaning supplies, protective masks worn by staff, and social-distancing guides in public areas.

Langham

The Langham Hospitality Group’s list of safety steps includes more frequent disinfecting of public areas (especially elevator buttons, door handles, and handrails) and sanitizer dispensers or bottles added to high-traffic areas. They’ll also be taking temperature readings of all staff before each shift and requiring guests to fill out a form detailing their recent travels. In restaurants and bars, chefs will wear face masks and single-use disposable gloves, tables will be disinfected between diners, and all public surfaces (e.g., door handles, reception desk, credit card machines) will be sterilized every 30 minutes. Spas and fitness centers will implement disinfection every half hour, sterilization of spa equipment after each guest and again overnight, and temperature readings for all spa guests (along with a health declaration form), and there will be no more hot or cold towels handed out.

worker using electrostatic sprayer to clean hotel escalator for coronavirus covid safety

Marriott is one of several hotel brands introducing the use of electrostatic sprayers to disinfect high-touch surfaces. Photo: Marriott

Marriott (which includes Edition, Le Meridien, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, and Westin)

At its more than 7,300 properties around the world, Marriott says it will be using electrostatic sprayers to disperse CDC- and WHO- recommended disinfectants on high-touch surfaces and public areas, testing UV light technology to sanitize room keys, increasing social distancing by removing or rearranging furniture in lobbies, adding hand-sanitizer stations throughout properties, providing staff with gloves and masks, and offering contactless check-in and room service via guests’ phones. The initiatives will be overseen by the new Marriott Global Cleanliness Council, comprised of hotel staff and various experts, including an infectious disease specialist, a food microbiologist, a food-and-water-safety specialist, and the head of Purdue University’s School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.

MGM

After closing its domestic properties in March, MGM Resorts will begin reopening on June 4 with the Bellagio, New York-New York, and MGM Grand and the Signature. The brand’s strategy is simply called the Seven-Point Safety Plan, and it outlines employee temperature checks and health screenings (and self-screening for guests); mandatory masks and PPE for employees and a request that guests wear masks in public spaces (provided free of charge); physical distancing through floor guides, Plexiglas partitions, and signage; heightened cleaning procedures, sanitization of high-touch surfaces, and the addition of hand washing stations; reviews of heating and air conditioning systems to ensure air quality; new response protocols if a guest or staff member is sick (in addition to medical personnel on staff); and digital amenities such as contactless check-in and digital food menus for guests’ personal phones. When it comes to how to keep guests safe in MGM’s casinos, they’ll be asked to limit their drinking and completely avoid eating—in order to minimize the time when they’re not wearing masks. You can read the full details of the plan on the MGM website.

handwashing stations at MGM Resorts hotels for coronavirus safety

MGM Resorts will install hand-washing stations like these mock-ups. Photo: MGM Resorts

Montage International

Montage announced a two-pronged approach to easing any covid-related stress a hotel guest might feel. In terms of housekeeping, they say they’re increasing the frequency of sanitization and deep cleaning for high-touch areas; incorporating electrostatic sprayers and UV wands into that effort; introducing social distancing design in restaurants, bars, lounges, gyms, pool areas, and other public areas; and providing hand sanitizer and facial coverings to all guests. The other prong is virtual medical care: Montage has partnered with One Medical to provide each guest with a 30-day membership to One Medical’s digital health services via video chats, messaging, and an app. (The hotel group’s U.S.-based staff will each receive a year-long membership.)

Omni 

The “Omni Safe & Clean” initiative follows CDC guidelines and American Hotel & Lodging Association recommendations (see USA, below). Those include contactless services, single-use room amenities, plated and individually sealed foods, public areas (including pools and spas) marked and re-arranged for social distancing, and housekeeping seals placed on rooms after each cleaning. Each of the brand’s properties is also supposed to adhere to local and/or federal mandates as required.

Rosewood

Partnering with Ecolab and Diversey, and following guidance from the CDC, WHO, and local authorities, Rosewood has rolled out its Commitment to Care Global Health and Safety Program. Lobbies, public bathrooms, elevators, and other public spots should see increased cleaning and disinfecting, and air filters and air conditioning systems should get more frequent treatment too. Rosewood is exploring new sanitization technologies such as electrostatic sprayers, foggers, and ultraviolet-UVC light. When legally allowed, guests and staff will have their temperatures screened when they enter the hotel. On the inside, guests will benefit from contactless services (check-in/check-out, in-room dining) and receive amenity kits with face masks, wipes, and sanitizer.

Sandals

Sandals beach resorts have instituted Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness, an 18-point plan that starts when guests land at the airport: The usual Sandals and Beaches private arrival lounge will now have hand sanitizer and complimentary mask, and the private-vehicle transfer will be stocked with more PPE and sanitized between trips. When they get to the resort, guests will have their temperatures checked (anything 99.5 degrees or less gets you the green light). From there, they will see assurances of cleanliness such as daily replacement of all linens, post-cleaning seals on the doors, and bellmen/butlers who spray disinfectant on both sides of door handles when leaving the room. Bathrooms will be cleaned every half hour, restaurants will have hand sanitizer at entrances, pool chairs will be sanitized daily and separated by six feet or more, and guest temperatures will be checked again before they can use the spa or fitness centers. If anyone is not feeling well, there are medical personnel onsite.

Shangri-La

Following recommendations from the CDC, Shangri-La has posted a list of the ways it is approaching COVID-19 safety. Some examples: Each guest’s laundry will be handled in individual packaging, public washrooms are cleaned with hospital-grade disinfectants, guests are asked to fill out health and travel-plan forms, incoming luggage is disinfected, temperature screenings take place at entry points, limos are disinfected between each use, special disinfectant floor mats are placed at entries to clean people’s shoes, and all pools, whirlpool baths, saunas and steam rooms are closed.

Wyndham

Wyndham is one of several hotel brands working with the ALHA (see USA, below) to create and follow best practices for the U.S. hotel industry. Specifically, they have drawn on the expertise of Ecolab, a US-based water, energy, and hygiene technology services company, and the CDC to launch its Count on Us program. This means that all of Wyndham’s 6,000 U.S. properties should be introducing measures such as handing out wipes with room keys at check-in, placing complimentary travel-size hand sanitizer in each room, providing more frequent cleanings, and increasing social distancing in public areas.

VACATION RENTALS

Airbnb

In April, the home-sharing service announced it would be launching two tools that hosts can use to safeguard their rentals for guests. Both are optional. One is the Airbnb Cleaning Protocol, a learning and certification process for hosts that recommends enhanced cleaning and disinfecting procedures. Guests will eventually be able to identify the listings enrolled in this program via a call-out on the website. Hosts who don’t opt into the Cleaning Protocol can use the Booking Buffer, which enables them to block out a 24- to 72-hour waiting period between guests. (The CDC recommends a 24-hour waiting period between guests.)

VRBO

Similar to Airbnb, the vacation-home-rental service VRBO is trusting its hosts to provide safe environments for their guests. To make that easier, VRBO (which is owned by the Expedia Group) is providing hosts with info on cleaning and disinfecting based on information from the WHO and CDC and created in consultation with the Vacation Rental Management Association (a trade association) and Cristal International Standards (a quality-control company for the hotel industry). Hosts can then showcase their cleaning processes and safety measures on their listings pages (e.g. if they use disinfectant to clean or if check-in and check-out is contactless).

GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS BY COUNTRY

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism just announced a “safe and clean certification program” for tourism businesses including hotels, malls, and more. The specifics and standards of the process have not yet been released, but hotels will be the first group to undergo certification, followed by other tourism attractions and organizations.

Britain

Although Britain isn’t ready for travelers yet (and Prime Minister Johnson recently announced a 14-day quarantine for incoming visitors), its national tourism arm, Visit Britain, has already announced it is developing a quality mark to denote hotels and other tourism sites that adhere to certain COVID-19-related safety standards. What those standards will be has not yet been decided.

Portugal

The national tourism board of Portugal, Turismo de Portugal, launched a “Clean & Safe” certification for hotels and tourist sites on April 24. To earn the validation, the hotel (or other company) must sign a Declaration of Commitment to certain hygiene and cleaning processes informed by the country’s Directorate-General of Health. Participation is free and optional, and Turismo de Portugal will carry out audits of those who opt in.

Singapore

The Singaporean government has created the SG Clean certification. Hotels, restaurants, hawker centers, shopping malls, and cruise terminals that adhere to a list of criteria will earn the quality mark, and many already have. You can see a full list of all certified establishments at sgclean.gov.sg.

Thailand

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced a certification plan called “Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration: SHA.” To earn the certification, establishments must adhere to COVID-19 safety standards set by the Ministry of Health and other official public-health institutions. The process and criteria are currently being established and will focus on ensuring hygiene and sanitation while also maintaining local culture and interaction between communities and tourists.

USA

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is the industry trade group for hotels, inns, bed-and-breakfasts, and hotel management companies. Based on input from the CDC, the hotel industry, and experts in medicine, science, and public health, the organization launched the Safe Stay initiative, a set of suggested standards aimed at making U.S. hotels safe for guests. The best practices include enhanced cleaning methods, social-distancing policies, and the use of approved sanitization supplies. Although Stay Safe is a voluntary program for now, you can check the AHLA website to see which hotels are choosing to adopt it. The ALHA’s goal is to change U.S. hotel industry norms and create an official certification process.

 

This article was originally published May 22.

Be a smarter, safer traveler: Sign up for Wendy’s weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

empty beach and pier at Sandals Montego Bay

Is This Hotel Safe? Smart Things to Ask About Before Making Plans

Leave a reply

By this point in the coronavirus lockdown, the thought of getting out of your house for longer than the time it takes to go to the socially distanced supermarket probably sounds like pure heaven. But the prospect of checking into a hotel may not be exactly the Eden you’re dreaming of. The good news is that all over the world, hotels, resorts, and vacation rentals are starting to roll out concrete plans and procedures for making their properties as safe as possible, and we expect these efforts to set a new standard for the industry…eventually.

In the meantime, if you are starting to think about a future trip, whether it’s for this summer or next year, there are questions you’ll want to ask the hotels you’re considering so that you can make an informed decision about how comfortable you’ll feel during a stay. Here are five areas to investigate before making any hotel plans:

Rooms that open to fresh air

When Wendy had to take an essential road trip from New Jersey to Georgia (as detailed in “What a Road Trip During Coronavirus Is Really Like”), she looked for hotels where fresh air could flow freely through the rooms. “Your best bet may be older hotels that have either freestanding cottages or rooms with balconies where you can leave the balcony door open, letting in fresh air throughout the night,” she wrote. “Look in areas where you might find historic inns or sprawling old-fashioned resorts with individual bungalows.”

Contactless guest services

Check-in. Room service. Requests for more towels. During any hotel stay, there are so many points of interaction between guests and staff—so make sure the hotel you’re choosing has options for avoiding or limiting these. Some, like Marriott, are going so far as to enable all of these services via your own phone. Others, like MGM Resorts and Accor hotels, are installing partitions at the front desk.

Masks, gloves, wipes, and sanitizer

Not only should you check if the hotel staff are required to wear masks and gloves (and whether they are provided with that equipment), but also check if these items are available to guests too. Four Seasons is introducing in-room amenities kits with masks, sanitizer and wipes. Wyndham hotels are handing out wipes at check-in with your key and stashing complimentary travel-size hand sanitizers in each room. Still others will make masks available for free when guests ask for them; so find out the policy and whether that equipment is actually in stock before you arrive.

Public areas

You’re likely to see more hand sanitizer and wipe-dispensing stations in hotels’ public areas (MGM Resorts properties are even adding hand-washing stations)—and that’s what you want. It not only shows that the company is making an effort and following established public-health recommendations, but it makes it easy for guests and staff to comply—and that keeps everyone healthier. You’ll also want to find out how your hotel is handling potentially crowded areas, such as the front desk (Are there partitions? Social-distancing signs and marks on the floor?), fitness centers or spas (Are they open? If so, are guests being temperature-checked before entering? What is the disinfecting process between users?), and elevators and public washrooms (How frequently are they being cleaned, and with what materials?). Don’t forget to ask about shared cars that are being set out for airport transfers and other guest chauffeur services. Shangri-La hotels disinfects limos between each use and limits the guests who can share a ride. What is your hotel (or the third-party service they use) doing in that regard?

Guest-room cleaning

Your hotel room will truly become your sanctuary in a group environment like a hotel, so find out how it’s being safeguarded for you. How often will it be cleaned? With what type of materials and technology? Hilton has started using a CleanStay Room Seal on room doors, to reassure guests that no one has entered the room since it was cleaned. In many hotels, the whole cleaning process has been upgraded too, with a focus on sanitizing high-touch areas and items (remote controls, handles, light switches etc.); the removal of amenities like pens, paper, and guest directories; full changes of linens every day; the testing of UV sterilization wands; and possibly even electrostatic sprayers to disperse disinfectant. Ask for details about what your hotel’s cleaning staff will do in your room.

Restaurants and bars

Depending on the country and state, a hotel’s restaurants and bars may or may not be open—so that’s your first question. If they are open, how is the hotel handling food safety? Four Seasons, MGM, and many other hotels now have digital menus accessible from your own phone. If a restaurant is open, it will likely have capacity limits, and you’ll want to ask how that will work and whether they’ve rearranged furniture to keep people apart. Ask about the kitchen staff too: What protective gear are they required to wear, and what new safety procedures have been implemented to keep food safe? We’ve heard of properties offering plated meals in sealed packaging, more packaged to-go options, and expanded room service menus and timing. Keep in mind that not all hotels are closing their buffets and breakfast rooms, and that while they are likely reconfiguring how those communal dining areas work, the decisions will vary by location because of local, state, and country regulations.

Pools and beaches

Pools and beaches are two of the biggest draws for a warm-weather getaway, especially if you’re traveling with kids. And the good news is that the current CDC advice says, “There is no evidence that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, spas, or water play areas. Proper operation and maintenance (including disinfection with chlorine and bromine) of these facilities should inactivate the virus in the water.”

So first things first: Find out if they’re even open, because some hotels are keeping those public areas off limits. If the water areas are open to guests, inquire about the safety precautions being taken. For instance, at Sandals resorts, beach and pool chairs are being placed six feet apart and sanitized every morning, and again after guest changeovers. Will the hotel you’re considering do something similar? Ask them about their plans to handle social distancing, the sanitization of chairs, and interactions with pool/beach attendants. Are they limiting the number of guests who can use pool or beach areas at one time? And if so, how will reservations work for those slots? Keep in mind that access to public beaches, and whether you can actually sunbathe or linger on them, is dictated by state, county, and local directives, so research the latest info on state and locality websites.

Be a smarter, safer traveler: Sign up for Wendy’s weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Closeup of passports and white airplane background the sea

Flight Deals Abound For Fall and Winter Travel, But Is It Smart to Buy Now?

1 Reply

It seems like airfare deals are everywhere these days, but so are the uncertainties about air travel. Refund and cancellation policies are changing all the time, routes and services are being cut left and right, and some airlines may not even exist when we finally make it through the pandemic and economic crisis. And on top of all that, there are big questions about how and when airplane travel will even be safe again.

Still, the good news is that (a) airlines are indeed offering some lower pricing, and (b) there are experts who follow this complicated industry closely and can help the rest of us navigate the mess. One of them is Brett Snyder, whom Wendy often recommends to her WOW List travelers for help booking and monitoring their flights. As founder of Cranky Concierge, Brett specializes in finding the smartest routes and fares and in solving flight delays and cancellations. We called Brett at home in California to talk about current airfare deals and what travelers need to know before taking advantage. If you’re even considering purchasing airline tickets for the future, read this first.

There seem to be airfare deals for travel at the end of this year and going into next year. Should I be buying tickets now?

There are deals to be had if you’re comparing to previous years. For travel around the holidays, you might not find the cheapest of the deals, but fares are still much cheaper than they would be in another year. But the big question is whether you’ll be able to get there.

Are the deals better for economy or business class?

It seems much easier to find cheaper fares in coach. Some airlines have cut business-class prices a little bit, but the deals are not as widespread across the board.

So is this a good time to splurge on premium-class fares?

It can be. In regular times, premium fares can be really low if you book far enough in advance, and in many European/Asian markets fares look to be pretty consistent with what we’ve seen in the past.  The one place we’ve seen great deals is South America.  There are fares under $1,000 in a premium cabin to some spots right now, and that’s amazing.  So you just need to look around and see what’s out there.

Are mileage-award flights discounted too?

They are not discounted, but there is more availability than you would normally expect to see, especially in coach. And for international flights, there are more seats available at the lower-point options. For airlines where the awards are tied to the dollar amount of fares, like with JetBlue or Southwest, then if the fares are cheaper, the point equivalent is also lower.

Is it better to buy a ticket for a domestic flight than international?

You have a safer chance of a flight happening if it’s within the U.S. The issue with international flights is that you don’t know what other countries—or what our country, for that matter—will allow in terms of quarantine and rules. So I would be hesitant to buy an international ticket right now. For domestic flights, airlines pretty much across the board are allowing you to change any ticket you buy without a fee.

Is it better to buy tickets for far in the future?

With most airlines you can’t buy tickets more than 330 days to a year in advance, so for the most part, you can’t buy any tickets beyond February or March 2021 at this point. There are always schedule changes when you book any flight far ahead, and the volatility is higher at this point because nobody has any clue what the landscape will look like in two months, let alone a year. So find out the refund or credit rules when you buy.

If I see a good deal should I jump on it or wait?

Once things stabilize, I expect we’ll see good deals to coax people out into the world again. So I don’t really see a reason to buy a ticket now, unless you find a particularly good deal.

But there’s nothing wrong with looking around right now. My wife’s parents always fly to us in California for Christmas, and I found some airfares that were pretty cheap, so we’ve been thinking about buying them.  Worst case, we can use the credit for flights to somewhere else. But a trip like that has a little more certainty to it in that you’re not relying on a destination or resort to be open. You’re really just relying on the ability to leave your house. So, visiting friends and family—that’s probably the best type of trip to plan right now because there are fewer variables.

In the meantime, if someone does want to book a flight, what are the most important things they need to be aware of?

There are a few things I would point out:

For the most part, if your flight is not canceled, you can’t get your money back, if you have a non-refundable ticket. A lot of people just assume, Oh, there’s a virus I should be able to get my money back. That’s not how it works. There are some exceptions, but for the most part it’s not.

What they are doing is allowing you to make changes and waiving the change fee. Obviously, if you had a ticket to Florida and now you want to go to Europe, you have to pay the fare difference—but at least you can make the change.

They’ve also extended how long those credits are valid for. You might be able to travel into next year or the following year, depending on the airline. That’s a nice perk for people who don’t want to travel, even if their flights are still going.

If your flight is canceled or the schedule changes, you really need to check with the airline because the rules vary greatly. For example, Delta will give you your money back if the schedule changed more than 90 minutes; United requires six hours. Worst case, you’ll be able to use the credit in the future, so it’s not like you’re going to lose the money entirely.

Finally, if you bought through a third party, do your own research on what you’re entitled to. Things are changing quickly, and some places we’ve dealt with have had no real interest in doing what they’re required to do. They may say you can’t get a refund, when in reality you can. So if you’re not getting the answer that you like, you can do your own research. Or you can sign up for the Cranky Concierge Refund Hunter and we’ll figure out and track your options, no matter where you bought the ticket.

snowy landscape of mountains and lake in Torres Del Paine National Park Chile

The Trips We’re Dreaming About to Get Us Through

Leave a reply

It’s a proven fact that the anticipation of a pleasure trip does wonders for a person’s sense of well-being. Not only is this boost of happiness backed up by nearly every person who has ever looked forward to a vacation, but it’s also confirmed by scientific studies. Isn’t it nice when the thing you love to do turns out to be good for you?

For now, though, the thing that’s good for all of us is to stay home—and yet we can still simultaneously benefit from some much-needed optimism about the months to come. That’s why we’re inspired by these frequent travelers who are planning adventures for the future, tapping into the joy that travel brings them in order to give themselves something wonderful to daydream about during this difficult stretch. (And, at the same time, they’re making an investment in the locations, the locals, and the small local businesses that will need so much of our support to recover.)

What about you? What places and people are you eager to visit, near or far, when the world is ready for us again?

A Month in Uganda and Ethiopia, January 2021

Ethiopia - bleeding-heart baboon

A gelada, or “bleeding heart” baboon, in Ethiopia. Photo: Paul Callcutt

“My wife and I are retired and live in the Hamptons full time. We like to go away for a month or two every winter to get away from the cold weather. Over the past few winters we’ve traveled to Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Myanmar, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. We were in Kenya and the UAE last year, and we wanted to go back and see more of the real Africa, not just the safari type of Africa. Plus we’ve always wanted to see the gorillas and chimps. Having just returned from Antarctica this February, we needed to book our next winter trip. So we looked on Wendy’s WOW List, contacted Cherri and started planning two weeks in Ethiopia and two weeks in Uganda for January 2021. Coronavirus kept getting bigger and bigger, but we thought: It’ll be gone by next winter, and if it isn’t, we’ll postpone it. Will we lose some of our deposit? Maybe? But we have to have something to look forward to. I’m optimistic. I have to be planning something or else I’m just wasting time waiting. I can’t just wait; I have to be moving forward.

When we firmed things up on our itinerary, and Cherri asked for a deposit, I asked if the on-sites would consider taking a reduction in the deposit because I do still have some concern. She said, let me ask—and yes, they were willing to take less. I like supporting them and keeping them going, but I also would like to have some consideration back on this end because I may end up losing my deposit.

What do I mean by “seeing the real Africa”? To me, it means meeting different people, eating their food, sharing activities together, learning about how they live so I can learn from them and enrich my life, and hopefully, give the local people a little something of myself as well. On our itinerary, we’re going to meet with local tribal people several times, we’re going to have lunch with the chief rabbi of Uganda, and I’m hoping to arrange with Cherri to do some charitable work with schools as well. I’m hoping and expecting that coronavirus is going to be history by the time we’re ready to go. Is that wishful thinking? Well, I’m an optimist. Will I travel if coronavirus is still rampant? No, I’m not going to put myself or my wife in jeopardy. I’m pretty risk-averse although my wife and I like to travel off the beaten path. I remember going to the Soviet Union in 1980 when nobody traveled there at that time, Bhutan just after it opened to tourism, Sri Lanka just after the war ended, and most recently to the Rakhine province in Myanmar. People would always ask why are you going there? I said for fun. They thought I was crazy. Am I?”

—Ron Klausner, Southhampton, NY

Journey to Antarctica over New Year’s

National Geographic Explorer ship in Neko Harbor, Antarctic. Photo: Aabby Suplizio

National Geographic Explorer ship in Neko Harbor, Antarctic. Photo: Aabby Suplizio

“I thought, I’m going to look around for what I’m going to do when this turns around, and Antarctica has always been on my list. I had seen in The New York Times in January about how to do Antarctica either by cruise or by fly-cruise. I was intrigued by the fly-cruise option, so I naturally went to The WOW List and found Ashton, and I set up a call with him to sort out my bias that flying and getting over the Drake Passage and avoiding the turbulent water is a more comfortable way to do it. I learned from him that yes, it is, but that those ships sell out immediately because there’s a very small window when the seas are okay to go, so you have to book this 18 months in advance—and I wanted to do it for this coming Christmas. [Laughs.] So that instilled great urgency in me, because there was scarcity.

I felt bad about talking to Ashton, who’s in the hot zone of Seattle, while he had customers he had to help get home. But he immediately called his contacts and found one cabin available and had them hold it until he and I had our conversation a couple days later. I wanted to do the trip when there was a prime possibility for calm waters and best conditions, and so in the midst of this pandemic, Ashton was able to make this happen. His extreme knowledge from having been there more than 50 times, and his knowledge of the ships and suppliers, just cut through it super fast. So in a conversation with him for maybe an hour, I came away with great confidence that I was in the hands of someone who knows his market. And because of that, I was able to say, Let’s book it. And obviously you can’t do anything about flights because who knows what airlines will be left. But I have a great faith that by December there will be some level of normalcy, and we’ll have this amazing trip to look forward to. And the clincher was that payment isn’t due until July. That made it easy to decide to book and hold the spots.”

—Barbara Schoenfeld, Providence, RI

25th 26th Anniversary Trip to Greece

Oia town on Santorini island, Greece. Traditional and famous houses and churches with blue domes over the Caldera, Aegean sea

Oia town, on Santorini, is famous for its blue-domed churches and white houses overlooking the caldera. Photo: Shutterstock

“I actually had a trip planned for early April. It was supposed to a celebratory vacation in Greece for my 25th wedding anniversary, and we were taking our children with us. We didn’t want to cancel and have instead postponed the trip to spring 2021. Now, it’ll be my 26th anniversary trip! If you have the option to postpone a trip rather than cancelling, seriously consider postponing it. I know that cash is becoming dearer and most people would prefer a refund, but if it’s possible, try getting a full credit to apply at another point. This will help keep travel specialists and agencies afloat and it will give you something to look forward to. For example, Mina and Faye have given us a lot of flexibility about when we want to reschedule our trip, and this has been comforting.

As to when will I begin to travel again? I am already starting to make travel plans for July/August. Given the state of affairs, I am mainly considering local trips— potentially a region we are curious about or even a national park. Regardless of how far I wish to roam, the goal is to not stop planning to travel and to think out farther than just a few months.

Planning a trip reminds you that there is life after COVID-19. It gives us something to look forward to and reminds us that there are still beautiful places to go, new people to meet, and meaningful experiences ahead. Even if you aren’t planning on putting down a deposit, just thinking about a trip and doing some initial research provides a good escape.

If we think beyond COVID-19, there are two ways to consider what travel may be like in the not-too-distant future. Travel will revitalize many local economies dependent on tourism, but there is also an opportunity to consider sustainable tourism in general. There have been many news stories about how smog levels are lower and how wildlife is more easily seen. In a post-COVID world, is there an opportunity for us to consider how travel considerations may better balance what’s an acceptable number of people traveling to one place at one time vs. simply trying to recoup to pre-COVID economic conditions? As a frequent traveler, I’m trying to be sensitive about this balance.

I do think it is still worthwhile to research and plan trips for the future. We should remember that this stressful time period is not just simply about staying safe and well, but also about staying sane. Using some time to think and learn more about places we would like to go may be helpful for our mental state and mood.”

—Yin Ho, New York City

Seeing the Solar Eclipse in Chile

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

The Atacama Desert of Chile. Photo: Awasi

Robert: “In December we’re going to Chile to see the solar eclipse. We’ve been to Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil, and we want to add Chile. Two years ago we went with our son to see the eclipse in Nashville, but just a few minutes before totality, the cloud cover came over, and we didn’t see it. So we have been talking about this Chile trip with him for close to two years, and hopefully it will pan out. We also want to go to the Atacama Desert, Easter Island, and to the Chilean side of Patagonia—we’ve seen it from the Argentine side. That’s the plan.”

Patrice: “I think having this trip helps my mental health.  It’s something to look forward to, to help look beyond the moment where there’s so much that’s unknown and uncontrollable—the belief that there will be something better in the future.”

—Robert and Patrice Reiss, Hermosa Beach, CA

Two Cruises to Two Different Continents

Gentoo penguins in Antarctica

Gentoo penguins in Antarctica. Photo: Jennifer Santoyo

“We are currently booked on two cruises, both on Seabourn. The first is in January 2021 to Antarctica. The second is a replacement for a cruise we had planned in Spain and Portugal this May (which we canceled, of course). We moved that to a cruise in October 2021 along the western European coastline. The May cruise we had to cancel was to have been when we received our WOW Moment benefit. It’s disappointing to have to wait for another trip to experience that, but still another thing to look forward to in the future.

We’re both in our seventies, so why risk it? Especially a cruise. I know Seabourn does a very good job, though you still have to realize that it’s a petri dish. But Antarctica has been on our bucket list for a long time. The polar ice caps are melting, and we want to see them before they go away and you can’t go there anymore. Also, there are penguins! [Laughs.] Our granddaughter, from the moment she could recognize things, has had a total fascination with penguins. She’s not going, but we’re going to load our cameras with penguins for her.

Seabourn has done a nice job of refunding and giving credits. We were in a category where we were entitled to a 50% refund, and the day we decided to cancel the Spain/Portugal cruise, Seabourn came out with the announcement that the other 50% could be applied to a future cruise. I don’t know what the policy will be as we draw closer to the cruise date, but I will be very aware of our cancellation deadlines, and we’ll have travel insurance with Cancel For Any Reason coverage, so those sorts of things are sustaining my thoughts. Mary Jean’s staff did a very good job; I can’t say enough good about them. They do onboard benefits for us and adjustments or other perks sometimes, but the best thing is that they work on their clients’ behalf to handle this well.

As far as concerns about cruise ships, I have some comfort in knowing the first cruise isn’t happening until January. If we come to feel that it’s problematic, we probably will not go. But we’re optimistic. I mean, why not? We want to get on with our lives and exploring the world, and this is part of our goal as we take more personal time for ourselves. Once a traveler, you’d like to always be a traveler. We realize there’s uncertainty about what comes next and what changes there will be that impact us as travelers and which cruise lines will survive. But even if we have to give up travel because this doesn’t go away for two or three years, we’ll still be booking!”

—Susan Bland, Seattle

A Nature and Hiking Getaway to Colombia

A view from the beginning of the hike towards Cocora Valley which is famous for its tall wax palm trees in Colombia

A view from the beginning of the hike towards Cocora Valley. Photo: Shutterstock

“I recently put a deposit down on a trip to Colombia for next February. We do a yearly trip, and I always make plans a year in advance in order to take advantage of my frequent-flier miles. After finalizing my itinerary with Marc and Boris’s team, I was asked to put down a nonrefundable 50% deposit. I was hesitant to do so, especially given the current pandemic. The agency got back to me and suggested a 25% deposit and also said that if I had to cancel, they would hold the credit for 12 months. I felt this was reasonable. My husband and I love to travel, but given that we had done a ‘big trip’ this past November to Japan, we felt we wanted to go somewhere closer to home. We have discussed Colombia as a destination for a few years, having heard it is now safe. We also have friends who recently went and had a wonderful trip. In addition, the JetBlue nonstop flight to New York from Cartagena (under 5 hours) is a real plus. We will be in Bogota for two nights , then three nights in the coffee region where we will hike, go birding, and enjoy nature in a beautiful setting. We will then travel to Cartagena for three nights.”

—Judith Luskin, Westchester County, New York

A Burgundy Barge Cruise, Southeast Asia, and Madagascar

Barge Elisabeth in Burgundy. Photo courtesy Barge Elisabeth.

“I’m hoping beyond hope that our barge cruise in Burgundy happens in July. A group of friends did a Scotland barge trip last year, and I just loved it. I also have a big trip that I organized through Wendy’s List for November. I’ve pulled together eight friends, and we’re going to Thailand and Cambodia. We’ve been planning it for a couple years, and I’m optimistic that things will be fine. I think we’re going to have a WOW Moment, and Kae [from Daniel Fraser’s team] is amazing; I’ve been loving working with her. We have a whole itinerary, and when I read it, I get all excited. The most exciting two things for me are the floating market and the elephant hospital in Lampang. As for 2021, the I-can’t-wait-to-do-it trip is hopefully Madagascar. I love Africa so much (I’ve been there five times) because, for me, it’s wildlife and water—that’s the stuff that gets me way more interested than cities.

I think that having these trips in the works helps by putting a boundary on what we’re going through. I’ve seen people get really panicked that it could be this way for years. So my scope of looking at it is controlled by when the next trip is. And for me, at least in my head, as soon as I know that we’ll be okay for November, it’ll be fine. If I have to delay the July barge trip, I’ll be somewhat concerned, but I’ve already thought through the mechanics of that, so I’m already adjusting. The future trips put the scope of what I’m looking at into something reasonable. It really helps.”

—Helene Bard, Washington, D.C. metro area

Natural Wonders in the American West and the Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

The clear blue water of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Photo: Shutterstock

“My family is spending quality time together during this pandemic talking about where we’d like to go for our next big family trip and why. Tim and I like the idea of river rafting out West: It would get the kids off their electronic devices completely—which would be a huge relief after all the time they’re having to spend on their devices now, what with online schooling and musical rehearsals via Zoom and having to connect with friends virtually, usually through computer games. Honestly, moving stress-free at the pace of the river, through wilderness areas with plenty of fresh air, and with almost no surfaces to worry about touching, sounds like what the doctor ordered.

We’re also talking about the Galapagos Islands. They’re so remote—practically in the middle of nowhere—and the animals and beaches and landscapes won’t have been affected by the coronavirus. Also, the Galapagos is one of Earth’s fragile ecosystems that must be seen sooner rather than later (I was actually there 25 years ago, but Tim and the kids haven’t been), and I think this pandemic is reinforcing the importance of seeing the world’s must-see places when you can because you never know when they will suddenly be closed off. Normally a trip to the Galapagos needs to be planned at least a year ahead anyway—especially if you want to travel during a school-break period—so planning a trip there now for 2021 actually seems perfectly reasonable.”

—Wendy Perrin, Short Hills, NJ

taj mahal in india

Culture for the Self-Quarantined: Virtual Museums, Historic Landmarks, Concerts, and More

1 Reply

Just because we have to be socially distanced, it doesn’t mean we have to be bored. Many cultural institutions have long offered virtual tours for those who can’t make the trek, and more legendary landmarks are adding those kinds of activities now. Whether you’re an opera buff, a museum aficionado, or a history lover, these online experiences can help satisfy your traveler’s curiosity for now—and give you ideas about spots to visit in person later. Know of any other cool virtual tours to keep us travelers happy? Tell us about them in the comments. And don’t miss our guide to virtual outdoor adventures too.

Historic Landmarks

The best part of all this virtual touring may just be the lack of crowds. Set your alarm for sunrise and head to the Taj Mahal, or into Angkor Archeological Park — you’ll have Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and other temples to yourself. Bonus: no heat and humidity. (That said, there is a way to visit Angkor without the hordes in real life too.)

Machu Picchu’s virtual tour should hold you over until you can get to Peru in real life. Click on the map to get a glimpse of the Inca Trail or of the surrounding mountains from the Intiwatana, an ancient stone structure used as an astronomical clock of sorts.

Stonehenge’s website re-creates the mysterious ring of stones, and if you click on one of the image’s marked hot spots, info cards or videos pop up with deeper information.

Atop the Acropolis in Athens, armchair travelers can scramble over ancient rocks to take in the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike, and other notable spots, or zoom in on details they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get close to. The 360-degree views alone are worth the “trip.”

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower should also be on your virtual travel list—especially since no stairs are required. You can walk fully around the observation deck and see Paris from on high.

Museums

Louvre Museum at night, Paris, France

The Louvre is one of many museums you can tour virtually. Photo: EdiNugraha/Pixabay

Google has been teaming up with museums around the world for years to create virtual walk-throughs via its Arts & Culture hub (also available as an app on both Android and iPhone), using the same technology as its “street view” option on Google Maps. By now the options number more than 500. You can climb the famous circular ramp of the Guggenheim, zoom in to admire the artist’s thick brush strokes at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, skip the lines to admire Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, or wander the rich galleries of the Palace of Versailles (if you have a VR headset you can visit Versailles that way too). And since Google’s catalog of partner museums is extensive, you can also discover lesser-known museums and the gems they house, such as South Korea’s Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art and the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum.

Many museums have cool digital features on their own websites too. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has been upping its online game for the past few years by making more and more of its collection visible online, introducing behind-the-scenes videos and creating special stories, themes, and social media projects. The Tate also displays a lot of its collection online and presents multimedia features like video interviews with artists and audio descriptions of notable works. TheLouvrehas its own walk-through tours of various galleries. In Italy, the Vatican Museum offers virtual walk-throughs—and, yes, we know everyone would rather gape at Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling in person, but at least this way, there’s no stiff neck.

Concerts, Theater, Talks, and Books

NYC’s Metropolitan Opera is presenting videos of its full performances, including Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

NYC’s Metropolitan Opera is presenting videos of its full performances, including Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Photo: Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera has shut its doors for now, but every night at 7:30 pm, it will stream free performances from its Live in HD series. Just show up at the opera’s homepage at 7:30 pm to see a previously recorded masterpiece (invite some friends; you can Zoom for drinks during intermission). Each show will be available for 23 hours, and the lineup includes Puccini’s La Bohème, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

Similarly, the Berlin Philharmonic is making its archive of previously recorded live performances free through March 31. Check the orchestra’s website for instructions on how to use the voucher code BERLINPHIL to register and get complimentary access. For a full list of streaming classical music performances, bookmark this page from WKAR, Michigan State University’s public broadcasting station.

As the global lockdown continues, more and more cultural organizations are offering online diversions. The Vienna State Opera is presenting some of its performances, and the Jewish Museum Vienna has created Spotify playlists of music from the 1920s and 30s

There are plenty of ways to catch shows outside the classical genre too. StageIt is a website that showcases live, intimate performances by artists. Viewers buy tickets (prices are set by the artists), then tune in to watch the musician play from wherever they happen to be—at home, backstage, in the studio.  In the past they have streamed sets by VIPs like Bonnie Raitt and Jimmy Buffet, you’re more likely to discover names that are completely new to you.

New York’s 92nd Street Y is a respected arts and learning destination, known for its classes as well as its top-notch series of talks with artists, writers, thinkers, actors, and musicians. Now man talks from its archives are free online. Highlights include James Gandolfini reading a Maurice Sendak story, Neil deGrasse Tyson in conversation with Bill Nye, plus talks with Kirk Douglas, Malcolm Gladwell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and the Bon Appetite Test Kitchen staff.

Many theaters around the world are also providing online entertainment. For instance, on the Public Theater’s website, you can watch a recording of last summer’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing, as well as past musical performances from its Joe’s Pub Live series. They’re even issuing fun social media challenges, like asking everyone to record and share their interpretation of Shakespeare passages.

Today Tix, a discount ticket app that operates in many cities, put together great lists of where to stream musicals and how to watch theater around the world, including London’s Royal National Theatre, which is uploading a past performance to YouTube every Thursday and Broadway World’s Living Room Concerts.

Broadway fans can also tune into YouTube for “Stars In The House”, a concert/interview show hosted by theater maven Seth Rudetsky and his producer husband James Wesley. It features a variety of stage stars and airs every day at 2 pm ET and 8 pm ET, a nod to traditional curtain times.

Attention, Andrew Lloyd Webber fans! Every Friday starting April 3,  he is streaming one of his musicals for free on the new YouTube channel The Shows Must Go On! The series starts off with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (starring Donny Osmond and Richard Attenborough)) and, as Weber says in this intro video, will include his flop By Jeeves.

Theater fans can also subscribe to Broadway HD, a Netflix-like subscription service that’s $9/month, with a free seven-day trial. The site’s library includes a mix of recent hits and classics, such as Cats, Kinky Boots, Patrick Stewart’s MacBeth, and Angela Lansbury’s Driving Miss Daisy.

To host your own movie night with friends, you can use NetflixParty It’s an easy-to-install browser extension for Chrome that allows viewers to sync whatever they’re watching and make the night more social. It was developed by an Airbnb engineer back in 2015, and is not surprisingly a lot more popular lately.

If you’re a reader, the Kindle store always has a selection of free classic books.  For more academic types, Cambridge Publishing is offering 700 online editions of books. The free reading period is until the end of May, and includes some Christian and theological works. Audible is offering free kids audio books as long as schools are closed, and some authors of children’s books are reading their works and doing literary activities with kids online.

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.

A doctor's hand saving the patient holding his hand in a glove on blue background. Concept of salvation, donorship, helping hand, coronavirus, COVID 19

Things You Can Do to Help Others During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Leave a reply

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.

empty street in Paris during coronavirus lockdown

What Lockdown Is Like in Other Countries: Life During Coronavirus

Leave a reply

As travelers, we’re curious about how people go about their daily lives in other countries. Thanks to our Trusted Travel Experts, I’ve gotten to milk cows with a farmer in Colombia, prepare dinner with a family in India, craft pottery with a Mayan woman in Belize, and watch my son draw alongside an artist in Vietnam.

Those travel experiences seem like distant memories as I navigate week two of sheltering in place here in California’s Bay Area. But it’s made me wonder: How are people around the world handling our new normal?

So I reached out to some of our Trusted Travel Experts, spread as they are across the globe, for their perspective on life in the time of coronavirus.

In Istanbul: Earl Starkey

“They closed all 60,000 mosques in Turkey for daily prayers, and they are disinfecting everywhere. The only panic buying was on kolonya, which is an alcohol-based antibacterial that people use here. Every night at 9:00 pm everyone goes out on their balconies and applauds all the doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers in Turkey. Here we generally kiss each other on the cheek—even men do it. I wonder if I will go back to that after this is over. I have been through so many disasters recently in Turkey, with terrorism, bombings, and coups, that this just feels like one more thing. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to travel right now, but I am happy to be riding this out in Turkey.”

In Rome: Jennifer Virgilio

“All we have open are supermarkets and pharmacies. If you go out, you have to wait outside the store, take a number, stand one to two meters away from each other, wait until they call you. They give you alcohol to wash your hands, and then they give you gloves to wear. Normally Italians do not show flags of their country like Americans do, but now flags are flying everywhere. I think it’s a great symbol of unity and pride while we all get through this. At 6:00 pm one neighbor blasts his Italian music, which is lovely—especially when he plays Volare. We’re doing lots of WhatsApp aperitivos, like we would normally do in person, and Whatsapp playdates with our daughter’s friends. We’re eating as a family, which is something that we didn’t normally do, because we had such different work hours. Week one was really fun. Week two has had a downward feeling. I have some friends who live alone; they’re struggling with loneliness. Overall I think the Italian government has done a good job, but some of my friends would disagree with me. They say that the government hasn’t kept us upbeat, they haven’t been there for us mentally. It’s hard to keep people upbeat when the reality is that they don’t have the capacity at the morgues, hospitals, and cemeteries in the north. I started doing Italian lessons again. It’s something I’ve put off because I’m always too busy, so now is the time to do it. I heard a man on the Italian news say that our parents and grandparents were called to war, whereas we’re being asked to watch Netflix. It’s not that hard. The air quality in Rome is amazing. Nobody is on the roads anymore. The more we look at these things as positive, the better.”

Rome during the coronavirus lockdown. Photo: Jennifer Virgilio

 

In Hangzhou, China: Fann Feng (colleague of Trusted Travel Expert Mei Zhang)

“Hangzhou was one of the first cities to respond to the virus. They had people guarding every local community and wouldn’t allow you to go out, but they would give you some daily supplies. After the first week, they started to give permission for one person from each family to go out every two days to buy supplies. In China we are used to following the government’s restrictions or advice. Normally I would be in Beijing, going to the office every day. It’s been two months that I’ve been working from home. One thing that many people did to pass the time during the quarantine was to watch the 24-hour live-stream of construction of the two temporary hospitals built in Wuhan in late January. We also had eight museums offering live-streams of their collections. A lot of the younger generation got through it by playing online games with their friends. Every night some people would sing together on their balconies, even do opera together. Now the restrictions are gone. Most cities have zero new cases. The schools are discussing a plan to reopen. When I first came home [for Chinese New Year], there were no cars on the streets. Now there are small traffic jams. I kind of missed the traffic jams! Now some of the tourist sites, parks, and museums are open, but you need to make an appointment in advance, and only a certain number of people are allowed in.”

very few people in a shopping mall in China during the coronavirus outbreak
"I went to a shopping mall in late Feb, I think. At that time, you needed to wear masks and show your ID card and “green code” if you wanted to enter into the parking lot and the building. In the picture, people who are in yellow coats are the delivery men, some of them didn’t stop working even during the outbreak peak, as there are quite a lot of people who still need help buying daily supplies and medicine. All of the restaurants at that time, if they were open, they could only do to-go and the restaurant staff would pack everything, put the bags on the table at the entrance, and then have the delivery man take it away. And also they would attach a piece of paper on the bag, noting the temperature of people who made the food, who packed the food and who delivered the food." Photo: Fann Fang
checkpoint barrier at the entrance to a local village in China during coronavirus
"I ran into this local village shutdown in China during the beginning of the quarantine, using one priceless opportunity of my family’s to go out of our apartment. I was going to pick up something from my mom’s friend, so I went to their village, and saw the guardians. They would only allow the villagers enter, so I had to call my mom’s friend to come to meet me by the entrance." Photo: Fann Fang
Chengdu Airport on January 30 with masked, fully suited person waiting to do screenings of travelers in line
Chengdu Airport on January 30. Photo: Fann Fang

 

In Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: Zach Rabinor

“AMLO [Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador] is telling people to kiss and hug each other, as per the norms in our culture. But there’s been a lot of leadership at the regional level; our governor here in Jalisco is a very progressive, visionary guy. The schools are closed, but there are no government rules restricting movement. The volume of people on the street has slowed in the last few days. I’m looking out on the main thoroughfare; instead of nonstop traffic, I see one car every minute. I just watched an excursion boat head out with 100 people on board, though. We are largely not leaving our home, but I’ve been taking my sons to surf breaks where nobody goes. Spending quality time with my family is the clear winner in this situation. We’re allowed to grieve the loss of social interaction. This crisis is showing the fissures and weaknesses and hollowness of our society. I’m confident we’re going to come through it stronger.”

 

In Paris: Andreas Eberhart (colleague of Trusted Travel Expert Jennifer Virgilio)

“The center of Paris is really rather calm, with very little traffic. The post office and courier companies are doing deliveries. The butcher, bakery, as well as supermarkets are open. Every evening at 8:00 pm Parisians go to the windows and balconies to applaud the people that are continuing to work on the frontline for the rest of us: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, cashiers at the supermarket, or our baker close to home. In the 9th arrondissement there is an opera singer, Stéphane Sénéchal, who every evening sings a song that her elderly neighbors will enjoy. The Opéra de Paris is live-streaming a few of their past shows. We are all being taught a very hard lesson here: We all take our lifestyles for granted. It’s time to come together as humans, politicians, and countries so we can fight this war all together. Stay home, self-quarantine, spend quality time together, read a book, help your neighbor in need, get creative and call [don’t visit] your grandparents. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we get the virus contained and can start traveling again, with a new perspective on life.”

Paris, during the coronavirus lockdown. Photo: Andreas Eberhart

 

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.

a wooden walkway over a stream in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska. Photo: NPS

Hike Trails and Stroll Through Gardens Without Leaving Your House

Leave a reply

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.

 

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.

couple the bamboo forest Kyoto Japan with umbrella

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

Leave a reply

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 Japan

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 Japan

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 sign in hired car in Japan

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

tourist selfie in St. Peters Square Vatican City Rome

Traveling through Europe as the Coronavirus Spread: A Family’s Experience

1 Reply

PLEASE NOTE: Our ongoing efforts to check in with travelers who are currently overseas, in accordance with our promise to monitor their trips, does not mean we advocate travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.  On March 11, the U.S. State Department advised U.S. citizens to reconsider travel abroad, and non-U.S. citizens were 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 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. For any travelers returning from a country with a widespread outbreak, the CDC is advising self-quarantines. 

In our continuing effort 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’re thankful to Janette Gill and her family for sharing their story, and for continuing to share as world events and travel rules have changed over the past few weeks. We have added updates from Mrs. Gill throughout her trip.

The Gills’ travel timeline (Rome–Norway–Barcelona–Porto–Lisbon):

Mrs. Gill’s travels began on February 26, when she flew to Italy to spend time with her college-age daughter, who was studying in Rome this semester. After a mother-daughter jaunt to Norway, their plan was to return to Rome and meet up with the rest of the family—Mrs. Gill’s husband and younger daughter—for an Italian spring break planned by Andrea Grisdale, one of Wendy’s WOW List trip-planning specialists based in Italy.

Then Italy’s coronavirus count exploded. The day before Mrs. Gill arrived in Rome, 11 towns in Lombardy went on lockdown, and Milan closed its schools, the Duomo Cathedral, and the La Scala opera house after the reported cases surged from five to more than 150. Mrs. Gill and her daughter were much farther south, touring Rome and monitoring the situation. By the time they flew to Norway on February 28, the number of Italian cases had hit 800 and the CDC and State Department gave Italy a Level 3 travel alert (reconsider travel). The very next day, northern Italy was bumped up to Level 4 (do not travel). The Gill family had to rethink their trip.

Instead of scrapping their vacation, they changed their destination.  While in Norway, Mrs. Gill and her older daughter researched their options and decided on Spain and Portugal, where the viral infections were much lower (at that time, fewer than 400 in Spain and only nine in Portugal) and the travel alerts were not prohibitive (level 1 in Portugal; Spain is still at level 2 for political unrest in October 2019).  Of course, the pandemic continued to spread, and on March 11, President Trump announced a travel ban, prohibiting non-citizens from 26 European countries from entering the U.S.; Portugal and Spain are on that list.

The first time we interviewed Mrs. Gill, she was in Norway on March 3. We talked about her experiences, thoughts, and decisions about traveling during the coronavirus outbreak. We emailed with her again when she and her older daughter landed in Spain on March 6 to meet up with her husband and younger daughter. We spoke again on the phone on March 10 after they had driven from Porto to Lisbon. On March 13, she emailed us again from Lisbon with a final update, as she and her family prepared to board a flight home from Portugal (their regularly scheduled flight).

Update March 13, from Lisbon:

Via email: “Since we were not able to change our flights to travel home a day earlier yesterday, we decided to make the most of being in Portugal by being outdoors (still lots of hand washing and sanitizer). There were still a handful of tourists visiting the quaint seaside town of Sintra and driving along the beautiful coastline near Lisbon. Locals were out shopping, eating in cafes, and playing at the beach since school had been canceled.

Our tour guide this morning told us that the Prime Minister of Portugal “has now invited everyone to a volunteer quarantine,” and I’m hopeful that the locals can get back to their normal lives very soon.

In order to be a good citizen to my neighbors and family, I plan on self-quarantining when we arrive home, to help prevent the possible spread of this virus.

Even though the past 2 1/2 weeks of traveling through several countries in Europe has sometimes been challenging, with schedule changes and the unknown of what the next day would bring, I must say that the locals have done their best to accommodate us by adjusting our itinerary. I know their economy will suffer from the decrease in foreign tourists, but I have no doubt that they will bounce back in time even stronger.

Kudos go out to Andrea Grisdale and her team for postponing our trip to Italy until next year.”

Lisbon's Praca do Comercio

The Gill family with their guide in Lisbon’s Praca do Comercio. Photo courtesy of the Gill family

Update March 10, from Lisbon:

When we spoke on the phone with Mrs. Gill on March 10, she and her family had just driven from Porto to Lisbon. She noted that when she flew from Rome to Barcelona and then from Barcelona to Porto, neither airport was checking temperatures. “It surprised us,” she said. She also said that the airplanes were about three-quarters full and the airports seemed busy.

Despite the coronavirus seeming to take over news here, they were enjoying themselves. On Monday, they had toured the Douro Valley with a guide and ran into some other American travelers. “On our little gondola ride across the water, there were a group of three Syracuse students that were studying in London and were on their spring break. They said they had to be careful where they traveled to because the university told them not to travel to certain countries. A couple from New York was there and they were having a great time.”

Mrs. Gill has had a few experiences that reflect the uptick in coronavirus concerns. When she contacted a guide to schedule a day trip from Lisbon to Sintra, the guide declined, saying she is ten weeks pregnant and her doctor advised her not to lead tours right now. And when the family checked into their Airbnb in Lisbon, their host contacted them to say she would not be meeting them in person because of the virus. “So there were two incidents when the locals were keeping themselves safe,” Mrs. Gill said. Still, she added, “I’ve only seen a handful of masks, and people don’t seem to really be talking about it.”  This morning, she said, they’d walked down to the port and around the harbor, and then visited the popular Livraria Lello, the bookstore that inspired J.K. Rowling’s vision of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts. As usual, it was busy to get in. “There was a line, but they had hand sanitizer at the door.”

We asked her if her feeling about traveling, or letting her daughter travel, had changed at all. She answered,  “I don’t think it’s really changed. I think it’s just that we need to stay informed before my daughter travels. She needs to stay informed of what’s going on and which areas she shouldn’t travel to. She will have been two weeks from Rome by the time she gets home. If she came back with us she would have to self quarantine. But she’ll be in Dublin for a week so she won’t have to; it’s from the day you leave the country.”

Update March 6, from Barcelona:

Mrs. Gill landed in Barcelona on March 5, after transiting through Rome, and she emailed us March 6 with an update. Much had changed in the short time she was away from Italy; the number of cases was now more than 4,000.  “I must say that I can now see how this is affecting the Italians,” she wrote. On the flight over, the Alitalia staff member who checked her in expressed concern that the company might go under because of the virus. She said: “Also, I sat next to a young Italian woman who lives in Barcelona who had been visiting her family outside of Rome. She mentioned that taxis that day in Rome were begging for passengers, restaurants they ate in were deserted, and roads were empty (which never happens). It’s all very sad for their people and economy.” Mrs. Gill added that she was surprised that no one at the Barcelona airport took her temperature when she arrived. And she included a photo, taken by her husband, of his empty flight from Newark to Rome, where he and their younger daughter flew before their connection to Barcelona.

empty flight from Newark airport to Rome on March 6

Mr. Gill’s empty flight from Newark airport to Rome on March 6. Photo courtesy of the Gill Family.

The Gills took this video of the line at Parc Guell in Barcelona on March 7:

Original interview on March 3, from Norway, after Rome:

tourists walking in Rome in front of St Peters Basilica

The streets in Rome were still full of tourists on the last weekend of February, and not many were wearing masks.

Q: Your main concern was not getting sick but getting stuck?

A:  Yes, my husband didn’t want to get stuck. He said, I don’t want to be quarantined if we come back from Italy and they’ve raised all of Italy to Level 4.

And, just as my oldest daughter and I were headed to Norway, she got an email from her university that they were canceling the semester in Rome and they would do all their classes online. So now our family is planning to meet in Barcelona [on March 6] for a few nights and then go on to Portugal [March 8–13].

Q: You spent time in Rome February 26–28. What was that like?

A: I spent two nights in Rome with my daughter, and we felt perfectly safe. I washed my hands a lot and did what you normally do when you travel so you don’t get sick. I’d brought extra sanitizer and wipes and things like that to wipe down the airplane seat and tray. But other than that, we felt safe in Italy.

Q: How did the virus situation affect what you did in Italy?

A: It was fine. There were very few people with masks on. We went to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. We made sure to wash our hands a lot. But other than that it was business as usual. My daughter thought the lines to get into the Vatican were less crowded than usual, but there were still lines. They weren’t wrapped around the building anymore, but there were lines. We met up with some of her roommates for dinner, and the restaurant scene was packed. To me, I wouldn’t have noticed anything going on, and the Italians that we spoke with didn’t seem too concerned.

Then we went to the airport. There wasn’t a fear. It was just that if someone coughed, you stepped away. There was hand sanitizer at the baggage claim and desk, but I don’t know if that’s always there. When I’d arrived at the Rome airport from the U.S., they were screening for temperatures. When we took a train from the Rome apartment to the airport to fly to Norway, there were signs up at the train station and on the train. There were also signs in the Norway airport.

tourist with pizza maker in Rome Italy

Mrs. Gill said her trip to Rome and Norway felt “the same as other trips, but with more hand sanitizer.” Photo courtesy of the Gill Family.

Q: You’ll need to transit through Rome so your daughter can get her stuff there. Are you concerned?

A: I wasn’t fearful to be in Rome; my only fear was returning to the U.S. and what the U.S. government would impose on us. At my daughter’s [home] university, it’s mandated that students traveling back from the Rome program must self-quarantine for two weeks before they go back to campus. Seeing that come from the university, my husband said, ‘I don’t want to go to Italy because when we come back I don’t want to be self-quarantined for two weeks.’ [Update: When Mrs. Gill and her daughter flew back to Rome after Norway, she remained in the airport in order to avoid being subject to self-quarantine in the United States; her daughter would be traveling through Europe for a few more weeks and therefore would no longer be required to self-quarantine.]

Q: How expensive or difficult was it to cancel your Italy trip?

A: Andrea Grisdale was fabulous: She worked with us and enabled us to postpone our trip and save almost all of our money. We will come back to Italy before the end of the year; we’re just not sure when. Andrea has also been good about sharing information on how many people in Italy who got the virus have already recovered. It gave me a sense of comfort to know that a lot of the people who were affected have already been cleared.

Q: What does it feel like in Norway? How are they addressing the coronavirus for travelers?

A: At the last two hotels we stayed at, there was lots of hand sanitizer everywhere, and we did see a few signs. Every restaurant has hand sanitizer when you walk in. I don’t know if that’s normal, but I did see it.

Norwegian language sign warning people about coronavirus in Kirkenes Airport Norway

Signs were posted in Kirkenes Airport in Norway, as well as on trains in that country and in Italy. Photo courtesy of the Gill Family.

Q: Your Norway arrangements were made by another WOW List trip designer. What have you been doing in Norway?

A: We spent three nights in Tromso and did this fabulous experience: Vulkana. It’s an old whaling boat that they have remodeled into a spa. On top is the hot tub, a sauna on the second level, and a steam room on the third. And they serve this beautiful lunch and my crazy college daughter, she and everyone on the boat did the polar plunge except me. Not me, no thanks. We saw lots of cruise lines and ships coming in. It seems like they were traveling as usual. I brought masks—just in case we got sick, I didn’t want to get anyone else sick.

We also went on a crab safari. They drive you out to a fjord and they take a snowmobile sled out on the ice and they have drilled a big hole into the thick ice and they just pull the crab baskets out. Then you come back to the house and they cook it, and it was the most amazing crab I’ve ever tasted in my life. Tonight we’re going out to look for the Northern Lights. [Editor’s update: They saw them.]

northern lights from a dog sled in Norway, with dogs in foreground and green lights in the sky

After we spoke, the Gills went on a sled trip hoping to catch the Northern Lights. They found them. Photo courtesy of the Gill Family.

Q: Why Spain and Portugal?

A: We’ve never been to Portugal, it’s not on any travel alert lists, and we like to drink wine. And if you can’t go to Italy…. We thought what the heck. Now, would I go to China? No, because I don’t think they’re as advanced in some of their hygiene and in some of the cities.

Q: How does this trip differ from other trips you’ve taken?

A: It’s the same as other trips, but with more hand sanitizer. We’re not in the at-risk groups. If I was 70 years old or had a compromised immune system, I probably wouldn’t travel—just like if there was an outbreak of flu in my community. But because we’re not in that risk group, I just think life is too short. Before we left, several of our friends said, you’re still going?  But the odds of dying on the way to the airport are much higher than me contracting the coronavirus. [Laughs.] That’s how I roll.

venice murano island canal with boats and no crowds

How Frequent Travelers Are Approaching Upcoming Trips

2 Replies

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

1 Reply

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.

louvre museum pyramid and plaza

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.

Sacre Coeur Paris france

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

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.

Empty St Marks square Venice Italy

Coronavirus: How to Keep Track of What’s Important

Leave a reply

PLEASE NOTE:  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. The U.S. State Department has advised U.S. citizens to avoid travel by cruise ship. 

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic continues, we’ve been answering a lot of questions as travelers decide whether to cancel trips. In the 30 years I’ve been a travel journalist, I’ve watched viral epidemics come and go, affecting people’s perceptions of huge swaths of the world.  I was in Hong Kong in 2003 at the start of the SARS outbreak (the first pandemic of the 21st century), and I was in Panama during the Zika outbreak, and in between I watched H1N1, MERS, and Ebola alarm travelers to the point where they avoided multiple continents.  One thing I can tell you is that epidemics eventually go away—so, if deciding to cancel a trip means forfeiting prepaid funds, ask whether those payments can be applied toward a future trip.

DETERMINING YOUR RISK

Different travelers have different perceptions of the risk, as well as different levels of risk tolerance, so whether to forge ahead with a trip or postpone it is a personal calculation.  Some WendyPerrin.com readers have cancelled their overseas trips, while others are currently traveling and happy that they decided to do so.   In our continuing effort to answer your questions, and to touch base with those who are traveling internationally, we are interviewing readers who are currently overseas. We’ve published interviews with one reader who has been in four European countries since late February, and another reader who is in Paris today.

THE MOST SAVVY LOCAL DESTINATION SPECIALISTS CAN HELP

Every day I’m talking to WOW List Trusted Travel Experts about their strategies for ensuring travelers are taken good care of, whether those travelers are going ahead with their trips, postponing them, or rerouting themselves. I encourage you to talk to your WOW List travel specialist about any questions or concerns you may have; they have on-the-ground knowledge and plans in place.

TRAVEL INSURANCE MIGHT HELP TOO

If you haven’t already bought travel insurance and you are looking for a policy that will cover you in case you want to cancel because of the coronavirus, the only such coverage available to you is a policy with a Cancel For Any Reason upgrade. For more details, see our article “Cancel For Any Reason” Travel Insurance: What It Is and How It Works.

MAKE SURE YOUR RISK PERCEPTION IS WELL INFORMED

To that end, we’ve pulled together reliable coronavirus updates to check before you make any big decisions:

Centers for Disease Control

The CDC has a coronavirus education hub on its website.  See its information for travelers. On February 29, the CDC advised avoiding travel to China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea, and to consider postponing travel to Japan.

World Health Organization

In the WHO’s dedicated section you’ll find user-friendly, easy-to-digest tools, including a video explaining what we know about the virus, an FAQ of the most common questions, and a mythbusters page, as well as deeper dives into global research, WHO’s travel advice, situation reports, and the latest news.

The New York Times

In addition to staying on top of the daily virus news with these live updates, the Times has created an interactive map that tracks the confirmed cases of COVID-19. It’s updated often and serves as a good snapshot of what’s happening each day and as context for the news. You can also sign up for the Times’ daily coronavirus newsletter.

U.S. State Department

You can search for countries’ travel advisories here. Canadian travelers can find info from their government here. On March 5, the State Department advised U.S. citizens not to travel by cruise ship.

Travel insurance

Squaremouth has a useful article, The Traveler’s Guide to Travel Insurance for the Coronavirus, and InsureMyTrip has published these FAQs on Travel Insurance and Coronavirus.  You’ll find our opinion on Cancel For Any Reason coverage in “Cancel For Any Reason” Travel Insurance: What It Is and How It Works. For more general need-to-know intel, see our article How to Buy Travel Insurance: What It Covers, When You Need It.

Cruise Critic

COVID-19 has seriously affected cruise ships and cruising in general: quarantines, cancellations, ships being rejected from ports, health screenings for passengers. And recently the U.S. State Department advised U.S. citizens to avoid travel by cruise ship. Cruise Critic is keeping on top of each cruise company’s travel restrictions, itinerary changes, and refund policies with this mega-article, organized alphabetically by cruise line.

Airlines

Many airlines have clearly marked alerts right on their website homepages to let travelers know about route and flight cancellations, as well as how they’re handling change fees and bookings. United, JetBlue, and Delta are among those offering eliminating change fees for flights booked during a limited time period. Check with your airline to find out the details and what you might be entitled to.

This article was originally published on February 14 and is updated as new information comes in. You’ll find more updates in A Note from Wendy About Traveling—Or Not—in the Time of Coronavirus.

 

A Note from Wendy About Traveling—or Not—in the Time of Coronavirus

Leave a reply

PLEASE NOTE:  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. The U.S. State Department has advised U.S. citizens to avoid travel by cruise ship. 

We know a lot of you—like me, my family, and the whole WendyPerrin.​com team—are closely following the news about the spread of COVID-19. Every day we’re checking in with travelers who are overseas; talking to WOW List Trusted Travel Experts about their strategies for ensuring travelers are taken care of, whether they’re opting to go ahead with their trips, cancel, postpone, or reroute themselves; and advising those of you with questions about cancelling trips.

EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT COMFORT LEVEL

Everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to travel at this time. As you know from Coronavirus: How To Keep Track of What’s Important, I’m not here to tell you whether to go ahead with a trip or cancel. That’s a personal risk calculation.  Whatever you decide, my team and I are here to advise as best we can.  In our continuing effort to answer your questions, and to touch base with those who are traveling internationally, we are interviewing readers who are currently overseas. We’ve published interviews with one reader who has been in four European countries since late February, and another reader who is in Paris today.

If you’ve got an upcoming trip that you’re thinking of postponing, I encourage you to talk to your WOW List travel specialist about any questions or concerns you may have; they have on-the-ground knowledge and plans in place. We also invite you to talk to us and to one another. If you have insights, tips, or experiences you’d like to share, please leave a comment on our article Coronavirus: How to Keep Track of What’s Important or write to us at questions@wendyperrin.com.

SOME PEOPLE ARE THINKING AHEAD

While many people have been cancelling trips, we’ve seen other people actually booking trips—including to Italy, Japan, and Southeast Asia—for Christmas/New Year’s and winter/spring of 2021. They’re not paying large nonrefundable deposits now; rather, they’re positioning themselves so that, at the time when a large nonrefundable payment comes due, if they feel comfortable moving forward, they will already have the itinerary and prime accommodations and experiences they want in place. To get such a head start is not a bad strategy, given the pent-up travel demand that is likely to occur once this epidemic has subsided. We’ve also heard from travelers inquiring about Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance.

This week we’re hearing in particular from parents who’ve cancelled their international spring-break plans and are asking for help with family trips in the U.S. instead. They might enjoy one of these extraordinary close-to-home escapes, some of which they can drive to. As for those of you who are thinking ahead to Christmas/New Year’s, you might consider these surefire holiday trip ideas.

Again, everyone has a different comfort level.  Most of you are, completely understandably, sitting tight at home. For you, we will continue to share inspiration in our newsletter every week, so you can dream about your next getaway. It will happen someday!

Wishing you and yours good health,

Wendy