Hi ,

It's the Wild West in the world of travel right now! Travel is open, people are booking.

There are some great deals if you are willing to comply with covid restrictions in the short term. There are also some crazy high prices right now (think air fares and rental cars).

Here are my suggestions for you right now.

• Do you want to stay in the US and travel sometime between now and the end of this year? Contact me NOW. Many US travelers are opting to stay state-side but are more than willing to travel, which has resort and some hotel availability almost non-existent until the end of this year.
• One recommendation I have is to avoid rental cars and connecting flight schedules. Rental car rates are off the chart in many places in the US, especially Florida, California, Texas, and Hawaii.

• If you opt to fly here are my recommendations.
• Book your flights and do not try to change them, be sure before you book. I've seen clients book flights, decide to make a change, and pay $700 more for the new flights.
• Get to the airport several hours (3 in bigger airports) because TSA lines are crazy long. I know people who showed up 3 hours ahead of time and missed their flight due to TSA screening times.
• Fly direct and avoid connections at all costs.

In the US consider letting me book a tour operator for you to visit national parks, major cities, New England this fall. You won't do the driving, your hotels will be a better value, and you can truly relax instead of figuring out what's open, what's closed, and where to eat.

Do you think you're going to travel in 2022 or 2023? Please contact me now for booking. The bookings for almost all ships and land tours internationally is over the top right now. Some ships and tours are completely sold out for summer 2022! Booking now ensures you against future price increases and believe me, there will be (already are) price increases.

Personally, we have locked in pricing for 6 trips in 2022 and now our concern will be finding decent flight pricing when flights are available (closer to the trip time). I have already seen pricing on some of the trips we have booked go up by 25%.

There are exceptions to EVERY rule. If I think that you should wait to book on a particular trip because there may be more availability later, I will tell you. That might be the case 10% of the time.

Cancellations are still happening. I booked a cruise not 3 weeks ago for a couple and it was cancelled completely two days ago. This will continue to happen in the short term, but believe me I keep my ears to the ground and know which are likely to go, and which are not.

If you are a Florida resident and want a short getaway this fall there are cruise sales ending this week that would be beneficial to book right now.

I am seeing some decent prices on European river cruises for next year, especially early in the season. Now that Europe is starting to open up travel availability will follow. At the end of this week I'm meeting with every river cruise company I think is top-notch and will have more news for you, so stay tuned! More to come!

You can contact me at sue@travelchangeslife.com or text or call 941-720-1842.

Time to plan!!

Sue Painter