Hi ,

I've been saying for weeks now that your documented covid vaccinations will open travel doors for you in the future, and I'm beginning to see signs of that now. At least two island nations (Iceland and the Seychelles) already say vaccinated travelers can skirt the countries' respective quarantine rules. Cyprus and Romania are expected to do the same. My bet is that there will be more countries added to this list over time.

Hint: If you get vaccinated be sure to take your International Vaccination Record card with you at your second vaccination, and ask for this to be added to your record.

Sailing

Some people say they will never sail again. I get it, the prospect of being stuck on a ship that wanders around looking for a port that will accept it is like something out of a horror movie, right? But I do think that sailing will come back, and I'm thinking 2022. I've been cancelling and rescheduling cruises for myself and for clients, shoving everyone into '22.

But here's the deal - there's millions (literally millions) of people who hold Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) that they must use by sometime in 2022. Plus there's pent up demand from people chomping at the bit to travel. So that means lots of demand, and that drives straight to higher cruise pricing than I've seen in a while.

Recommendation: If you have FCCs to use or you want to get back on a ship in 2022 let me know and let's look at it now.

• I'll be recommending 100% refundable deposits when we can find them.
• I won't be recommending any cruise line (like Viking) that requires you to pay in full right now for something way off in 2022. I think that's total greed, honestly, and a bad use of your money.
• We'll be waiting until 2 or 3 days before the final payment is due to pay anything past your deposit (it's YOUR money, you should have the use of it as long as possible).
• We'll be getting trip insurance, and maybe even both the ship's basic insurance and a stand-alone policy to cover you very well.

Many cruise lines are offering sales right now for cruising all the way through 2022 and a few even into 2023. Some of the deals are not that great. Some of them are super-good. See one I really like, below.

Land

If you are one of the "never sail again" travelers I recommend booking smaller group land tours or private journeys. One of the side benefits of the pandemic is that many land tour operators have retooled to offer small group, family, or private travel for couples and individuals. Honestly, this is the way to go anyway. Private tours handle all the driving, take you exactly where YOU want to go, and you see 50% more because you aren't waiting around on a bunch of people. The experience is completely different than the whole 40 to 60 person bus tour deal. Not to mention, you're traveling in your own little bubble. You'll see more local non-touristy places because the driver, who is also your guide, knows about them - he or she lives there.

I see some good opportunities for private travel in Ireland and the UK right now. For 2022 my recommendation is to stay in either the US or Europe because these countries will handle vaccinations for their citizens by the beginning of 2022, I believe.

Iceland

Did you notice above that Iceland is one country that will accept vaccinated travelers without quarantine rules? I've been to Iceland and let me tell you, the scenery is something you will never forget. If you're game for travel all the way in August, 2022 this is the trip I know you will love. Bonus - a day on the front end to explore Dublin! We need to book this now, get it deposited, and then sit and wait until way off in 2022 to pay for the rest of it. Azamara has been sold to a private equity firm, which gets it out from under Royal Caribbean. That could be a bad thing, as I said in my previous email. But to their credit the new owner has already announced the purchase of a 4th ship for Azamara, which after drydock and refurbishing to Azamara standards will start sailing in Europe in 2022. So some of my previous caution has dissipated. Small ship is THE way to see Iceland. Azamara ships are a joy to be on. If you've wanted to see Iceland let's talk about this particular trip.

That's it for now. Happy Groundhog Day!

Sue Painter

Travel Changes Life

sue@travelchangeslife

941-720-1842