Hi ,

Just when I thought travel would start to open up a bit we ended up last week with new travel restrictions throughout Europe due to the newly detected strain of covid19 that surfaced in Europe.

Nevertheless, since vaccines are now rolling out in Europe, the US, and other places in the world there will be some movement in travel during the New Year, probably about mid-year.

Many people are staying stateside, not wishing to deal with the constantly changing travel and testing requirements that happen as you cross borders. Currently, I have an adventurous friend who has made her way from the US to Turkey, and from there to Egypt, and had plans to then fly to Mexico. But Mexico has now closed several of its states, so she's having to change to one of the fewer "open" cities which meant eating an airline ticket. And her further travel on to Asia is now cancelled.

I've now set up agency relationships with about 4 vendors of beach and mountain homes here in the US so that I can help you find rentals. The latest vendor has condos and homes in these areas:

Lake Tahoe

Manson, WA

Moab, Utah

St. George, Utah

Breckinridge, CO

Seattle

Palm Springs, CA

Kaanapali, HI (on Maui)

San Diego

McCall, ID

Portland

The greater Orlando area

Fort Myers

Miami

Naples

Daytona

Bradenton (my own home town, which has fabulous beaches!).

Other companies offer many more US and international condo and homes for rent. Count one a minimum of a week, and the prices vary greatly by size and by season, too.

Tips

• If you fly, expect to see sudden changes and cancellations. Airlines are cancelling and rerouting flights on the daily right now. A direct flight might turn into a three-stop flight with absolutely no warning, and airlines are not offering compensation or hotels.
• There is a trend for "health passports" with some countries and travel companies leaning more to proof of testing and in the coming months proof of vaccines, too. Vaccination or no, masks will be required, I believe, throughout 2021.
• More cruise companies are canceling through March, but this could turn around if vaccinations continue to be delivered across the US and Europe.
• As of this moment (always subject to change) Canada has announced it will continue its port closure through all of 2021. This means Alaska cruises that depart from, arrive in, or visit Canadian ports will be cancelled. We'd have to look for small ship cruises that depart and arrive only in US ports more than likely.

I'll keep you posted of other significant developments as I see them into the New Year. Meanwhile, if you're wanting a beach, mountain, or other US based vacation spot let me know right now, because the demand is fierce, they are booking very fast, and the prices are rising almost weekly.

Happy New Year! May we have a much better year in '21 than we had in '20!

Sue Painter

sue@travelchangeslife.com

941-720-1842