Enjoy your cruise! I’ve been on two ocean cruises this year (July and September) and didn’t catch Covid. River longboats are much less crowded than ocean ships. I’d recommend wearing a mask if you’re on any bus excursions though. And we still mask in airports, planes and any public transit. Have fun.
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Just got back from Belize. (and yes there was a cat 1hurricane while we were there, which is very rare in Nov 
). Covid wise, the worse risks were at the airports and on the planes of course. Especially their airport which was crowded with no place to go isolate while waiting to board if so desired. The airport was the only place I ever saw masks. Most of the resorts are such that are you outdoors, or have fresh air. I looked at the cases and they average 2 cases a day officially at this point. Before Belize, i was in Vegas for a trade show, I traveled to Dallas for a meeting, and to Raleigh for a sales meeting. I got the bi-varient booster in Sept. I have been very lucky.
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Just returned from 2.5 weeks visiting 3 cities in Spain. In case it could be helpful to others, here are our notes from the ground:
Incoming flights to Spain currently require masking on board. Taxi cab drivers are required to mask, as are passengers. Intra-country trains/public transit require masks. Compliance we observed was 100%. No masks required in train stations and airports. Flying out of Spain, there was no masking required on plane.
People were definitely flying sick in both directions and usually unmasked unless required. We wore KN95 or N95 whenever we were traveling, indoors at shops sights and museums, etc. Almost no one else did. Will feel we missed getting sick in another 5 days or so. Interestingly, we observed numerous 2-14 year olds out with harsh, persistent coughs in all 3 cities we visited. Would have noticed it even in pre-Covid times. RSV and flu may be high there as well as here. Although there is more to be known about its efficacy, we used Enovid nasal spray consistently throughout the trip and are continuing it upon our return.
This was our first flight and international trip since 2/20. It felt good to see new to us places. We were prepared to stay put as indicated if either of us got sick while there; clearly not feasible for many. Happy travels to everyone planning a trip.
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I got back recently from my first airplane-trip since the fall of 2019.
I went on a work trip from MD to CO. I got booster about 3-4 weeks before the trip. I was very surprised at how few people wore masks in the airport and on the plane! The CO airport security was packed with hundreds and hundreds of people. (I wore a KN95 - I wish I had take an N95!)
While I don’t want covid (to my knowledge, I have never had it), my primary concern was my 80-something parents who I see frequently. I tested when I got home and will continue to test frequently this week.
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I picked up whatever was going around school last Thursday/Friday. A first test was negative for Covid, but it sure feels like how I felt when I had Covid before (not too bad TBH). I may try testing again. In one class it seemed like every single student was sick, so I kind of figured I was doomed. In every other class there were a handful who were sick. There are also a lot of teachers out - also sick.
But if I can survive that, I feel I can survive travel.
We have our kids coming from Puerto Rico later this week and we’re heading to where the other two live. One of those will be returning from CA. There will be tons of opportunities to spread bugs - just like in the Pre-Covid era. At least I should be past any contagious stage prior to our travel. Not sure about H. Offered to have our kids stay with friends for the first couple days, but they said they’d prefer to take the chances here. Considering they may be bringing something to us too, it’s all a crapshoot.
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I flew to/back from Spain few weeks ago. There were no requirement to wear mask at the airport, but we were required to wear masks while on the plane. We were also required to wear masks while on a bus or train. I am surprised that you weren’t required to wear mask.
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Yes; we were surprised masks were not required on the flight out of Madrid to Dublin also. I asked DH about it and he said from his aisle seat (at front of plane) he heard a flight attendant say “mask” as some others boarded, yet it seemed clear he didn’t mean it and there was much unrelated humorous banter. Apparently, it was the morning after a big game was played in Madrid and the plane was about 70% fans dressed in uniform colors. Don’t know what routine procedure was supposed to be or if post-game mood had any impact at all. We had our mask routine and kept it.
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I was sitting in the front from Madrid to NYC. They reminded the passengers to put mask back on when not eating. Flight attendants had mask on the whole time. We were told that Spain still required mask on all public transportations.
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We recently flew to Madrid from NYC on Delta. There was no requirement to mask on either flight. We wore masks for the entire flight, except when eating, as well as in both airports. As others have noted, there was almost 100% mask compliance on trains, subways, and taxis, much higher than in NYC.
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Interesting to hear of the inconsistencies with travel to and from Spain. I know some entry (to Spain) criteria were modified a few weeks before our trip. Thanks for sharing.
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Presumably they did not just take an airplane ride? They could have gotten Covid somewhere other than on the airplane I would think.
I flew to Egypt and then London. No one masking at all. A few folks working in hotels and maybe a flight attendant or two. A small percentage of passengers. I try to remember to mask in airports. I’m less worried about planes – good ventilation system and Hepa filtration. But airport lines are bad.
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We flew to Paris and then Egypt. Saw very few masks. We made sure to mask in the airports and on the planes, but I am beginning to wonder if this was helpful at all!
In crowded indoor places, a well fitting N95 or similar mask may help, particularly if you have not had both 3+ vaccine doses and a recent infection with a not-too-different variant from the current ones.
It may also help with respect to some other airborne infections like flu.
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My son is flying tonight to come to his grandmother’s funeral on Saturday. He is an usher and a reader.
He just called to say he had a meeting with someone yesterday, who tested positive today for COVID. They sat across the table from each other, mostly. The coworker’s family is not yet sick, but the co-worker is.
I am honestly not sure what to do. He says the CDC guidelines are to wear a mask . If symptomatic or testimg positive, isolate. I have read those too, but don’t always agree.
This is the worst possible timing sine he really cannot know for sure in time for the funeral, which is in a church with 100 people, many of them elderly.
I am also afraid he could get stranded in his hotel, positive and unable to fly
He is young,& so many young people have mild cases. He may not become contagious at all. KN95 masks are good. For him and average healthy, people, I feel the CDC guidelines are good enough.
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He does have asthma. He is flying, and we will take it from there. He is definitely not contagious to fly.
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My answer would have been different months ago, but at this point I think putting on a good mask and not hugging people would be an OK course of action.
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I might agree, but I am curious how you account for your change in attitude. There seems to be a lot of COVID around. Again, I have been around a lot of people in their 90’s!
Vaccines and boosters, plus many fewer people winding up in the hospital.
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