@emilybee - l do not think you get it. I am not disputing what Alaska or Hawaii are doing. Just responding to some wondering why they can’t stop incoming or outbound flights completely. It would be unconstitutional. That “little piece of paper” aka the US Constitution holds a lot of power thank goodness. That is why the decision to block travelers from NY was quickly scrapped (my guess the lawyers who advised instituting it barely passed the class). Other countries are heck not bound by our Constitution. They can do whatever they want about travel.
I have a wide group of friends all over the country who travel internationally for pleasure not business. I have heard of no one who is planning any travel for the rest of 2020, and we all are not sure about 2021.
Here on the river with FIL’s cottage there is essentially no one else around. Normally there would be several boats out fishing, water skiing, or just plain going up/down river, then add the jet skis.
Since lunchtime on Wednesday I’ve seen about half a dozen boats total (not daily) - two fishing, the other 3 or 4 going up/down, and just two jet skis. There’s also been one barge (grain) and 2 daily crab boats, but those are all working boats.
I’m definitely not convinced many are vacationing. It surprises me, because most, like FIL, are relatively local. It wouldn’t be difficult to get here - yet they aren’t coming. I’m told weekends have more, but about half of normal.
I only know of two folks traveling - both work with H - not employees, but regular contacts through work. One was going out west with his kids to the Grand Canyon and around. The other went somewhere on his honeymoon - not sure where or if it is where they had planned to go originally. I asked H, but he doesn’t know. It’s not that close of a contact.
We are still planning to go to the USVI later in July (rescheduled from May). The flying will be a little scarier than our Florida trip a few weeks ago since it’s 2 longer connecting flights, but we should be fine once we get there. I also just got invited to speak at a conference in Charleston, SC in early October. I accepted it, hoping by then our company will allow travel. It’s a short, non-stop flight. The conference isn’t huge, and has a lot of safety protocols outlined.
@MomofWildChild, how, exactly do you get to the USVI? Not a chance we’ll go this summer, but maybe next year? I was looking into it (two years ago? Three? ) when the big hurricane hit and dashed those plans for a while…
(ARGH, we would have been packing for Italy right now in the alternate world we used to live in… but best not to think about it except for hopeful future plans!)
We’ve been going to St. John for years. We’ve gone the last 2 years (even the spring after the Sept hurricane) and this will be 3 in a row. We live in the Nashville area and almost always have to route through Miami (occasionally there is a Charlotte option) and then to St. Thomas on American. It’s a long travel day.
St. John IS the island. We do rent a jeep on the island (after we ferry over from St. Thomas) and have stayed various places on the small island. Last year we stayed in a condo close to the “main” little town of Cruz Bay so we could walk to the restaurants, shops etc. We are staying there again. We had a great view of the Cruz Bay harbor and all the boats- could see all the way over to St. Thomas. 2 years ago we rented a villa and had our 2 kids and one girlfriend with us. We weren’t as close to town. We use the jeep to go around to different beaches and for me to go to an area where I like to run. We always visit the other side of the island a couple of times, too.
RE USVI
Check your heath insurance and make sure it will cover medical evacuation if necessary. There are a very limited number of ICU beds.
Residents are wary about the incoming tourists. The islands had reached a state of no local transmissions. They welcome the tourism business but know that they are opening themselves up to the virus. Facemasks are required in all businesses.
There are no day trips to BVI as they are closed until September or so.
You can rent a car in St Thomas and bring it across on the car barge or rent one on St John. I would recommend renting it in St Thomas and filling the car with groceries at Plaza or Moe’s. I use a locally owned car rental, not the national chains.
I actually recommend renting on St. John. I like to support the local agencies and the car barge can be iffy sometimes. We can get the groceries we need on St. John.
I follow St. John and the USVI closely and I do know there is some trepidation about the island opening back up to tourists. I also have talked to people there who need the economic benefit of visitors. Most people who delayed spring trips pushed them back to late fall or next spring. I don’t think July will be that busy. I am coming from a place that didn’t have a huge number of non-nursing home cases.
@inthegarden , I’m getting ready to cancel our remaining plans to Italy soon. Our trip is (was) September. I told our son, although I’m not looking forward to summer being over, I am looking forward to when our trip would have been completed. That it will be behind us, I can quite dwelling and being sad about it, and I can start planning again for September 2021.
Thanks for all the info on the USVI! maybe that will be a winter break trip for us one year! Yes, Cruz Bay…I hadn’t glanced at the map for a couple of years.
@conmama, I agree! I felt sick cancelling our various accommodations even though I knew there was no way I’d be getting on that plane. Still hoping for next summer or the next. Only silver lining is the chance to pick up some Italian (and more time to brush up on history/art history beforehand ?). Although I know it can’t be entirely authentic I enjoyed watching the Netflix series on the Medici recently. We can hope Italy will be back on the table soon!
Friday brought a couple new boats out on the river, but it’s really eerie with just how few people are around, esp for a weekend. I honestly thought with private cottages everywhere, this place would be experiencing a normal summer. There’s not a lot of risk in private, relatively distanced cottages. It’s why FIL is at his full time. Now I wonder where everyone is.
My extended family has cancelled all travel this year. It included trips to Portugal, Africa safari, European river cruise and a trip to Asia. I am hoping it will be safe enough next spring to take my mom back to Asia again.
D1 is renting a house outside of NYC for the month of Jul. It has a pool with a nice view. I will visit them for a long weekend.
On the news last night I heard Miami hotels (south beach) are expecting to be full the weekend of Jul 4th.
BIL found out a few weeks ago that his MIL has cancer. They live on opposite coasts. His wife wanted to go help take care of her, but this presented problems due to COVID. They have young children so no way to have care for them while BIL worked. In the end, they decided both would take a leave of absence from their jobs, but then the tricky part…how to get there. They also have two dogs, including a puppy they adopted recently. Staying in hotels/using public facilities made them a bit nervous, plus finding hotels that take dogs would also be an issue. They decided they’d rent an RV. After doing quite a bit of research, BIL found it would actually be cheaper to buy an RV. He also discovered there is a huge private rental market. With RVs being so popular at the moment, he plans to rent it when they are dome with it but also determined it would not be hard to sell it either.
So yesterday they left California. He’s doing a travel blog along the way. What a fun experience for his kids! I admit I’m a bit jealous as I always wanted to do a similar trip with our kids (though I think I’d prefer hotels). Just after dh and I got engaged, we did a three week cross country road trip and had the time of our lives - we did a mixture of tent camping, hotels and staying with friends. Our kids have been all over the U.S. but I still always wanted to do that cross country trip with them.
We have no plans for flying just yet, but our 21 y/o has been in CA at her off campus apartment since mid-January. This is the longest we’ve gone without seeing her. She is hoping to fly home at some point this summer but not sure if she will. A week ago I finally sent boxes of her summer clothes to her. She didn’t bring them with her in January as she originally thought she’d be home at some point mid-semester, plus she never intended to stay at school all summer.
We are fortunate to have a place at the beach, a 2 hr drive from us, so even though we canceled any plans to “go away” this summer, we still have a place to go for a change of scenery. I’ve been here for a week now and staying for a second week. It’s been much cooler than normal but still nice on the beach. As a result, it has not been crowded at all. I’ve mostly been cooking at home with food we brought with us, so haven’t been to the grocery store. Restaurants are open for outdoor dining and carryout. With it being Saturday, it will be interesting to see if a lot of weekenders arrive. It’s still a bit cool and partly cloudy so that might deter some. We are coming back at the end of June, so if it’s too crowded, we will buy a pass for Assateague and just go to there to hang on the beach (it’s a drive on beach that requires 4WD and they limit cars so it is virtually empty).
