This.
For myself... I am immunecompromised thanks to medication and an autoimmune disease. My doctor still has me on restrictions for going into the workplace [I can but there are Rules I have to follow, and he is prepared to write a letter saying I am not allowed into the workplace if certain workplace conditions are not met; I work in an office environment with no public contact and most days am able to work from home]. At home I am still pretty much sheltering, e.g. for groceries it is till pretty much curbside pickup not going into stores unless absolutely necessary. I have not been in a restaurant since before the pandemic.
For me, a trip to somewhere like Disney right now is out of the question, and will be for quite some time. Even our
DCL Alaska cruise next summer is in question, though it may be doable [and we are really hoping it is, we have already pushed it from 2021]. To plan for that cruise we:
- booked the cruise on opening day to get the cheapest rate; we put down only the necessary deposit and it is fully refundable until much closer to sailing; the "paid in full" date in the spring will be a major go/no go decision point for us, because at PIF the deposit becomes non-refundable; we booked knowing full well it may get moved into 2023 or beyond;
- booked pre/post hotels that are fully cancelable until as close to checkin as possible (a few days before) and that have no upfront deposit; we have already booked them and will recheck prices often to see if there is a better deal between now and then as we expect prices to fluctuate somewhat [that said, the price has already gone up for new bookings!];
- researching and planning itineraries - what activities we want to do in Vancouver, port excursions on board, etc. We are not booking anything right now. But spending the time doing the researching is fun. We did a lot of research already planning for doing the cruise in 2021, and that info has just transfered over. We are updating some of it, since there are changes. We have decided we will go with DCL port adventures so that takes pressure off needing to book port excursions in advance -- we don't need to worry about that until we are PIF and our booking window opens, and at that point we will have made the first major go/no go decision. In the meantime we can decide WHICH ones we want to do
For pre/post in Vancouver we are researching options and looking for things where tickets can be bought close to or on the day of [so far not a problem for what we are choosing].
* for WDW you can book a "room only" reservation usually upto 499 days out - it requires a deposit of the cost of one night and (verify) is refundable upto a certain number of nights before checkin. When we travel to WDW, we usually book as far out as possible, even though at that point there are no discounts - that way we know we have a room for our preferred dates and preferred hotel. Then, when discounts do come out we see if they work for us, but even if they don't, we still have our booking. And, if the hotel books full, we still have our booking. And we can cancel or move it if needed, within the terms of the cancelation policy.
- Airfare. Normally we would book our airfare as soon as it became bookable, which is about 10-11 months out. We are waiting this time until closer to sail date. I haven't picked when we will book yet, am still deciding. Part will depending on airline change/cancel policies. Or we may pay the crazy extra $ for refundable tickets.
- Travel insurance. For a cruise, as a Canadian resident, it is not possible to purchase travel insurance that will cover a cruise right now since the government has a level 4 avoid all cruise travel advisory out. So that is a challenge. We are researching our options for when it can be purchased. But even for a land only trip, insurance is tricky right now, especially if you want any kind of covid-related coverage. e.g. what if we test positive during our trip and have to isolate/quarantine before returning home - can we get insurance that would cover our expenses for that situation ? I won't step foot inside the US without proper travel insurance, so this is an important factor for us.
Then there are things like planning for how to keep as safe as possible medically. So, which kind of mask to wear in what situation [eg travel/plane vs day to day], which is decided in consultation with my doctor. Practical things like: How to manage laundry. How to we transfer practices we use at home (eg outdoor vs indoor clothes) into practices when traveling [er, and this results in the need to do laundry, among other issues...]. Figuring out what I can keep and what needs to change from how I normally travel/cruise.
SW
