Are you dreaming of traveling again in 2022 but you’re not sure where to start?
Traveling, like so many other parts of our lives, has been increasingly uncertain, with additional risks and measures you have to think about and be prepared for. If you love to travel, and are dreaming of venturing out again, I’m sharing some tips in this post to ease your way back in. These tips can be helpful as a progression for first-time travelers too.
Last year, when I first picked April 2022 as the time to depart to Scotland, I thought that this date would be far enough into the future to be free of worry about border closures or changes in plans. I didn’t anticipate the omicron variant and rising COVID-19 rates that would lead to additional restrictions and border closures.
I’m optimistic, and although I have a back-up domestic travel plan in place, I’m still moving forward with my plans to roam the hills, mountains and glens in Scotland this spring. This will be David’s and my first time flying across the ocean since 2016. Now that this trip is getting closer, I’m starting to feel the excitement! There is a bit more to worry about this year, however, including COVID-19 measures such as pre-departure and arrival testing for the flights and border crossing, all the way to preparing for emergencies that could occur, like what would we do if we got sick and/or had to quarantine while overseas, possibly being delayed returning home or worse.
Although on a regular basis I’m fairly homebound, I’ve been dipping my toes back into travel the past two years, from local vacation home rentals to short drives, to a two-week road trip to Texas to see our grandbaby Gemma, to a work conference trip involving a return flight to Tucson, Arizona, and I crossed an international border three times in 2021 to visit my family in Canada.
Having eased in, I feel ready to take the next step to fly overseas to visit Scotland. Having said that, if you’re planning to travel during this pandemic, it’s very important to know your own tolerance for risk.
If you think about it, traveling has a lot of similar factors to life at home – depending on how you do it. You can shelter solo or as a family unit by camping, glamping, or renting a cabin, cottage or house/condo, with a full range of options from rustic outdoors, to fully furnished houses with all the comforts of home, while offering a different landscape or environment to enjoy. If you are nervous about eating in restaurants, or want to spend less, these types of accommodations let you cook in a kitchen, (some fully stocked) or on a grill or over a campfire. You can start with day trips, overnights, weekends, long road trips, all the way to flying to overseas and far off destinations. And if you’re up to it, there are hotels and restaurants aplenty just like at home.
For easing back into travel, I’d recommend starting with where your comfort level is already – if you are out and about, eating in restaurants and seeing shows, you can find many destinations where you can do all of that, and if you’re mainly staying in and trying to avoid crowds of people, then you might want to start with a few day trips, or a small road trip and a home stay.
Below is a list of options at different comfort and budget levels:
Distance:
- Day Trips
- Short Overnight Trips
- Road Trips – including Interstate/Interprovince
- Domestic Flight Trips
- International Travel – Ground Travel/Same Continent
- International Travel – Intercontinental/Overseas
Accommodations:
- Sheltering Solo or as a Unit: Camping/RVing/Cabin/Cottage/Vacation Home Rentals
- Hotels/Hostels/B&B’s
Where to start:
- Day trips – start here if you want to go on short adventures but want to start and end your day in your own home and your own bed.
You may already have your favorite places, but if you’re looking for ideas for new short destinations check out your local tourism boards, for example here in Buffalo, NY we have Visit Buffalo Niagara which lists activities and events. Also check out your local parks, trails, beaches, nonprofit organizations, camps, and adventure-based organizations such as hatchet-throwing, snowshoeing, skiing, etc.
Being in Buffalo I’m spoiled for great day trip opportunities and some of my recent favorites included Buffalo’s Outer Harbor, Canalside, Niagara Falls, Reinstein Woods, the Buffalo Zoo and many others, and walking or hiking at local parks and camps.
Day Trips in Western New York
- Sheltering solo or as a unit: Camping/RVing/Cabin/Cottage/ Vacation Home Rentals
These types of facility rentals are for you if you want to control your exposure to crowds, cook your own meals and avoid reliance on restaurants. This is a good option for families and groups traveling together. There are many budget options and when you’re easing in, you can take a short domestic trip or a longer domestic road trip:
2 a) Short Trips
Start here if you want to experience new locations a little further from home but close enough that you could get home easier in case of emergency and have access to your own healthcare system. This could include public transportation or car travel.
2 b) Interstate/Interprovince Road Trip
This is a good place to start if you feel comfortable traveling far from home, but still want to avoid hotels, you want to control your exposure to crowds, cook your own meals and avoid reliance on restaurants. There are many budget options.
Why choose to shelter solo or as a family unit:
I am a big fan of renting a house, condo or cabin/cottage while traveling, and for the budget conscious, being able to cook your own meals helps to keep costs down, and the accommodations tend to be more spacious, comfortable and cost effective when you have a group or family traveling together.
Over the years I’ve stayed in beautiful rentals across the budget spectrum, and often less expensive than hotels, in many places including Criccieth, Wales; rentals in Ontario, Canada and in New York State; in Austin, Texas; in Cape Cod, Mass, and Cocoa Beach, Florida. And many tent camping or cabin stays at state and provincial parks which are very low cost.
For major rental services I use airbnb the most, but I’ll also rent through Vrbo (and formerly HomeStay which was since folded into the Vrbo umbrella). I also like to search for rentals directly from national or state parks or local agencies for the best deals. For camping, here in New York State there are over 15,000 campsites and 800 cabin rentals available for rental, and if you search your own area you’ll find a lot of options.
We live in a city apartment, and so I love to rent places near the water or in a forest, allowing for settings and landscapes that I don’t see every day. There are a lot of price points, and it is always worth sending a message to the property owner to see if there is any wiggle room on the price or rules, especially if it is not peak travel season. For example, I’ve received permission to bring my dog to a rental that wouldn’t normally allow pets, and have been able to get some really amazing discounts on places that would have been out of my budget. I always try to leave a place as good or better than I found it, and remember that on some sites the owner of the property can leave a review on you as a renter, so keeping a good rating is important for future bookings. On airbnb I’ve even gotten surprise deals or concessions from owners who see my “stellar” rental rating (their words).
When you are traveling off-season, and traveling during the pandemic you might already find significant deals. For example, we love to stay in Wellfleet, Cape Cod, and the prices in May and October are nearly a fraction of the prices in the summer, but August was the only time we could typically go because of Ben’s school schedule. With virtual work and school, we finally got to travel in the offseason, in May 2021, and take advantage of those lower rates.
Home stays in Wellfleet, Cape Cod
3. Domestic Flight Trips
You can start here if you feel comfortable with crowds at the airport, traveling by airplane and being further from home but you don’t want to deal with international borders.
I had the opportunity to fly to Tucson, AZ for a work conference in November 2021 – my first time flying during the pandemic. It was a warm and mainly outdoor setting, everyone who was attending had to be vaccinated, and masks were required for indoor meetings. Flying there, I felt comfortable with the safety protocols on the plane, with passengers wearing masks and extra hygiene measures such as wipes for table trays, etc.
I had never been to Arizona before and made sure to arrive early so that I could hike in the desert before the conference started. We stayed in a hotel that had many outdoor amenities including outdoor dining.
For booking hotel accommodations, I like to use Booking.com which has the option to book now, and pay later – you can book all of your hotel stays in advance with no deposit needed and if your trip gets cancelled, you can cancel the hotel reservations without penalty (as long as you do it by the posted date which is usually about 24-48 hours in advance of your stay.) Make sure to understand change and cancel fees for your airline travel as well, and I recommend buying the extra travel insurance.
Domestic Flight Trip to Tucson, Arizona
4. International Travel
4 a) Ground Travel/Same Continent
In 2021 I crossed the border 3 times to visit my family in Canada after being separated for 18 months. The US/Canada border closing was the first obstacle, and once Canadian citizens were permitted to enter Canada, the two-week mandatory quarantine within Canada was too much of a barrier for me. In summer 2021, vaccinated Canadians were allowed to enter Canada from the US without needing to quarantine and I packed my bags to go.
Traveling across an international border takes extra planning, generally you will need a passport and during the pandemic, there are a lot of potential extra steps and expenses. I had to upload my travel plans on the ArriveCan app, including my quarantine plan, and to present my vaccination card, and proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the past 72 hours at the border. Twice I had to take an additional COVID-19 test at the border, one involving a long delay with the testing facility set up at the nearby racetrack. The crossings took much longer than usual with several delays.
Be sure to take a pulse check of your comfort level. For me, I am a citizen of Canada, very familiar with traveling there, my family lives in Canada, and so besides the extra steps and expense, it was still fairly comfortable for me. If you are traveling far, and/or if you don’t have family or friends in the country, think about what your quarantine and emergency plan would be if you got sick and had to get treatment or had to quarantine before returning home. This could include budgeting to have additional funds to cover up to an extra 10-14 days in the country to quarantine, and buying travel insurance that covers medical expenses.
5 b) International Travel – Intercontinental/Overseas
If you feel comfortable to take this step, then begin preparing and planning.
Border: First check the border: is it open? If it is open, are there any restrictions for travelers in your region? My son Ben has tried several times to go on an international program as part of his gap year, and turn after turn the country he was intending to go to closed its border. He finally got approved for an overseas volunteer job and will be leaving shortly.
Safety: If you are able to go, check if you feel comfortable with the country’s COVID-19 rates, vaccination rates, and safety protocols. For US residents, you can check CDC recommendations for different countries, and US government recommendations and other countries likely have a similar tool. This can be helpful in gaining information, for example if you will have access to COVID-19 testing to meet requirements to fly back home. The CDC does recommend that only vaccinated individuals travel internationally.
Travel Requirements: If you are ready to move forward use the resources above and any others to research what you will need to enter the country and return home. For international flights you’ll likely need to take a pre-departure and possibly arrival testing. Like ground travel, have a quarantine plan. Also consider what you would do if a) you take the pre-departure test and it is positive even though you have no symptoms. You now need to self-isolate until you are cleared to travel home which could be around two weeks. This may include a doctor’s visit or two to get cleared for travel. Where will you stay and how will you get food – will your travel insurance cover that, and if not, do you have enough funds saved for that?
And B) what if you get really sick – this is up in one of the worst case scenarios. It will help if you research the medical system, and know how to seek medical care.
For me, I am vaccinated and boosted, and if you read my blog post “Birth of Adventure Part One – Discovering Adventure in New Zealand”, you know that I spent two weeks 9,000 miles from home recovering from surgery and injuries after a hang gliding accident in 2002. From this experience and a few others on foreign soil, I’ve built up my confidence to handle some extreme situations that might happen. Because I lived in the United Kingdom for two years and have some friends and family in England and Wales, I also feel that I can make a decent emergency plan if anything happens. Having said that, I’m focusing on a safe and wonderful trip, but I am prepared in case.
So now that I’ve been easing in, I’m ready to stretch out of my comfort zone and fly to Scotland. I have a back up travel plan, I have my emergency quarantine plan, and David and I are also being flexible with how we travel in Scotland, for example, if needed, we can socially distance and spend all of our time roaming in parks, walking on the beach and climbing hills – especially since the landscapes in Scotland are one of the best parts that we want to experience.
Please share any tips that you have for easing into travel in the comments section. And if you’re most comfortable staying home for now, you can start with some daytrips, or planning where you will go sometime in the future. Half the fun is the dreaming, reading and the possibilities ahead of time. Wishing you all safe travels ahead!