I write this half-way through January with high hopes for the year. But I also know that things could be all over the place.
Alyce has already been vaccinated. I’d expect that makes it easier for her to travel as things open back up. I have not, and I’m likely several months out (at a minimum) from being eligible.
We had to cancel Japan and Napa in 2020. I’m looking to load up 2021 to make up for the lack of 2020 travel, combined with the fact that we were already behind on travel for the last several years with all the house related stuff.
Roatan (March) – This is a family trip with my parents and brother/his fiancé. It will be the first trip we’ve taken like this in a long time (2005 was our last family trip – to Grand Cayman and without significant others). I feel confident this one will happen. Roatan has remained open since the fall and will likely do what they can to accept tourist. We are currently experiencing a post-holiday uptick in Covid, but I’m hopeful that will settle down as we move away from the holidays and more people are vaccinated.
Hawaii (May) – We plan on spending 10 days in Hawaii with James: 5 in Maui and 5 in Kauai. I looked into Hawaii a good bit for our fall 2020 trip, but it didn’t work out. I wanted to get it in this year. We will stay at a couple Hyatts, taking advantage of my status. James should enjoy himself. It’s technically a domestic trip, so I think it is more likely to happen. It also fits in well with our longer term travel plans, which will have us more likely focusing on one longer trip a year.
Fort Morgan, AL (June) – This is an extended family beach trip. We drive and were able to do it in 2020. I’d rate it at likely to happen.
Japan (September/October) – Got this one scheduled for two weeks. We currently have business class booked in both directions. I may upgrade to First class if it becomes available on Japan Airlines. We have stays booked on points at a number of nice Hyatts. I’ll likely start working on restaurant reservations in a couple months.
I’m also not that confident this one will happen. With the vaccine, I give it a much better shot than I did a couple months back, but I’d think it’s still 50/50. Good news is we’ve got 9+ months to go and things could be very different by then. Bad news is Japan has been very restrictive on international travel with no plans to relax the restrictions. We’ll see, as we really would like to go to Japan.
If not, the next place I’d look would be Europe (likely France) if open for international travel. Should that fail, we’d look back at the national parks in the US.
Other – We have paid for a good portion of a Napa VRBO for the wedding we were supposed to attend in 2020. I know our group would like to try to make that work at some point.
I currently have a promotional Southwest Companion Pass – not sure why. It seems like it would be a waste to not use that.
That’s the plan. As is the case with everything these days, it’s all up in the air as to what actually happens.