It’s been a while since I’ve posted to the blog. In case you haven’t heard, this is the year of "#revengetravel! Everyone and their mother(, grandmother, and great-grandmother) decided Covid can stuff it and went on vacation. That has kept me and many other travel advisors quite busy.
As vaccines have become more prevalent, borders reopened, and testing restrictions were relaxed, travel seemed a little less daunting. We, of course, need to keep an eye on all of the regulations and make sure our travelers are up to date. However, many new issues have also arisen.
Luggage is a big topic of conversation. There has been a lot of lost bags this summer. Delta even flew an empty plane just for bags! Amsterdam airport wouldn’t allow passengers with connecting flights to check bags one day in July. While many people are opting to use bluetooth tracking devices like tile or airtags, many of my clients decided to pack carryon only. I’m a big fan of packing lighter anyways and you can almost always buy what you need in destination if you’ve forgotten something.
Some key #packingtips are:
Bring clothes you can layer to cover a range of weather.
Pack in the same color pallet so that you can mix and match.
Cross-pack:
Put at least one outfit in your travel partner’s bags and vice versa.
Hopefully this buys time for the person whose bag gets lost before they have to buy replacements.
Split items between carryon and checked baggage to limit trip disruption due to lost bags
Flight cancelations have been another major issue this summer. Airlines are still getting planes back into circulation and trying to staff up following pandemic layoffs. They just don’t have the crews to meet the demand. If you miss a connection or there is bad weather, it causes a ripple effect of problems. They don’t have the space to rebook you immediately. I just spent the other night on the phone with my parents watching their flight not take off until 2.5 hours later when they would definitely miss their connection. We needed to get them a hotel for the night and rebook their connection the next day. Unfortunately, the 1st three flights to their home airport were completely full. We were not optimistic for the standby list after an unsuccessful attempt on the outbound. (Did I forget to mention that they had a delayed flight and missed connection on their way to Florida too?) Thankfully they were able to get on a morning flight to an airport about 30 minutes further away than their home airport. The other option they were seriously considering was to drive for 6 hours rather than wait at the airport that long.
Travel Planning tips:
Try to be on the first flight out in the morning.
Crews are fresh and you have the most options for rerouting if necessary.
Plan your travel at least one day prior to a cruise, tour, wedding, etc.
We always recommend this but it’s more important than ever!
We’re now suggesting getting in 2 days early just in case. Consider it extra time to explore that city!
I’m so excited to see people getting out there and traveling again! I think travel builds the connections and understanding that the world sorely needs following the isolation of Covid quarantine. Prepare as best you can for problems like the ones I mentioned above. Hopefully they don’t happen but it will make it easier to roll with the changes when problems do occur.
Safe travels everyone!