Welcome to our weekly roundup of travel related stories to help you catch up on the latest over the weekend. First, we’ll take a look at the continued impact of Covid-19 on travel.
There have been a lot of changes in restrictions, particularly regarding travel between states. 41 states or territories now allow visitors from other states without restriction, although four of those states have some restrictions in certain cities or counties. Seven states or territories (and Chicago, for visitors from certain high-risk states, and one county in Colorado) require either a negative Covid-19 test or mandatory quarantine. Five states (plus two counties in California) still have a mandatory quarantine requirement. If you’re traveling anywhere in the US, see our detailed listing here and visit that state’s website for more detail.
From an international standpoint, there are now seven countries that welcome US citizens with little or no restriction: Albania (we’ll always have Albania!), Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Kosovo, Mexico, North Macedonia and Tanzania. Several others have recently opened their borders to US residents but require either a quarantine or a negative Covid-19 test. These are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Seychelles, Somalia and Tunisia.
The Seychelles now permit visitors from the US if they can furnish proof of having received both vaccine shots. Georgia and Jordan also require proof of vaccine in addition to a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours.
Please take great care when deciding to visit one of these countries. Travel may be permitted by the host country, but many of them are struggling to control the spread of Covid-19. And remember, everyone entering the US from any foreign country must provide a negative test within 72 hours of departure. We are finding that the most reliable, up to date source for specific information on restrictions in a particular foreign country is the in-country US Embassy notice available online. For more general information, visit CNN Travel International Covid-19 restrictions, Kayak or The Points Guy.
Nothing new this week about potential US domestic travel restrictions, despite the misinformation circulating about the Federal government closing Florida’s borders to the rest of the country. We’ll continue to monitor this for you.
And now, the rest of the stories. . .
Armchair trip of the weekend: How about a virtual dive trip to Port Phillip Bay in Australia? You can dive in here. . .wet suit not required. For lots of additional ideas, check out the links in this article https://maketimetoseetheworld.com/armchair-travel-virtual-tours/.
If you’re longing to cross the pond, you might want to consider some alternatives here in the US. Here are six stateside cities that try to recreate the experience you’ll find in Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, France and Switzerland. . .without the language barrier!
Click here to learn about scenic drives all around the US, from coast to coast. We would add just about any part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive to this list as well.
Travel site find of the week: We stumbled across https://www.johnnyjet.com/ this week. Johnny covers a lot of the things we do, with the same kind of Positive Impact Travel approach. Since we readily admit we don’t know it all, we recommend a visit to his site to see what’s popping up there. Besides, how can you not like a site that Johnny dedicates to his Mom?
Jet Blue has finally joined the bandwagon by eliminating most change fees, except for their basic economy class. As long as you’re not flying in the lowest economy class, you are now free to fly about the country (to borrow a phrase) on all US domestic carriers.
Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash
It’s almost time for the beautiful sight of cherry blossom trees blooming in the spring. We always assumed this meant a trip to Washington, D.C., but there are several great places to see this rite of spring all over the US. One such location is Athens, Ohio, thanks to a donation from Ohio University’s sister school in Japan in 1972.
Credit card sign-up bonus of the week: The Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus card is offering 30,000 miles plus Southwest’s Companion Pass for through 2/28/22 if you spend $5,000 in the first three months. If you fly Southwest frequently with a companion, this is a terrific deal, as it basically cuts your airfare cost in half. We probably realized $5,000 of value with the Companion Pass over the five years we were flying regularly on Southwest to Nashville. This is the easiest way we’ve ever seen to get the pass.
Our last post explored the benefits of enrolling in one of the hotel loyalty programs. Here’s a dissenting view that lays out the case for focusing your credit card spend on an issuer that has its own currency. We’ll be covering this in detail in a post coming next week.
Travel video recommendation of the week: Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy debuted last Sunday night (9pm ET) on CNN. It’s a great one-hour show featuring food, wine and more from several different provinces around the country. Here’s its website, where you can catch last week’s episode, if you missed it.
And finally, we all think we have some crazy travel stories. Here are a few very crazy and (mostly) very funny stories from around the globe. What’s your craziest travel story? Please share with all of us by leaving a comment below. Craziest story wins an Exceptional Traveler T-shirt (that we’ll have to have printed up). Have a great weekend, everyone, and thanks for being a part of The Exceptional Traveler community!
Photo by Dominik Vanyi on Unsplash
Hey Phil. Great content .. Puerto Rico isa great place to visit and from what I can see is pretty safe right now .. flights thru Atlanta are plentiful and of course very welcoming to fellow US citizens
Thanks Mike! Another advantage of Puerto Rico is that it is a US territory. . .so you don’t need to have a negative Covid test to return to the US. Great deals on hotels, too.