A messy journey around the travel world this weekend. . .starting with a cautionary tale from Kauai. If your near-term travel plans include a rental car, make sure you have a backup plan to your backup plan. One of our fellow ET’s just returned with this report:
The car rental situation is a TOTAL mess. We had a reservation with AVIS (through COSTCO) for more than three months. Upon arrival in Kauai, we waited in line for over two hours, and there were hundreds of others in line behind us. We were then told that there were no cars available. My biggest beef with AVIS is that they KNEW how many reservations they made and what inventory of cars they had, and they notified NO ONE! We took the AVIS shuttle back to the terminal to find a cab. There were none. The AVIS shuttle driver called a friend of his who agreed to take us to our condo.
We had chosen a condo that was on a more remote beach, so there was no place to walk to for restaurants or groceries. Fortunately, one of our condo neighbors, a stranger, offered to drive us to a restaurant for take-out. Restaurants cannot deliver, and there is no Dinner Dash, no Lyft or Uber, etc. (Even though they book you, they just don’t show up.) Taxis will only take you to the airport and they are booked a solid 3-4 days out and turn down 75% of their potential business. We spent the next four hours trying every search engine available, including Turo, Rent-a-Wreck, back to Costco, etc. We finally found one car on Outdoorsy.com….a 2006 Honda CRV with 150,000 miles, for $150/day, which we couldn’t get until the fourth day of our 12 day trip. In the meantime, we bribed people to drive us for groceries, to golf tee times, etc. We heard others had used U-Haul rental trucks, called the golf course inquiring to buy golf carts, etc. The roads are not safe for bicycles.
Also, many restaurants are out of business, or at limited capacity, and are also booked 4-5 days out, unless you want to dine at 4:00. You will also need reservations way in advance for activities such as zip-line, kayaks, etc. Even places like the lighthouse require a reservation, and hundreds of cars were turned away. Also, there is a lot of construction on the East side of the island and major delays to get to Hanalei and beyond. The road is only open certain hours of the day.
Having said all of this, Kauai is still a beautiful place.
I like that last line. The spirit of The Exceptional Traveler! Thanks to TET subscriber Pat for sharing her story.
Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal
The UK appears to be making a mess of their Covid travel program. Three weeks after giving the green light to travel to Portugal, the light turns back to amber next week, meaning that returning British travelers will have to quarantine for ten days. Yet another reason to celebrate Independence Day for US revolutionaries!
Elsewhere in the EU, Spain has moved their reopening date from June 7 back to June 30. Update: As of today, June 7, Spain is open! Apparently they decided to go back to their original June 7 start date. This is great news! France appears to be holding steady at June 9, and Greece and Italy remain open. It’s essential to continue to keep an eye on changes like these, and we still think it’s prudent to wait a couple more months before traveling across the Pond. Even then, make sure everything you book is fully refundable.
One final mess: The cruise industry is being hampered by the state of Florida’s insistence on prohibiting the use of vaccine passports. Not only are cruise lines threatening to stay away from the Sunshine State, but Alaska cruises (and probably several other interstate cruises in the US) may be negatively impacted by Florida’s lawsuit.
JP Morgan Chase made some waves this week on two separate fronts. First, they upped the sign-up bonus on their popular Chase Sapphire Preferred card to a best-ever 100,000 points after a $4k spend. For a $95 annual fee, we like this card a lot. . .if you don’t already have it, or one of the other cards in the Sapphire family, now’s the time. But read this post from FrequentMiler.com before applying to ensure you’re eligible.
It also looks like Chase is getting into the airport lounge business. The top bidder for the right to construct a new lounge at Boston’s Logan airport is, surprisingly, Chase. They’ve had some temporary lounges at events around the country, but it’s exciting to think about what a permanent Chase Sapphire Lounge might be like. Scheduled to open in 2022.
United Airlines has ordered 15 supersonic aircraft from Boom Supersonic, enabling the prospect of 3.5 hour trips from Newark to London and other super-speedy international routes. You have plenty of time to save up enough points for this trip. . . United’s maiden voyage won’t be until at least 2029.
Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash
Finally, from the world of natural phenomena. . .if you’re in the northeast US, or Greenland, or a few other northerly locations, set your alarm early for next Thursday, June 10. You’ll be rewarded with a solar eclipse that will be closer to total for those further north.
Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for being part of The Exceptional Traveler community.
Thanks for the rental car warning. We were unable to get any kind of rental in either Portland or Bangor, Maine for July. So we moved our flight to Boston Logan, where we have a rental car reservation. Here’s hoping there’s a car in the space so my husband doesn’t do his Steve Martin impression from “Trains, Planes and Automobiles.”
If he does, please take a video so we can share it with the rest of the group. We all like a good tantrum now and then!