Europe continues to inch toward welcoming US travelers. . .many US destinations are fully booked as domestic travel surges. . .Asia continues to struggle to control a dangerous Covid-19 wave. Those are the main headlines this week in travel.
Italy has reopened, with Delta and, now, American offering Covid-tested flights. Here’s what to expect, from one of the first US travelers into the country. After reading these stories and others, we decided to give it a go as well, and booked flights to Italy on Delta for this fall. We were able to use our Delta miles with a little assist from our Amex Membership Rewards points. . .78k miles for JFK to FCO (Rome) in Economy Plus, saving us over $1200 in airfare per person. More on our planning for this in an upcoming post!
Spain will greet foreign visitors starting June 7, France will reopen on June 9, and the EU’s vaccine passport will debut July 1. Look for that to kick off travel to all 27 EU countries. But the rules will differ from country to country and region to region within countries; it will be confusing. We’ll do our best to keep you connected with resources featuring the most timely news about Covid restrictions.
June 7 will also mark the debut of a new Rick Steves special, “Europe Awaits”, on public television. The two hour special highlights Rick’s favorite European destinations, with a focus on some less crowded destinations that are rich in history and culture. Later in June, look for a new “Dream of Italy” special from our favorite Italian American tour guide, Kathy McCabe.
Empire State Building, New York, New York.
Back home in the States, New York City and Washington DC will both loosen restrictions in June, but you should probably continue to expect to wear a mask in most indoor spaces. Ballparks are opening (Go Tribe!) to full capacity in June, and the big shows in Las Vegas will be back on as well. Here’s a great rundown of travel opportunities for this summer from Conde Nast Traveler, as well as a link to their complete 2021 Hot List.
But we’ll all have to continue monitoring Covid restrictions closer to home for a while. The US-Canada border will remain closed to tourists through the end of June as Canada ramps up its vaccination program. And each individual state may continue to have restrictions; for example, Kansas now requires a ten day quarantine for non-vaccinated travelers from Maine and a whole bunch of counties in Colorado. Not sure why. But this does underscore the importance of being vaccinated if you want the most freedom to travel.
If you’re traveling by air, you don’t want to see an “SSSS” code on your boarding pass; it stands for Secondary Security Screening Selection, and it means you’re in for TSA’s version of “The Full Monty”. Nothing you can do about it except to always follow your mother’s advice to wear clean underwear.
Hurricane Warning Flag. Photo by Russ Ward on Unsplash
Hurricane season doesn’t begin officially until June 1, but Subtropical Storm Ana has jumped the gun, forming northeast of Bermuda. Fortunately, she doesn’t pose much of a threat, and it appears she’s headed out to open sea. You can see a list of the 2021 hurricane names here, and I see a few ET names among them. If we get to Hurricane Sam, batten down the hatches!
Speaking of names, apparently Geldingadalir was next on the volcano list. That’s the name of our planet’s newest volcano in Iceland. You can see her in her raging glory on 60 Minutes on Sunday. . .here’s a sneak preview. We’re a little disappointed that it wasn’t named Geldingaling, but maybe that will be the name for the 26th-next one.
That’s it for this week. Let us know where your travel plans are taking you this summer by dropping a line in the comments section below. We’ll be sure to keep an eye on developments in that part of the world for you. Have a great weekend!
So excited to hear you are heading to Italy this fall. Where will you go? We will be there (God willing) the end of Sept/early October.
Amalfi Coast-Ischia-Rome. We were thinking of Sicily as well, but decided that would be too much.