The Travel Thread

[spork]

A thread about traveling for vacations, conferences, etc.

The wifey will return from her homeland in another few months (she's been riding out the pandemic on another continent). She should be able to get the coronavirus vaccine soon after her return, which leaves much of the summer available for travel. However, it doesn't make sense for us to vacation where she is now, so soon after she's left, nor do I want to risk planning a major trip to some other part of the world while the pandemic is still causing lockdowns and border closures. Can't even get into Canada! So I'm thinking about a trip that is technically domestic. Does anyone have recommendations about Puerto Rico? Ideal arrangements would be an AirBnB facing a deserted sandy beach with a grocery store down the block. While we are not the all-inclusive resort types, an eco-friendly experience that is higher end than an AirBnB would be good, too. And we like yummy local food. We don't fly thousands of miles to subsist on KFC and McDonald's.

[mamselle]

I'm not planning any travel until a year from now.

Too many folks still think it's cute to go maskless.

But I wish you both safe journeys!

M.

[Vkw10]

I'll be driving from TX to SC next month, to spend a week at Fripp Island. Sit on the deck, watch the sun rise and the alligators slither into the lagoon, stroll a half mile to the beach, spend weekend with my brother's family. We will have two households together, but all of us are vaccinated.

We thought about flying, but Partner and I prefer the two-day drive to the day spent in airports and planes. We usually drove before we had to think about wearing masks for 6-8 hours.

Maybe next year we'll finally make our South Dakota road trip. We're just not ready to sightsee among strangers this year.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I haven't been on a plane or outside of my state in over a year. Hoping to see family out of state and to take a vacation over the summer, and expecting some work-related travel in late summer as well.

[lightning]

I'm not planning any travel until a year from now.

Too many folks still think it's cute to go maskless.

But I wish you both safe journeys!

M.

I'm in denial, as I entertain fantasies of traveling and looking at possible itineraries. Then a post like yours slaps me back down to reality.

Thanks.

[mamselle]

I do get it.

My annual migratory research trip to France, Belgium, etc. couldn't happen, so I started a long series of Google map searches in a compensatory 'as-if' gambit to assuage my wanderlust last December.

Thankfully, this year's conference papers are based on last year's work and findings, and many more libraries have kindly mounted more of their holdings in online digital format (even the ones closest to me, in fact!) so I'm not as bereft of resources as I might otherwise be.

But real 《croque-m'sieurs》, my Belgian cousin's shrimp-and-tomato salad, and...sigh....the chocolates she puts beside your breakfast plate every morning can't be digitally replicated.

And my bechamel sauce isn't bad, but the bread and cheese for a good《croque-m'sieur》have to be right, and....they're not...so I'm definitely bereft of those.

Sigh.

M.

[downer]

It all depends on what the policies of different countries are to visitors. While there's been talk of vaccination passports, there's been nothing official.

But I do hope to get out of the USA this summer. Or possibly at least Puerto Rico or Hawaii. It seems a little early to make definite plans.

A friend of mine got a super-cheap flight to Spain for May. But then the airline cancelled it.

[apl68]

A thread about traveling for vacations, conferences, etc.

The wifey will return from her homeland in another few months (she's been riding out the pandemic on another continent). She should be able to get the coronavirus vaccine soon after her return, which leaves much of the summer available for travel. However, it doesn't make sense for us to vacation where she is now, so soon after she's left, nor do I want to risk planning a major trip to some other part of the world while the pandemic is still causing lockdowns and border closures. Can't even get into Canada! So I'm thinking about a trip that is technically domestic. Does anyone have recommendations about Puerto Rico? Ideal arrangements would be an AirBnB facing a deserted sandy beach with a grocery store down the block. While we are not the all-inclusive resort types, an eco-friendly experience that is higher end than an AirBnB would be good, too. And we like yummy local food. We don't fly thousands of miles to subsist on KFC and McDonald's.

And here I feel like I've really gone someplace whenever I go to a city where I can visit a White Castle....

My means and schedules only ever permit road trips within the U.S.  I hope to have a chance to go out-of-state this fall, to a place with great fall color.  Between now and then I need to make time to visit some of our state parks and enjoy the outdoors.  We have several great state parks, but none of them very near me.

[lightning]

A thread about traveling for vacations, conferences, etc.

The wifey will return from her homeland in another few months (she's been riding out the pandemic on another continent). She should be able to get the coronavirus vaccine soon after her return, which leaves much of the summer available for travel. However, it doesn't make sense for us to vacation where she is now, so soon after she's left, nor do I want to risk planning a major trip to some other part of the world while the pandemic is still causing lockdowns and border closures. Can't even get into Canada! So I'm thinking about a trip that is technically domestic. Does anyone have recommendations about Puerto Rico? Ideal arrangements would be an AirBnB facing a deserted sandy beach with a grocery store down the block. While we are not the all-inclusive resort types, an eco-friendly experience that is higher end than an AirBnB would be good, too. And we like yummy local food. We don't fly thousands of miles to subsist on KFC and McDonald's.

And here I feel like I've really gone someplace whenever I go to a city where I can visit a White Castle....

My means and schedules only ever permit road trips within the U.S.  I hope to have a chance to go out-of-state this fall, to a place with great fall color.  Between now and then I need to make time to visit some of our state parks and enjoy the outdoors.  We have several great state parks, but none of them very near me.

Planning a USA summer road trip is the smart thing to do. I'm thinking mountain regions without much population.

[traductio]

Since the pandemic began, I haven't physically left my neighborhood more than a dozen times. Even going over to the next province (I live in an urban area that straddles two provinces) feels like going someplace exotic.

But I've been "travelling" a lot to Paris -- I've been watching lectures at the Collège de France. (This one's fantastic.) I've also been "travelling" to Colombia, a country I visited four years ago and have longed to visit again -- I've listened to a lot of cumbia music. And then there's the rainy day coffee shop ambience video that I have put on in the background as I write or grade papers. It's all atmosphere, but it takes me out of my basement office.

[Cheerful]

And then there's the rainy day coffee shop ambience video that I have put on in the background as I write or grade papers. It's all atmosphere, but it takes me out of my basement office.

Wow, I needed this today.  Thank you.

[traductio]

And then there's the rainy day coffee shop ambience video that I have put on in the background as I write or grade papers. It's all atmosphere, but it takes me out of my basement office.

Wow, I needed this today.  Thank you.

I'm glad you like it -- I hope it transports you the way it transports me. Today is one of those days where I just can't focus -- I'm reading every sentence three times, and things that should be easy just aren't. There's something about the rain sounds that relax that part of my brain that seems to be misfiring somehow.

[Harlow2]

Plans: 3-day backpack trip with young family member, road trip to a beautiful coastal state I've not been to in 30 years,  and family tent camping trip. Good enough, if not exactly how I had originally envisioned the summer with a milestone birthday. 

[clean]

This weekend I will book a 10 day cruise to Alaska for May 2022.  (We have a 7 day cruise, and a few days in the SEattle area planned for 2020, but that was cancelled, as was a fall back trip to Disney World last May that was also cancelled).

While I will book the Trip, the final payment isnt due until February 1, so I can book now and delay paying for several months to see that I want to go and am able to go then.

I Might visit my parents in Florida this summer.  We would drive.  Though my bride and I are vaccinated as are my parents, there isnt much to do there, so that is good and bad.  It will be good to visit my parents and get away from town, but it is a long ass drive to get there and then back!  And Florida in the summer (Hurricane months) makes this a bit interesting.

[zyzzx]

I normally travel a crazy amount, with maybe 8 intercontinental trips per year and a bunch of more local trips (the joys of field-based research and a non-teaching position).
I haven't been outside of bicycle range from my house since August. I haven't been on an airplane in over a year (first time this has happened since I was maybe 10 years old). My stir-craziness comes in waves - sometimes I appreciate having the time to completely explore my local area, other times I am desperate to get the hell out of here, even for one or two nights. But even that isn't possible under our lockdown restrictions. Aside from the stir-craziness, this past year of no travel has been a complete disaster for several of my projects and "just" pretty disruptive for the rest. Fun times.

But in June I am busting free and flying to the US to see my family. Hopefully I can arrange to get vaccinated upon arrival, and then we're going to the beach. I don't hold out much hope that work travel will be allowed before the fall, so it'll be another disastrous year research-wise.