At A Travel Crossroads

[artnbarb]

We've just returned from 11 days in Ireland, and it was wonderful. Thank you to everyone who helped with our plans! Now to the downside(s):

First of all, we both caught Covid. I'm soo mad!!! It's hitting me a LOT harder than it hit Art - coughing, sneezing, blowing, coughing, headahce, body aches - pretty much every symptom except NO loss of taste of sense of smell. So, maybe I'm just cranky because I'm tired (and sick), but...

Secondly, we have a Danube river cruise booked for the end of the month, and I'm really re-evaluating. The total flight time, ASSUMING all flights go as planned, is 19 hours in total. Combine that with the fact that I never sleep on a plane, and I'm really at a crossroads. I already know that I hate flying east, but on the flight to Ireland I decided that flying east is really like childbirth - after hours of agony, tears and exhaustion, suddenly all is forgotten once the end result is achieved, except now I'm not so sure that it will be. We're flying in one day early, which doesn't seem early enough, but I don't know if there's anything worth that long flight, period. (To those of you west of the Mississippi, who have to endure these long flights to Europe on a regular basis, I feel your pain.)

We may both be just too old/out of shape/cranky, Realist me knows that the likelihood of all flights going as scheduled, especially in May/June is doubtful. Cancelling would be expensive, but not out of the question. Am I the only one who's questioning their travel plans???

 

[JMichael]

As you noted, 19 hours is about average for those of us in California. I don't sleep on the plane either. Usually I read and catch up on movies I've missed. We've found that airport lounges during layovers make it more tolerable (even if you have to pay for entry). With most airlines cancelling change fees, is there a way you could reschedule and leave a day earlier? That might help with the time change.

 

[Ian Sutton]

Likewise I don't tend to sleep on long flights, but have taken to simply closing my eyes, clearing my mind - a sort of meditation I guess. I do find that helps ease the tiredness.

I'll add to JMichael's suggestion for an airport lounge on layovers, in that if there's a shower available there or elsewhere in the airport, then that can really freshen us up, making us feel much less tired/grotty (we often pay for one of these in Kuala Lumpar when going to Australia or NZ).

In terms of travel plans, Covid definitely put us out of the habit of travelling, and we've not yet recaptured the urge to travel.

 

[joe]

The only comment that I could add here would be to think about not taking chances, and to seriously consider cancelling your upcoming trip at the end of the month, as frustrating as this might be. The reason I say this is that sometimes Covid doesn't go completely away as fast as other similar sicknesses - there is quite a range of recovery speeds, and for you this could be an unknown that could hurt your enjoyment from the trip ahead. It might be better to postpone until you feel you have your energies - both physical and mental - back to their usual levels. A wait of a few months might be more reassuring and pay itself back in peace of mind. I think that's what I might do, but I certainly can't put myself in your places.

 

[Pauline]

I am so sorry that you both caught COVID. That is still my worry with traveling. We haven’t been on a plane since it all began.

The trips from the US to Europe were hard on us and got worse, not better, over the years. I tried to make them easier in a few ways:

- If possible fly direct to the first destination. Sometimes we drove to a major airport (Phoenix or Denver) so we didn’t have to change planes in the US. If we couldn’t do this I tried to change planes in the US, not in Europe, to avoid that early morning exhausting airport experience.

- Take a taxi or car service from the airport so you don’t have to deal with public transport or renting a car.

- Stay at your arrival destination for 3 nights. I would treat us to a nice hotel, sometimes even paying for the night before arrival so we could check in as soon as we arrived in the morning. After that we would pickup a rental car and start our trip.

- Do longer trips. We used to spend 6 - 8 weeks in Europe, combining two or three trips. Of course you do your longer Italy trips.

- Upgrade to Business or First. We had tons of miles from Steve’s business travel and our personal travel so we’re lucky with that.

I can be cranky at the best of times, but that morning after an overnight flight is not a good time for me!

How is your flight 19 hours?
Yes, get there a few days ahead. Then you’ll be rested when the river cruise starts.
I agree with Joe. I don’t know from personal experience, thankfully, but Covid can last for weeks. And you don’t want to push yourself back to being busy too quickly. You really need to recover. Where do you think you picked it up?

I think when you feel better you’ll be enthusiastic about your trip. Keep us posted.

 

[artnbarb]

We've adapted many of your ideas, @Pauline - but for this trip we have to change planes. Perhaps I should have done more research and found a more direct flight, but it's too late for that now.

I computed the (scheduled) flight times for the 3 flights, and also included the layover times, ending up with 18 hours and 55 minutes. This of course doesn't include our travel time from home to TPA, nor the time to get our luggage and get to the hotel. we have booked with the hotel to pick us up in Prague.

I wish we had the miles or $$$ to upgrade! We flew Premium Economy on American Airlines using miles last year and the wider seat and extra legroom was more than enough to make the trip much more enjoyable. (Not that I'll ever sleep!)

Right now I'm pushing forward, altho I certainly appreciate @joe 's point. I just realized that another Covid symptom I'm experiencing is brain fog, which has made getting motivated to do much of anything a challenge. It took me 2 days to call Austrian Air to book our TA seats - someting that's important to me, but still, I just couldn't get my sh*t together to make that call!

 

[Ellesee]

I too have become a cranky traveler in my late 50s, as airports and flying have become a trial. I don’t sleep on the flights and airport chaos distresses me. When younger, I used to recover after one day but now it takes a few days. I try to make the journey as easy as possible and for the first time this year that means flying business class, especially because I could not get a direct flight. Less hassle at the airport and a lay flat seat to try to sleep (I am not sure even that will work for sleep, but at least I wont have the claustrophobia of the person in front of me in my lap).

We also try to stay at a hotel for the first few nights and a taxi to get there to ease through the first travel brain fog days. We try to save the car rental, drive, grocery shopping for our preferred type of accommodations (house or apartment) for the 2nd leg.

We have never flown in business class to Europe before we planned our trip for this fall, and have always managed with premium economy. We also arranged a car service to drive us from Milan to Varenna. But now I would rather stay home and drive somewhere local for our vacation than fly cramped and sitting up all night, and even more I dread dealing with airports. I really think this year may be our last trip to Europe.

Fingers crossed I have yet to get Covid. I will get another booster closer to our departure and I will wear a mask on a plane for the rest of my life. Even before Covid I would usually get a cold or something whenever I flew, and never since I started wearing a mask on flights.

 

[lisaonthecape]

We've just returned from 11 days in Ireland, and it was wonderful. Thank you to everyone who helped with our plans! Now to the downside(s):

First of all, we both caught Covid. I'm soo mad!!! It's hitting me a LOT harder than it hit Art - coughing, sneezing, blowing, coughing, headahce, body aches - pretty much every symptom except NO loss of taste of sense of smell. So, maybe I'm just cranky because I'm tired (and sick), but...

Secondly, we have a Danube river cruise booked for the end of the month, and I'm really re-evaluating. The total flight time, ASSUMING all flights go as planned, is 19 hours in total. Combine that with the fact that I never sleep on a plane, and I'm really at a crossroads. I already know that I hate flying east, but on the flight to Ireland I decided that flying east is really like childbirth - after hours of agony, tears and exhaustion, suddenly all is forgotten once the end result is achieved, except now I'm not so sure that it will be. We're flying in one day early, which doesn't seem early enough, but I don't know if there's anything worth that long flight, period. (To those of you west of the Mississippi, who have to endure these long flights to Europe on a regular basis, I feel your pain.)

We may both be just too old/out of shape/cranky, Realist me knows that the likelihood of all flights going as scheduled, especially in May/June is doubtful. Cancelling would be expensive, but not out of the question. Am I the only one who's questioning their travel plans???

We have resumed traveling—we’re in Sicily now, presently in Ortigia. The only real change we’ve made is to build in a recovery day upon returning home. We used to maximize our time in Italy by flying home on a Sunday and heading back to work the next day, but now we generally fly home on a Saturday instead because the jet lag hits us harder as we get older (I’m 62, and Matt will be 60 in September).

We’ve also tried to minimize driving as best we can, often relying on trains for a totally car-free trip, although this particular journey really required a car. We also plan activities and day-trips less aggressively, with fewer plans and much more leisure time. These changes are less related to Covid and more a recognition that we don’t have quite the same energy level that we did at 40 or 50.

We’re happy to be back in Europe and have booked another trip in September (I promised Matt that he could spend his 60th birthday in Florence).

 

[Allen]

If you do go as scheduled, I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourselves after the flights, but that does seem like a lot of flying around in a pretty compressed period of time. Rather than cancel, could you get a Covid-based airline voucher that allows you to postpone the trip for a couple of months without much financial loss?

 

[BC Brenda]

We have definitely curtailed some of our European travel. So far our cancelations have not cost us too much wasted money - we have been lucky.

I think myself and my husband Bill, and our normal travel companions have reconsidered travel plans based on today's new travel realities. We have all come to the conclusion that because travel has become a lot more stressful (quite possibly due to our advancing ages) that we are not planning to revisit sites that we have been to on numerous occasions......instead we are planning to do more travel in our own country. However, we do have a trip to Norway/Scotland for next year and we are saving our pennies so that we can do it in a more comfortable style (i.e. expensive)

All four of us caught Covid last October after a flight/cruise from San Diego to Vancouver. We are attributing it to the flight. Although of course it is impossible to pinpoint when/where. But we had an extended wait in San Diego and despite wearing masks as much as feasible, we feel that the flight part of our trip was where we felt most at risk.

I would also put in a word of caution on trying to do too much after a bout with Covid. The four of us had vastly different symptoms ranging from a mild cold to myself who spent days with a high fever. I know that ..... for me....... any trip for the next month was just not doable. Nor did I actually want to go anywhere. Hopefully your symptoms will dissapate quickly and you will have a great trip. Fingers crossed for you

 

[susan]

Glad to hear you enjoyed Ireland. It's somewhere I would love to visit someday.

So sorry you both have Covid. Hope you recover soon with no lingering symptoms.

Traveling long distance is tough. I haven't done it for a while and am not sure when I will again.

 

[phirhon]

I can relate to your dilemma. I am 69 and P is 68. Coming from Australia is a long haul. We are in France at the moment and from walking out the front door to landing in Lyon was about 32 hours. That is three legs and over 21 hours on planes as well as four airports. By the time we get on the second leg which is about 12 - 13 hours, we are ready to sleep and usually do manage some. We arrived feeling not too bad and drove for about an hour and a half just to get away from Lyon.
We had two nights on the road before our first gite started on the Saturday, and we were very happy to get there. It re -enforced for us why we like staying longer in one place.

Now we are into the rhythm of our trip we are finding we are doing less than we have on previous trips. It is nearly five years since we were here last. We go out for the morning and that is enough for us and we enjoy a quiet afternoon. We have accepted that we are getting older and are just loving being in France again.

We had been thinking that this would be our last trip, but I am not sure we are ready for that yet. We will see once we return home which is still several weeks away.

Happy travels whatever you do.

 

[artnbarb]

For the past 5+ years we've been traveling as if it was our last year to travel, mainly because as we get older, the chances for unexpected events increase, and every small medical event seems to take MUCH longer to recover from.

There are places I wish we'd visited when we were younger, places that I have now crossed off the list - Africa, Australia and others require too much travel and we've accepted our limitations.

I may have been overly ambitious with this years plans. I can only say that between lack of travel due to Covid, combined with getting older, I decided to travel more. I can report that we're both feeling much better and are still planning to take our Danube River cruise as scheduled.

 

[GDB]

I think we are starting to feel the same as you youngsters.....slow Europe is starting to appeal more.
At almost 77 with senior management 72, we don't recover from long journeys quite so quickly and the same for ailments of course. Travel insurance is becoming a problem as well; I am having to book for single trips rather than yearly now. The problem is that we are avid wildlife photographers and still do our illustrated talks, so India and Africa are on the menu for 2024 at least. Having said that we are off to Finland in June to see brown bears and wolves, but that's not for the faint hearted either.

 

[italian excursion]

Sorry to hear about your Covid contraction, Barb. Your check-ins were all so positive and the photos great. Pauline’s suggestions as well as the others, are quite useful, as you know. One thing I’ve done for the last 20 years is to avoid travois Europe during high season. It’s inevitable that crowding and costs go up not to mention the summer heat.

I’m surprised about the length of your travel as even coming from the west coast my travel time is only 14 or 15 hours max. And that’s without direct flights.

At 74 I’ve learned what I need to be most comfortable and rarely stray from those tried & true comforts. I usually only sleep a few hours and read or dose in a sort of meditative state. I must confess that I took a bite of a cbd sleep gummie this last flight and that helped. (First time in decades I’ve resorted to that). Though I did notice it took me an extra day to recover.

Another trick I’ve learned is to buy a hybrid business class ticket. I fly economy to the east coast and biz class across the pond. It’s wonderful because I not only feel pampered but I sleep well in the seat/bed. And it about 1/2 the cost of full on biz.

Anyway it sounds as there you’re getting back to yourself and have figured things out. Glad to hear that!

Hugs,
Cheryl
www.italianexcursion.com

 

[joe]

I can report that we're both feeling much better and are still planning to take our Danube River cruise as scheduled.

Glad to hear this, and to know that you didn't have to succumb to my Doomsday Option . Have a great trip and take care!

 

[Pauline]

I can report that we're both feeling much better and are still planning to take our Danube River cruise as scheduled.

Great news!

 

[Sharon J]

We also caught Covid. Assuming it was on the flight home (Delta). We felt fine during our two week stay in Montepulciano and Venice. Both apartments. We arrived home on May 23rd. We are finally over the contagious part, but still feeling tired all the time.

Anyway, we've had our next trip back to Sant'Antonio outside Montepulciano planned forever, so all speed ahead.....hopefully. We are now 76 and 77, so running out of time to spend at our heaven on Earth apartment at Sant'Antonio. Hopefully, things will be much better by the end of October, but we are well aware that they could be worse.

 

[artnbarb]

Just to update: We returned from our Danube trip, and everything was beautiful. For the most part we escaped the rain that just keeps coming all over Europe this spring.

I think our stamina is still affected by our recent bout of covid, but at our ages, it's hard to know for sure. We wore our masks in airports, on the plane, and when we were in enclosed spaces with lots of people, like when we had to take a large bus to get from one place to another. The good news is that neither one of us contracted Covid on this trip. We'd wanted to get booster shots, but after reasearch, will follow the CDC guideline, which recommends waiting 3-6 months after having Covid before receiving another booster.

 

[jan]

"For the past 5+ years we've been traveling as if it was our last year to travel, mainly because as we get older, the chances for unexpected events increase, and every small medical event seems to take MUCH longer to recover from."

Same here.
So glad your Danube trip worked out so well.