2021 RECAP

INTREPID TRAVELERS

Despite the promises made by the government to defeat this COVID pandemic it has raged on for yet another year, quelling much of our hope for distant shores. With variants of this deadly disease cropping up it was no wonder our travel was largely domestic, though we did manage a trip to Jamaica and then Janet traveled to England in October. The rest of our travels were in the United States. Ours is a vast country and we saw just a bit of it. 

Arizona

We drove down the Delmarva Peninsula to stay in Virginia Beach for a week. We drove to the New Jersey beach town of Sea Isle City to vacation for a week with our extended family. And, we flew to the Red Rock Country of Sedona, Arizona, taking a side trip out to the Grand Canyon one day.  

We wanted to do more and had planned to do more, and Lord knows we did our part to keep healthy; getting vaccinated as soon as possible and boosters as soon as they were available. Difficulty in traveling won out though and it was so much easier to stay in the United States. 

PROTOCOL SPEED BUMPS

Our lone international trip to Jamaica was relatively easy because of the Sandals Resort staff. This was our third time staying at a Sandals and we value the attention to detail they give their guests, which in this particular case was providing free COVID testing for the return and promising to put us up free of charge if we had to quarantine first. They even contacted us to ensure the paperwork required by Jamaica was properly filled out.

Seals Memorial,
Virginia Beach

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD.

Negotiating COVID protocol rules that have been changing weekly by oneself is a difficult task. We had wanted to travel to Malta and then to England, but discovered quickly the headaches of testing and quarantining for two separate countries. Plus, the normal flight that we take from Philadelphia to Manchester England had been cancelled by American Airlines forcing us to fly in and out of London, which was another whole set of logistical problems. So, we decided instead of Malta and England together, Janet was off to see the grandkids on her own. That way if she had to quarantine she had a place to stay for free. And, even traveling to England by herself was quite difficult because of the testing England required of her before and after her arrival. Without help from the English family members finding tests for her it would have been extremely difficult. 

Sandals Jamaica South Coast

YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE

There's nothing more discouraging than finding a great deal and not being able to take advantage of it. We had found a half-price sail from Variety Cruises though the Seychelles, but then the Omicron variant from South Africa broke out. We had sailed with Variety in Costa Rica and Panama and knew it would have been a great experience, but that outbreak stopped us in our tracks. 

REBOUND YEAR?

So, 2021 was a long malingering crapshoot and there's no guarantee '22 will be any different. But, fingers crossed, we are planning plenty of international trips this year. We are traveling to the Canary Islands in April, Barbados in May, and Fiji in September. We'll keep you posted! 

Thanks for reading

love Janet and greg

© 2022 by Greg Dunaj