TRAVELING DURING COVID —----2022
Before I share my weekly story, I feel it’s a good idea to talk about traveling tips you can use today, particularly as these strange Covid times persist—------
In the past few weeks, I have heard about several friends I personally know who had had trips interrupted by Covid. As a RN, I have heard countless stories of folks who left in recent months for their trip of a lifetime, only to become Covid positive and have to quarantine in their cabin onboard a ship, in their hotel room, or stop their vacation wherever they were and figure out how and when to get back home. In some instances, people flew home sick.
Since August of 2020, I have traveled across the country by plane, train, and automobile. My eldest son Phil presently lives in the Netherlands and has traveled safely back and forth several times. Likewise, I have been lucky enough to travel safely to Europe three times since Sept, 2021. It is definitely possible to travel successfully and stay well during this pandemic.
Covid isn’t as deadly as it once was, thank goodness. But, it can still wreck havoc for travel plans. Canada is still randomly testing people arriving by car, boat, or air. If you are positive, you can be MANDATORILY quarantined in a hotel for 10 days, trip over.
Travel TIp —---Prepare for any trip before you go by limiting your exposure beforehand. Ten days before your big trip, start thinking about maybe wearing a mask when around others not living in your household. Wear a mask on public transportation such as buses, trains, and planes. Most importantly, be smart while traveling. Avoid crowds if you can. If you must be in a crowd (including travel groups), I advise you to wear a mask when together, especially when not in the open air. Eat outdoors whenever possible. Even though your symptoms may be mild, you may not be allowed to continue traveling, especially if you are with a tour group or entering a country that requires testing.
As a nurse who has delivered thousands of Covid vaccinations, please be aware that vaccinations won’t necessarily keep you from getting Covid. You are definitely less likely to die from Covid and that’s why I still promote getting vaccinated.
Navigating Travel Websites like Expedia and Orbitz
My wonderful niece Laura lived in Memphis at the time of her wedding in October, 2006. When Laura and her fiance Drew announced their date, October 28, Pete and I made plans to attend. I hadn’t visited Memphis before but had heard about its famous, very famous hotel, the Peabody.
The internet had exploded by this time. You could find most anything online. I’m sure through television advertising, I discovered the website Expedia. The online travel agency was first to allow the consumer to make ticket changes via the web without needing to personally contact an airline customer service agent. Feeling curious, I went onto the website to explore possible travel options for a trip to Memphis.
A whole new world opened up to me. Feeling adventurous, I punched in the “Flight, Hotel, Car” bundle option on the Expedia website for the weekend of Laura’s wedding.
Maybe it was instinct, but already, I had a feel for good travel related pricing and wow, the package deal was incredibly affordable. Pete and I had a rental car, flights, AND a room at the famous Peabody for a price that easily fit our budget.
I hit the button!
Travel tip: If you see a good quoted rate on a travel website, whether it's an airline, car or hotel direct or third party, it’s been my experience that prices can change dramatically within minutes. There may not be concrete proof that websites track your activity and adjust prices accordingly, but I have had firsthand experience of fares rising after logging off a site and returning just a few minutes later. Research says it’s all about supply and demand but honestly —--
When checking on the pricing on travel websites have your travel dates and destinations and budget firmed up. If the quoted price sounds good, don’t hesitate or log off. Instead —hit the button! I have often found my best travel deals the first time I’ve searched on a travel related .com
For instance, for the Memphis wedding weekend, my cousin Blair tried to get accommodations at the Peabody a few weeks before the wedding. The prices she found online were much more than what I paid. She and her husband ended up staying elsewhere. Purchasing a bundled price also may have helped why I got such a great deal.
The Peabody is an experience. Imagine stepping into a time warp where lovely hotel lobbies are stuffed full of separate settees allowing for lots of private gatherings. The building itself is charmingly elegant. Our room had limited space, but was clean and the bed was comfy.
And then there is the duck parade, still twice daily, at 11 am and 5 pm. As funny as it sounds, the whole event is a must see. You can’t help but smile as you see the master of ceremonies announce the waddling birds as they march in line to the “pond” in the center of the hotel lobby. It’s worth checking out, even if you aren’t staying at the Peabody as a guest.
The wedding and weekend was a blast. We dined at Rendezvous Barbecue (fabulous food) after the rehearsal. Laura and Drew’s church wedding and separate reception, held at the Brooks Museum of Art were beautiful events.
Sadly, the party had to end. Late Sunday morning, Pete and I arrived back at the airport, returned our car and headed to security. Upon arrival, we were caught by surprise by an unpleasant turn of events.
Our flight had changed unbeknownst to us and apparently, our plane had already departed for Philadelphia.
At the ticket counter, Pete and I stood helplessly as the agent informed us that we missed our plane. I had not received any notice from the airline or Expedia about a flight change after checking and rechecking our email. Fortunately, the airline (not sure if it was Delta or American), allowed us to book on the next flight back to Philly at no additional cost. We got lucky and I learned a valuable lesson for future travel;
It’s always a great idea to check in before your flight. Most airlines allow you to do so starting 24 hours before your scheduled departure. Most probably, if we had checked in, we would have noticed the different flight departure time.
Overall, I like using Expedia but have used Orbitz more often. Nowadays, both companies are owned by the same corporation that also owns Travelocity, Hotels.com and others. There used to be occasional big differences in the pricing on the different sites but that has now changed in my experience. I was just learning about the intricacies of booking my own travel in 2006. It’s now 2022 and I’m still learning.
In my opinion, use caution when booking through third party travel sites like Orbitz, especially when booking international flights. I learned the hard way that using a third party can get a lot more complicated when serious travel events, like a pandemic, occur.
For instance, my travel buddy Kristin and I booked a roundtrip ticket on KLM thru Orbitz in June of 2019. We planned on flying from Amsterdam to Portugal round trip starting on March 31, 2020. The fare was a reasonable $250 a ticket. Because I had a Delta Skymiles account, I bought the tickets together using my credit card so that we could each get a checked bag for our roundtrip flight for free.
Then, the world basically shut down two weeks before we were supposed to travel, throwing our plans to the wind. When it became evident that no one in the US would be flying anywhere by the end of March 2020, I got busy canceling reservations. First, I had a round-trip ticket to Amsterdam on American Airlines to reconcile.
Kristin and I had bought our tickets separately adding travel insurance. Having the insurance allowed us to both get reimbursed monetarily. We were listed as “No Shows” by American because our flight actually departed Philadelphia March 31st (who’d a thot it?) but there was little rebuttal when I pointed out, “What was I going to do if I got on that plane for Europe?” The Netherlands “intelligent lockdown” began on March 15. Tourists were definitely not welcome.
Then there was the Orbitz Portugal ticket. Trying to get a refund turned into a trip planner’s nightmare.
First, it is extremely difficult to talk to a human at Orbitz. The flight to Portugal flew as scheduled, but obviously Kristin and I weren’t able to be on the plane. It didn’t occur to me immediately that the flight would actually happen. With each passing day the world news got worse; travel chaos escalated. There was no way we could have made that flight to Portugal.
It was easy getting cancellations and refunds without penalty from Viator (TripAdvisor) for our trip excursions. I hoped the same would be true getting a refund from Orbitz.
Repeated attempts to get a refund or voucher proved fruitless for weeks. It seemed impossible to reach a human by phone. Frustrated, I finally asked Pete to give things a try. After all, we were in a lock-down. We both had a lot of time on our hands. I gave him a possible good phone number for customer service at Orbitz that each time I used, I was put on endless hold.
Finally, after making several attempts, Pete got through to a human. He was given a voucher number with an expiration date of April, 2022. His instructions included booking the tickets using the voucher directly through KLM.
One caveat, Kristin and I had to travel together as originally booked. I was ecstatic. Surely, the world would be normal by spring of 2022.
Fast forward to Sept of 2021 when Kristin and I made new plans to fly to Amsterdam, visit Phil, before going to Venice (in the meantime we changed our minds about Portugal) in late March of 2022.
My initial attempts to re-book flights on KLM directly got me nowhere. The customer service agents kept telling me that KLM had no record of my voucher. I was referred back to Orbitz. OMG!!! Seriously????!!!!!
Yes, it would have been easy to give up but I became more and more determined to not lose my money.
Getting a customer service number for Orbitz was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Finally, one morning, I struck gold. On some sort of online chat between travelers, someone posted a number for Orbitz customer service that actually worked.
The first phone calls were again fruitless. Each Orbitz agent explained that according to their records, I didn’t have any kind of voucher. Two agents actually disconnected me while we were talking. More determined than ever, I kept calling the customer service number, waiting on hold and hoping for success with rebooking flights.
Through sheer grit and determination, my persistence prevailed. Finally, an Orbitz customer service agent informed me that I needed to rebook through KLM, giving me a direct toll free international number to do so.
Before I called, I checked out the different flight options available between Amsterdam and Venice, and chose the one that fit Kristin’s and my schedule the best. When I successfully connected, the KLM customer service agent listened patiently. She put me on hold for a while but returned soon enough to say, “Yes, I am happy to help you with booking your trip”. In disbelief, I responded, “You’re kidding!!! Really?”. She laughed and said, “Yes. Which flights are you looking at?” What a blessed relief.
In no time, she booked Kristin’s and my roundtrip flights to Venice, which included the flights we wanted! Big Bonus —-I was actually due a small refund (which went toward seat purchases).
Victory, at long last!!!!
All in all, I’d say I spent easily between fifty and sixty hours getting things worked out and learned a very valuable lesson. Book directly with an airline, especially if flying internationally. Even in the worst of a world crisis such as a pandemic, never make the assumption that your flight isn’t going to depart as scheduled. Being designated as a “NO SHOW” does not help when trying to get a refund for your ticket.
My next magnet? It represents the trip of a lifetime, at that time. Like a Nancy Drew adventure story, there were plenty of pitfalls and obstacles. First chapter? Would the mystery of the lost luggage get solved?
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