The Euro Covid Travel "Catch 22"

Quarantines R US

UPDATES 1-11-22

Every day the world reconsiders its willingness to admit visitors from countries that have failed to address the Covid pandemic (the US scorecard now passes the mind boggling statistic that 1 of every 500 300 Americans has perished from Covid) and yet we still argue about minor measures to slow the spread. 

Currently in the EU some countries have opened their borders, some only admit vaxed and / or tested travelers, others are open to those that are vaccinated + quarantine, and still others have simply said stay away.

Conditions change frequently and it is hard to keep up. And all this uncertainty makes international travel planning a challenge. 

So how has the travel industry responded to all this chaos? I personally feel the airline industry responded pretty nimbly and fairly. When borders suddenly closed, most airlines stepped up and offered accommodations even on non-refundable / non-changeable tickets. 

And the reward for those airline efforts has been the emergence of dipshit passengers feeling entitled enough to physically assault flight crews who are just doing their job. 

The airlines have responded by placing these morons on "no-fly" lists. Frankly that is unacceptable to me. Anyone disrupting a flight and / or threatening airline staff should be escorted from aircraft in cuffs by Air Marshals and face fines equal to the costs of turning planes around and disrupting airport operations. A few well publicized cases and these cockroaches will crawl back into whatever mask-free, horse de-worming fantasy hole they emerged from.

Ahem, but....back to my blog post.

Along with airlines many hotels also stepped up. Most of the bookings I made directly through major hotel chains were adjusted with fees waived.

Conversely, bookings I made through third party travel services like Hotels.Com, TripAdvisor, Kayak, Expedia, Orbitz etc. resulted in a different story. With few exceptions those services just seemed to look at the ground, ignoring the pandemic. I also came to find out they have no customer service lines. I'll rarely use them again.

Last week I felt the chaos rise up again. I had a pre-pandemic hotel reservation in Rotterdam (I've been planning a visit to explore its amazing modern architecture). Then suddenly Holland imposed mandatory quarantines for fully vaccinated US visitors and Poof!, my vacation plans became worthless.

Yet, since the border is not "technically" closed, hotels contend that they need not offer any accommodation. So my $450 worth of Hotels.Com vouchers also became worthless.

So until the world gets back to "normal"(whatever that might look like) Roadboy says book only using refundable rates and stick to direct bookings from hotel chains.  

Update 9-16-21: After less that a week the Netherlands reversed itself leaving tens of thousands of travelers to (again) rework bookings. 

Update at Travel Time: When I actually traveled to Holland I entered on a flight within the EU (arrival from Spain). I landed and there was nothing; no customs, no check of my passport, I just got off my flight and walked to buy a ticket for a train into Amsterdam.  

When the music stops, sit down.

Roadboy's Travels © 2021