The Bing Crosby “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” song takes on a whole new meaning in the year of the pandemic. We’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our trip to Europe and will not be leaving the house this year for Christmas celebrations.
Why I Cancelled My Trip To Europe
My wife is German and our general plan is to alternate between Los Angeles and Germany for Christmas each year. This year we had planned a trip to Germany.
But by late November it became clear that Germany would be difficult. A shutdown that was supposed to “save” Christmas did not slow the growth of the pandemic as hoped for, prompting an extension of the shutdown. Two weeks later, even the Christmas exception was eliminated.
Technically, we could have still gone to Germany, but with all but grocery stores closed and onerous quarantine requirements in place, we hatched a different plan: we would all meet in Spain instead; the Canary Islands to be precise.
We reserved a house on Airbnb. We booked our flights. Interestingly, I booked TAP Air Portugal for the outbound…just to try something different. It was cheaper to fly all the way to Las Palmas (LPA) on TAP than it was to fly from London or Basel on EasyJet…
Our return was booked on British Airways with an overnight in London.
Then a “mutant” strain of the virus broke out in London. Other nations, including Spain, panicked and blocked all UK flights. Since part of my wife’s family lives in London, the trip suddenly became physically impossible. It was also not clear if we would also be able to get back via London.
So we cancelled. Well, we postponed.
The plan is to try again in the spring. If that turns out to be soon, then we will try again in summer.
I’ll write up a post in the days ahead about dealing with United, TAP Portugal, British Airways, and Airbnb for the last-minute cancellation and re-booking.
CONCLUSION
I did not cancel my trip to virtue signal. That would be quite hypocritical. I’m also not telling you to stay home for Christmas. But for goodness sakes, be careful. I’ve seen firsthand how the virus spreads. As annoying as they are, masks help. Wear them. Wash your hands often. Keep your distance when possible. The numbers are grim in the USA. Travel cautiously this year.
I’ll be home for Christmas.
You should have titled this “DETAINED FOR CHRISTMAS!” Merry Christmas, Matthew. 🙂
It’s just too impossible planning trips. Most of my trips I’ve had to cancelled other than driving road trips.
*****
Five stars for Matthew. Not stubborn and saying “I’m not letting the virus force me to wear a mask or prevent a trip to Germany!”
May Matthew have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Agreed. Merry Christmas to Matthew!
It’s weird, 90%+ mask compliance, and unending lockdowns, don’t seem to impact the trajectory of an endemic virus very much.
Seasonality sure seems to though. Wonder why that’s never mentioned?
The response is always ‘more lockdown’ – and I’ve yet to see any proof it works.
This seems to prove it. They keep extending, nothing changes.
Strange….
Only to neckbearded “School of Hard Knocks” graduates who simply posit “strange” and “weird” and “seems to me” and “wonder why…” after open ended questions, before closing their ears to the actual answers.
Great at parties. I mean, truly tremendous.
Travel bans when there is widespread community spread are largely useless. Specifically in the case of the “70% more contagious” variant, the “70%” figure is not based on any hard evidence. The variant has been around for months and was already detected on Continental Europe. The changes in lockdown policies have caused me to push back flights repeatedly for what I consider no good reason. One doesn’t look to government for rationality, of course.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/mutant-coronavirus-united-kingdom-sets-alarms-its-importance-remains-unclear
Not “it’s weird, 90+% compliance”. I see about 30-40% of people wearing masks poorly, like the nose sticking out, which is the same as no mask. I see 85-90% of people wearing sub-standard cloth masks, not surgical masks, which are no longer in shortage and only 1% wearing N95 masks (which the CDC recommends letting hospitals and doctor’s office use that supply because of a shortage).
I hear people say “I’m not letting Covid ruin my Christmas, I am one of 85 million people traveling”.
I suspect that masks are very helpful but far from foolproof.
I see too many people play lawyer and rush to do something before a new rule takes place. For example, I heard of some people racing to eat out as a group because regulations were going to close indoor dining the next day. Stupidity. The virus does not observe deadlines and start to act only after an indoor dining ban starts.
If people limited leaving the house only for very important matters and then rushed to do them as quickly as possible while wearing a good mask, then we would have the situation like Taiwan or Singapore. Both had Covid-19 problems but, for the time being, have wiped them out. Taiwan has had one case in months. Singapore has had 29 deaths, mostly early on. In Singapore, they wear masks and observe other precautions. In contrast, the US has had spotty precautions and behavior. That has resulted in 300,000 deaths but not 750,000 deaths, which is good.
Why is it so strange or weird? I see that you didn’t get the message. The virus being spread by indoor gatherings of multiple households. They’re not wearing masks indoors.
Anyways, masks are only partially effective and the effectiveness is dependent on the material and construction. Therefore, even if you’re wearing a mask (even an N95), if you sit with an infected person long enough, you will catch the virus. Masks main purpose are to capture the virus as it is exhaled by an asymptomatic person. Unfortunate, people are most infectious prior to onset of symptoms. Masks are used in conjunction with social distancing, hand washing, and so forth.
Please educate yourself. Thank you.
You’ll be surprised to hear this, but traveling over Christmas is the exception rather than the rule in our household (we’ll see how that holds up once Ashok starts elementary school). Never liked dealing with the massive crowds and having to pay through the nose for flights, hotels, etc. That and I usually do a big trip in the fall and don’t have any travel budget left to do anything over Christmas. I prefer to use the last week and a half of December to stop and catch my breath after a long year, get some “in-office PTO”, and sip a drink or two on the couch during the long weekends. Try it, I think you’ll actually enjoy it.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Merry Christmas to you too Ram.
In this case, we paid only $240 for the TAP ticket and used miles at half off for the return. It was a steal! But I will use the next couple weeks to relax and catch up on household projects. Maybe even read a book!
I hope you’re not intending on getting a refund on your TAP Portugal tickets. They cancelled our flights due to Portugal’s closure and we requested a refund last June – still waiting at the end of December. I read online that we are far from alone on this one – thousands of refunds approved but not issued by TAP, likely due to cashflow issues.
No, TAP was nice enough to waive the change fee even though we were on “discount” tickets. We will use them in the spring.
Sounds like a good outcome. Happy holidays!
Masks do nothing.
Masks are only partially effective and the effectiveness is dependent on the material and construction. Therefore, even if you’re wearing a mask (even an N95), if you sit with an infected person long enough, you will catch the virus. Masks main purpose are to capture the virus as it is exhaled by an asymptomatic person. Unfortunate, people are most infectious prior to onset of symptoms. Masks are used in conjunction with social distancing, hand washing, and so forth.
point taken, but we cannot be in lockdown perpetually. Since we can’t take the risk to 0, we need to minimize it as much as possible, and masks are one effective way to do that
I agree. The mask is an object. It is the wearer that does something, like put it on, make sure it fits properly and selects the best mask possible considering the circumstances. High mask compliance does correlate with lower incidence of Covid-19. However, it is better to avoid exposure and avoid passing it to others by just staying home….AND opening the window when possible. Some families have not all gotten sick by opening the window and isolating the sick person in one part of the house.
Trolls going to keep trolling.
Keep pounding away, Mr. Tiny Hands
Your hands look big next to the little boys you seduce.
“I did not cancel my trip to virtue signal. That would be quite hypocritical. I’m also not telling you to stay home for Christmas. But for goodness sakes, be careful. I’ve seen firsthand how the virus spreads. As annoying as they are, masks help. Wear them. Wash your hands often. Keep your distance when possible. The numbers are grim in the USA. Travel cautiously this year.”
Thank you for this statement… it reflects some of the common sense pragmatism that is missing in our public discourse as it stands. I too agree that we shouldn’t “shame” people for making their own decisions (like travelling to see family), but, at the same time, it is common courtesy to wear masks and social distance and this is a responsibility that we should take on regardless of the inconvenience.
Merry christmas to you
Thanks Pirooz. Same to you too.
We came to Sweden for Christmas but Sweden has cancelled all flights with the UK until year-end so our return flight (via LHR) has been cancelled. Still trying to convince the airline to give us a routing home that doesn’t involve 4 connections… otherwise it’s been an amazing trip. Most things here are open, and everyone respects distancing. It’s also interesting to be in a country where almost nobody wears masks.
Enjoy your time in Sweden. Safe travels and best wishes getting home!
Hey Matthew – I sympathize. This is the first Christmas in nearly 20 years that I’m stuck in my apartment and not traveling abroad. I’ve got some snack food, a couple books, and a subscription to Netflix that’ll carry me through the weekend. When next Christmas is 330 days out – I’m jumping on an award ticketing and hoping for the best. Happy Holidays and keep the dream alive!
That is not correct — Grocery stores are still open here. Hell, even book stores are still open in Berlin. In Bayern it’s much the same. I got my brötchen at the Edeka and a book for Heiligabend yesterday for my nephew. You should have still come. Frohe Weihnachten!
I meant everything is closed except for grocery stores. Part of me regrets not going, but things are out of control in LA.
Merry Christmas. Republicans blocked larger aid asked by their own president on the eve of Christmas. Now that that is taken care of they can go back to pretending being good christians and bringing up god in every conversation.
Remember for these jerks religion is a prop. It’s about tribalism, not spirituality.
Bummer. Sometimes the Magic 8 Ball of life just doesn’t want things to work out. Props for trying to overcome obstacles and props for accepting that sometimes you just have to call it a loss and try again later.
Merry Christmas.
https://covid19.who.int/region/wpro/country/kr
https://covid19.who.int/region/wpro/country/jp
They said masks brought it down earlier in the year in South Korea. Does that look true now?
Say…why are Japan & Korea moving up in lockstep more/less when adjusting for population/tests / cap.
Closer to home…do those graphs look like people just stopped masks/distancing/etc…?
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/12/22/coronavirus-spread-in-orange-county-reaches-new-highs-as-patients-pack-hospitals/
Got Europe planned for Mid-May…crossing my fingers it will open!
South Korea with 1/6 our population is having 1/2% of our cases and less than 1% of our deaths, and that’s with an older population.
I’d love to be doing as badly as they are.
Family of five. We’re off to ko olina bay from chicago. Flying on Christmas Day. We had to get out of the cold misery of chicago. Usually would be in australia for Christmas :(. This is a good middle ground
Enjoy! Merry Christmas.
mele Kalikimaka brah
Merry Christmas Matthew..to you and your family. Home is the best place to be right now! Travels do lay ahead for us all.