I’m not big on new years resolutions, but I do often write up some travel related goals for the new year. I’ll call it my 2021 travel outlook. In a version of this from last year, I laid out what for me were pretty ambitious plans for 2020. Of course, most of that didn’t happen. I don’t see anything close to normal happening for a while in 2021, but as an eternal optimist, I do have some things I’m hoping will be able to happen. Even have a few trips booked. We’ll see what actually happens.
Not surprisingly, much of what I hoped and planned for in 2020 didn’t happen. My travel was drastically reduced, and while there was some personal travel too, that was limited, and all within North America.
Ambitions plans:
Turned into much more modest travels:
A planned Alaska Cruise didn’t happen, but we tried to make the most of summer weather, and enjoyed a family trip mostly outdoors in the Pacific northwest. Several Europe trips didn’t happen, so it has now been since 2018 when I set foot on that continent or even flew across the Atlantic. Hopefully that will change at some point in 2021. Several trips booked, and hopefully they can happen.
2021 travel outlook
One is a summer trip to Ireland. I was able to find very cheap flights to Dublin, nonstop from O’Hare, better yet, there was upgrade space confirmable at booking. That and with credits from past cancelled trips, there was no out of pocket cost. Hard to beat that deal. Not the most maximized use of my American Systemwide Upgrades, but no idea if or when long haul work travel will resume, so it seemed like as good of an option as any. Nonstop flights, essentially for free, gives us something to look forward to. Also going to take another shot at the Berlin Marathon in 2021, since the 2020 edition was cancelled. Look forward to returning to one my favorite European cities, even to do something that is quite exhausting.
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Looking forward to several other trips this year too, and hopefully that means finally experiencing Qatar Q-Suites. Have both an award and a cash ticket booked. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Final thoughts
As with everything these days, any travel is very much subject to change. I’m hopeful vaccines help the world return to something closer to normal. For me, there is a lot of backlogged wanderlust, I’m looking forward to exploring once able to do so safely.
What trips are you most looking forward to this year? Where do you most want to go, once things open up?
