We were really looking forward to a trip to the mainland. We were going to camp in the Sierra’s and visit San Francisco. We haven’t been in a long time and I was really looking forward to eating cheap asparagus (it costs $7 a bunch at our local grocery store) and fresh oysters. So when the COVID-19 lock-down and travel restrictions came out, we were pretty disappointed to have to cancel our trip. It’s been three years since we left Hawaii and I have a serious travel bug. If I’m not currently on a trip or have a trip planned, I feel uncomfortable. I have a constant question in my mind, “when’s the next time I’m going to travel?” But seriously, postponing our travel plans really doesn’t qualify as hardship. Instead we stay at our home in Hawaii- like what’s there really to complain about? We are happy to comply with these rules since it means slowing the spread and saving people’s lives. We are in full support. But of course once that trip was cancelled, I couldn’t stop thinking about when will it be safe to travel again and where we will head to.
Southwest Airlines just won’t quit with advertising their deals. It’s like every day they are raving about a $49 flight sale. It’s amazing and we are so grateful that Southwest flies to Hawaii now because Hawaiian Airlines has been price gouging us for too long. So I started thinking maybe this whole pandemic will be over in…6 months. Where would we want to go in September or October? I figured it’s going to be too cold for us on the mainland and Southwest flies to Mexico so maybe now’s a good time to finally check out Mexico. We wanted to see Playa del Carmen since it’s a digital nomad hotspot and so we booked a roadtrip around the Yucatan peninsula.
We booked our flights using the travel credits we had from our cancelled California trip and the travel miles we earned with our Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card. We didn’t have to pay anything extra to book these. Then we reserved a rental car with Fox in Cancun which is literally $0.50/ day right now. It’s usually closer to $45/ per day- that’s an amazing deal. And we booked Air BnB’s in Cancun, Valladolid, Merida, and Tallum for an average of $33 per night.
We don’t know when it will be safe to travel again. No one can predict the future so we only booked things that could be cancelled with full refunds. We are ready and happy to cancel our trip in August if Mexico isn’t ready for travelers by then. We definitely don’t want to be a burden if that’s the case. We will just cancel and book another trip further out. We are willing to be flexible with our travel dates and live with the uncertainty in order to benefit from the travel deals. Here’s a link to the CDC travel considerations if you are thinking about travelling outside of your community https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/travel-in-the-us.html.
We hope it does work out though because we are really looking forward to visiting Mayan ruins, trying Yucatecan food, practicing our Spanish, and staying in a beach cabana on the Mayan Riviera. If not, we will probably just keep trying…and appreciate our amazing home as well.
