I was one of the crazy people who saw the beginnings of the COVID-19 alarm bells and left on a trip anyway. It was supposed to be Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos with Overseas Adventure Travel. Well, it turned out to be a little over week in Bolivia and the main portion of the tour was cancelled (we were on the pre-trip). Left home 3/10, returned 3/19. It was a real scramble getting out as countries closed their borders but the guide and tour company went above and beyond. We got out of Boliviana, Santa Cruz to Miami, just before Bolivia closed its borders. I loved Bolivia- beautiful surroundings, nice people, interesting history. I could have ridden on the Teleferico (the gondola system over the "bowl" of La Paz) all day.
And another memory, long ago- DH and I chose St. Petersburg, Russia for our honeymoon in 2003 because we were both Russian history buffs. It was a golden time- after the fall of communism, lots of good ethnic restaurants more openness, and before things got more restrictive again,
Oh, yeah- another- in 1999, when EWR was our home base, CO sent me an e-mail offering travel on their new nonstop to Rio for 17,500 OnePass miles- per person, round trip. We went there for a 4-day weekend. Exhausting, but a great trip.
CO never made that offer again.