Thanks everyone for some great responses and tips -- I hadn't thought about some of these at all and they'll definitely be helpful for future travel! Some clarifications & additional thoughts below:

@progapanda: I read your response and it was seriously like reading something I wrote myself! I see you're also in NY -- hope you're staying safe and sane!

@TheStrangerIn29K: my thoughts on not using AirBnB anymore are b/c of what happened early on with people not getting full refunds (never followed up on what's changed, but sounds like they are now). It seems easier to get refunds for non-refundable rooms from a big hotel / OTA like Hotels.com vs. haggling with an AirBnB owner. Also, I do feel the hotels I've stayed in are far cleaner than any AirBnB I've stayed in, and I think hotels will seriously up their game (by force or by choice) in terms of cleanliness standards, whereas I'm not sure that a random cleaner cleaning someone's home will be incentivized as much to do so. Also, if I'm in a foreign country, I would prefer having access to the front desk that might have more info/access to things, and might be able to help me if something goes wrong, etc. I understand the appeal of a larger space for some, but I don't have kids and have no need for a kitchen or the like, so a hotel room is fine for me & my partner.

@kiwifrequentflyer: as I mentioned, I'd *definitely* make sure to have some form of medical/evacuation-related insurance. I spent thousands on travel insurance while globetrotting from 2013-2016, put in a claim twice, denied twice, and decided all the effort required to put in the claim only to have it denied in the end was too much of a hassle. I also had an annual travel policy a few years ago, which was comforting to have for a few trips (no claims though), but I mostly ended up in/out of Australia for 3 months at a time, and the policy only covers trips that are 1 month or less, so I didn't renew for 2019 or 2020. Also, a lot of my international travel now starts from SYD to {international destination} instead of from NY. I think for my purposes, an overseas health cover is what I need (note: if anyone has any recs for Australia, please reach out to me privately, thanks!)

- Travel agent (clarification): the one we used in Australia works at a small company affiliated with the Hello World Travel network, but I'm not sure if this small company will make it through July. From reading some posts about people who have used Hello World agents, I see a lot having trouble getting their money back, some even have cancelled flights but no money back, some are only getting credit to use with the specific travel agent, etc (note: I do think it's fair for travel agents to take a cancellation and/or admin fee for the work they actually have done, so I wouldn’t expect to get all my money back). This is the first time I booked a flight (or anything) using a travel agent and now I wish I had just booked it myself directly on the Qantas website.

- Hotels: on second thought (thanks everyone!), I've changed my mind on booking non-refundable rooms -- I'll book refundable only, unless the trip is immediate. Someone asked why I don't book directly with hotels instead, and it's for a few reasons: I have no loyalty to a hotel chain (I travel for leisure, not business), I book really nice hotels based on the location and not all of these hotels are part of loyalty programs; with Hotels.com, I accumulate 1 free night after every 10 nights (not sure if you can do the same on booking.com or agoda but I started with hotels.com years ago and have just stuck with them); and, when I had to cancel my 9 refundable hotels for this year, I did it all on 1 website, and for the 4 that were non-refundable, I had 1 email thread & person to follow-up with, not 4 different hotels.

- Wait & see on cancellations: I, too, learned that non-refundable airfares are refundable if the airline cancels on you first (or in AA's case, if they make a schedule change that affects your journey by more than x mins)! In mid-March, after Qantas already announced they were cancelling all international flights after March 30, I called Qantas and asked for a refund on my April flight to the US -- they quoted a $600 cancellation fee (which, at the end of the day, isn't so bad on a $7k fare). But, I held off on cancelling (just because I wanted to think about it), and by April 1, QF officially cancelled my flight & sent an email notification saying the funds would be automatically credited to my Qantas account via voucher -- their official flight cancellation allowed me to put in for a refund for the full amount (just did it last week, I assume this will take 4-6 weeks, unlike AA which refunded in 1 week). I have another QF flight in early July from SYD to Ecuador, and I'm assuming that'll be cancelled based on the situations in both Australia (closed borders, no international travel allowed) & Guayaquil, but I certainly won't be cancelling it myself (until the day before, if it hasn't already been cancelled).

- Hoarding FF points: no more! I'll use them and never keep such a huge amount that would worry me if an airline went bankrupt or if the points were seriously devalued.

- Luxury guided tours: I'm rethinking these only because of the payment terms on some of these (full payment 60/90/120 days before trips). I'm unsettled with the idea that if I made my final payment on Apr 1 for my July trip, a single tour operator would've had $30k of my funds in their account, for a trip that was 90+ days away. If I cancel, they'd keep the money as a credit for next year, and if they cancel the trip, they'll refund it (note: I didn't make my final payment on Apr 1 and the company hasn't asked me to yet). I love the company and will definitely take trips with them next year and every year after that -- BUT (1) what if they don't make it through this crisis? and (2) that would've been $30k interest-free to them! I still love this way of travel and the tour operators I use, so I'm just hoping they change some of their practices in the future.

- Cruising: when I cruise again (<150-person boat always, not the 1,000+ people ones), I definitely would opt for better cabins, just in case I ever get stuck. I always thought "I'm never in the room other than to sleep, so why does it even matter what the size is or if there's a large window/balcony," but after reading about these cruise ship ordeals, I see it would've mattered (to me anyway). I'm fortunate that I can afford it, so I will pay up from now on. I've never found the mega-boats appealing, and after this virus debacle, I definitely wouldn't take one.

- Staying informed: since most of my travel has been with luxury tour operators, I've never worried about what was going on or getting stuck b/c I knew they'd take care of it all (paying for flight changes, charter flights, the works). I was in Peru for 6 days in March, and left my hotel for LIM airport on March 15 at 9pm for a Sunday 12am flight -- completely unaware that a state of emergency was declared an hour earlier and the airport/country would close in 48 hours. I've read horror stories of folks being #stuckinperu for weeks because the Peruvian government wouldn't reopen the airport to let repatriation flights in/out. So, lesson learned, I'll actually pay attention to the local/world news from now on before and during travel!

- Staying connected with STEP: while traveling the world solo for a few years, I was very good about putting my travel details into STEP (so the US government would know where I was in case there was a disaster in the country I was traveling in), but I haven't for the past 2 years out of laziness/complacency about travel being hiccup-free -- but based on what's happened with coronavirus and people stuck overseas, I'll definitely start using STEP again.