boerne

In the past 12 months New Zealand and Fiji In March 2019, Arctic Cruise for polar bear watching, Svalbard, in June, East Africa for 3 weeks especially to see the great Migration and mountain gorillas in August, Quebec and eastern Canada Oct, Belize November, and just made it out of Egypt and Germany by January 30. What a great year. We hope we make it back to Antarctica in December, but our cancelled trip to Thailand this month allowed me to catch up with my cloud photo albums. So a sliver of a silver lining.

Annalisa12

Glad I went to Egypt when I did. Standing in King Tut's tomb is my all time favourite moment from my travels.

Bluehen1

The three days I spent at Thornybush Game Reserve in South Africa for my 45th Birthday was one I will never forget and I keep looking to go back. Taking a friend through Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks on a whirlwind one week trip (with side trips into Alberta, Shoshone Falls, Golden Spike, etc.).

Schweden

Did Southeast Asia in mid-January this year and then Europe in mid-February. What we thought was too much vacation in a space of 2 months turned out to be possibly our final international trip for the foreseeable future.

worldiswide

love this thread and that it got moved to travel buzz.. not on a repatriation flight, but was in Israel at the beginning of the gulf war and was one one of the last BA flights to leave in Bush's 48 hour countdown. The crew had volunteered to fly from lhr in the am not knowing for sure they would make it back. Tlv was very orderly and we left extended family and friends behind.

as for trips I'm glad to have taken.. all if them. In the October 2019 to Feb 2020 had a wonderful time in Israel, Prague Bratislava b udapest, Doha, Thailand, Laos, London, Hong Kong Australia NZ and Japan. Some new places..loved Laos ..and some we spend a lot of time in...Australia and NZ. Returned home Feb 9 just as everything was starting. Interestingly enough we almost always spend a few days in Shanghai or Beijing on the way to or from Oceania, but Japan was cheaper 9 months before..so in this year's case tgge one I'm glad I didn't take was being in China in Jan or Feb of this year.

I am concerned international travel may never be the same and what kind of health visa we will require to travel..im not looking forward to the new normal.

StartinSanDiego

I'm fond of the old saying that "You'll never regret the things you did, only the things you wanted to do and didn't." I'm so glad for ALL of my trips. It's been a great run of amazing travel. 42 Countries so far. Roughly 200 UNESCO World Heritage Sites visited. We like getting off the beaten path, and I'm glad we've been able to go to somewhat remote destinations, which also tend to be destinations with minimal health resources. I only regret that I didn't see more of them!

We made it home through LAX on the day that international Europe travel was halted. We've been traveling heavily for the last few years, and the year 2020 had 6 trips on the books, mostly international, that will likely all be cancelled or postponed indefinitely. I don't anticipate traveling internationally until at least late next spring, spring 2021, or possibly summer 2021. It looks like the USA is going to drag out the Covid response, so some places that I want to go might not take us. (I'm glad I went to New Zealand in 2019) At this point, coming off the foreseeable list is Equador, and possibly Kenya as well. We'll just have to see how these countries with fewer resources look.

jrl767

we had an amazing trip to Lima and the Galapagos in Oct 2018

I have yet to fully organize ~1000 pix; maybe I’ll even write a TR

CPRich

There aren't many family vacation trips that I am not glad I took. Or personal trips. Other than Paris, I don't think we've been anywhere more than once, and every trip is an opportunity to see another part of the world.

Sure, Machu Picchu, Iceland, Maui, etc., were great. But renting an SUV and just exploring the back country of Costa Rica was just as rewarding. No resorts, beaches, etc - but the rugged road up to Monteverde, hiking Poas/Irazu/Arenal volcanoes, getting lost and driving through a farmers field, etc., were great experiences.

n166

i got to go to Miami for work in late February, a couple of weeks before the virus hit. it was my first time there and i loved it. great weather and beaches, vibrant and lovely tacos

i was planning on making a trip back later this year but that looks highly unlikely now...

LtKernelPanic

It may sound corny but I finally checked some major items off my personal bucket list that had been on it since high school 20+ years ago when I finally made my first trip to Europe last spring. I spent a week in London, a week in Lisbon and five days in Paris with one day being dedicated to a trip to the Normandy coast. While the main point of going to France was to pay my respects at the D-Day sites I'll be forever grateful that two weeks to the day before the fire I was able to visit Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.

Badenoch

In the current situation I'm now glad I took every damn one of them. Should life to return to a semblance of normalcy there are many things I will no longer take for granted and travel is foremost among them.

Ford Fairlane

I just now ran across this thread and came in prepared to say essentially this same thing. I'm glad I took all the trips. I wish I'd taken more of them. But there are certainly some things I wish I'd done differently on some of them now, particularly those when I was in my 20s.

teddybear99

There is one trip that I completed many years ago that I'm definitely glad I took with all my family and friends discouraging me.

I was scheduled to fly 9/13/01 to the Philippines, and of course, it was cancelled due to 9/11. When flights reopened a few weeks later I was able to rebook at no extra cost the flight. All my family and friends were concerned about my safety, and I told them with all the inspections and security instituted because of 9/11, this would most likely be the safest time to fly. The reason I went was to finalize the adoption of my now 20 year old son. He is studying back in the Philippines to be a nurse as it is the least expensive and the quickest way he can become one.


*** I have never seen this commented, but I wonder if the terrorists planned it on this date because 911 is our emergency number to dial here in the USA or if this was just a coincidence.***

jrl767

< POTENTIAL OMNI ALERT >
this doesn't really answer the question, but I once read something about some intercepted communications with the phrase "two sticks, a dash, and a cake with a stick pointing down" ... this actually represented 11-9; month followed by date is a far more common calendar paradigm outside the U.S.

jbjelloid

I’m glad I took all my trips. I just wish I had made more to Africa and fewer to Asia.