Category Archives for Destinations.
Tourists would come see the monkeys. TNow the government of Thailand is engaged in a sterilization campaign to keep monkeys in check since the lack of free bananas has led the monkeys to violence.
A new bill would allow the state’s Department of Health to place people arriving with COVID-19 into “isolation” not merely quarantine, separating them from their families. Critics have likened this to placing people in “camps.”
Hawaii has imposed a 14-day mandatory quarantine on arrival since late March. That order currently extends through July 31, but will be extended.
What’s new is that Hawaii will offer an option to avoid quarantine. Arriving passengers with a negative test for COVID-19 from the previous 72 hours, will be exempted. The state will also be implementing temperature screening at airports.
Right now much of the world is closed to U.S. tourism. On the whole the Caribbean is opening, and the Maldives opens July 15. Turkey and Serbia are open. But most of the world that will accept Americans at least requires coronavirus testing on arrival or two week quarantine.
The E.U. is trying to come up with a list of countries whose citizens will be allowed to enter starting July 1. The U.S. isn’t expected to be on it.
One man couldn’t handle Hawaii’s mandatory quarantine on arrival. Ten days in he hit the ocean, and that’s where he died. The 39 year old man, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was found by a fisherman at Diamond Head near Honolulu.
This is hardly peak tourist season for Dubai, with daily temperatures averaging about 100 degrees. Still, staying somewhere like Al Maha Desert Resort seems fantastic for social distancing. You get your own standalone villa with your own private pool. When I was there you could choose to take all of your meals in-villa too as part of the resort’s all-inclusive approach. And redemptions are available every day using Marriott points.
In the spirit of understanding just how countries that are working to ‘crush’ the virus are approaching opening, and the hoops they’re requiring people to go through, I was fascinated by the “fast lane” jointly announced by Singapore and China to provide for essential business and official travel without a 14 day quarantine.
Calling is a “Fast Lane” is like calling a dump truck a sports car.
Cambodia will make you put down a $3000 deposit on arrival not just for required COVID-19 testing, and for costs associated with required quarantine, but also to cover your required cremation should you die in one of their hospitals.
Hawaii has extended its required 14 day quarantine for arriving visitors through the end of July. That means it’s effectively off-limits to tourism until at least August.
They can’t ban travelers from coming to the islands, but they can require quarantines once they land. So for Hawaii ‘re-opening’ means lifting of quarantine requirements. Here’s what the state plans to do before that happens.
I wouldn’t hesitate to spend time in the Maldives. And at present there’s very little confirmed spread of the virus in the country. My approach would be this: be prepared (and be prepared to fund) a longer stay if something went wrong. And if you’re in an especially vulnerable group, for instance over 60 with pre-existing conditions, consider staying home.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
