This is a preliminary post, we’ll have a lot more to say about how to decide when we can travel again. It’s arguably the most important topic for us travelers right now, at least for those of you who are eager to get back to traveling like me (boy do I miss traveling).
Here are a few initial thoughts, but sign up for free to get the updates! We’ll also cover everything you need to know about eventually restarting to travel, like a map of which countries are open and much more.
The current and future state of travel for Canadians
Of course, it’s still too early to travel again now.
But sooner or later, many will travel again. Some people seem to think that everyone will wait for a vaccine, but I personally think that there’s no chance at all that all travelers will wait that long. None whatsoever. That won’t happen.
So… when can we travel?
That will all depend on every traveler’s own situation, and on many other factors that we’ll talk more about that in the coming weeks. It will also obviously depend on how the situation evolves—not just here, but especially in other countries—and we’ll help you sort through all of that.
First, a pretty major consideration is that currently, countries simply will not let travelers in. Most borders are closed.
But there are many encouraging signs. Many countries have firm plans to open up this summer. One example we’ve talked about is Iceland, which will be reopening to international travelers on June 15th.
By the way, Iceland has done very well at containing the coronavirus, much better than we have in Canada. They are definitely not the only ones either. Iceland only has 2 active cases.
To put that into perspective, these days Quebec alone has more deaths every 3 hours than Iceland has in total cases. Iceland has tested an impressive 15% of the population (it’s ≈3% in Canada, although of course our population is a lot higher). In Iceland, gatherings of up to 50 people are allowed, and that is supposed to be increased to 100 in a week.
That’s why I am among those who are definitely keeping an open mind about traveling sooner rather than later.
We must, of course, wait for it to be “responsible” to travel again. But my point is that determining when it’s responsible must not be done only through the lens of our situation here in Canada and should take into consideration the very different realities in other countries too.
Why? Our situation in Canada is objectively worse than in 75% of countries around the world, based on cases per capita (according to official numbers, however imperfect they could be). That leaves well over a hundred countries where the situation could get a lot better soon with a bit of luck.
If you are like me and are willing to go into a 14-day quarantine when returning to Canada, there’s definitely a reason for some cautious optimism, even for the relatively short term!
I have a plane ticket for Turkey on August 3rd, and I am still cautiously optimistic.
We’d love to know what you think of future travel. Are you getting more optimistic when you see news like this out of Iceland? Or not?
In all cases, Flytrippers will be your go-to source of information for everything Canadian travelers need to know to start traveling again, whenever that is for you.
Support your local travel resource and get all our travel content for free!
Summary
It’s very encouraging to see that travel is starting back up again in some places, and we’ll monitor the situation to see how things evolve for all of us Canadian travelers. I am personally keeping an open mind about traveling soon and am cautiously optimistic, but obviously this will depend on everyone’s personal situation.
What do you think about future travel prospects? Tell us in the comments below.
Explore awesome destinations: travel inspiration
Learn pro tricks: travel tips
Discover free travel: travel rewards
Featured image: Greece (photo credit: Toa Heftiba)
Advertiser Disclosure: In the interest of transparency, Flytrippers may receive a commission on links featured in this post, at no cost to you. Thank you for using our links to support us for free, we appreciate it! You allow us to keep finding the best travel deals for free and to keep offering interesting content for free. Since we care deeply about our mission to help travelers and our reputation and credibility prevail over everything, we will NEVER recommend a product or service that we do not believe in or that we do not use ourselves, and we will never give any third-party any control whatsoever on our content. For more information on our advertiser disclosure, click here.
My husband and I have round trip plane tickets via SAS to Copenhagen out of Boston on August 11th returning Sep 1. Will stay in AirBnB for 5 nights and then we are booked on a Norwegian fjord cruise on Aug 16th for a week. This is a total bucket list trip. Not my normal low expense style. After the cruise we will tour Germany for 10 days. Nothing booked for that yet but I have every hope that we are going to do that trip. Still looking for flights from Halifax to Boston to connect but the prices are insane right now. Going to use alot of MB points in Germany and the US to do this trip. Have already used a pile of Aeroplan pts for one of the flights. (obtained through your tip on TD Aeroplan CC). Hoping that this trip will happen.
Awesome, that sounds really amazing! Well, we’re in a very similar situation. I booked out of the US as well for my Europe summer trip, leaving August 3rd in my case. I really hope the US part doesn’t mess everything up (in my case I’m leaving from Plattsburgh, so I don’t need a flight at least). Depending on the cash prices, your connection to Boston could be worth using Aeroplan miles for too, depending on where you are from too 😛 I did the Quebec City – Boston or Boston – Quebec City route five times total last year, and one of those times I returned by plane for 7,500 Miles + ≈C$75 which was not much more expensive than the bus. Let’s hope things get better quick!!!