"Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread

[wj73]

Disembarked this morning, and am in our day room at the hotel enjoying one last bit of sand and sun before heading to the airport for a red eye back to LAX. Did our pre-flight Covid test on the ship before leaving, so have that documentation in hand so I can get back to LAX. Will spend a few days with family in LA before heading back home. It’s gonna be a whole different world.


Will try to see if I can post some photos. 

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

That's gonna to be a difficult reentry...no brushing aside of a friendly toucan to take another fruit from the daquiri tree 

It's actually not bad here...aside from covid, tornadoes, baseball lockout and general malaise. 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

That's gonna to be a difficult reentry...no brushing aside of a friendly toucan to take another fruit from the daquiri tree 

It's actually not bad here...aside from covid, tornadoes, baseball lockout and general malaise. 

you forgot to mention Dallas winning in the NFC East.

[skippy1999]

Disembarked this morning, and am in our day room at the hotel enjoying one last bit of sand and sun before heading to the airport for a red eye back to LAX. Did our pre-flight Covid test on the ship before leaving, so have that documentation in hand so I can get back to LAX. Will spend a few days with family in LA before heading back home. It’s gonna be a whole different world.


Will try to see if I can post some photos. 

I use postimage-super easy to use!

[Count Walewski]

My scheduled flight to Malta leaves in four days. I am getting cold feet.

It's not that COVID is running wild in Malta: Malta has a similar number of COVID cases per day as Arlington, VA and given that it has twice the population of Arlington, that's a pretty low rate. Is that I would have to take a COVID test on my last day in Malta (per US entry requirements) and if I test positive, it's 14 days of quarantine in a Maltese hotel for me. 10,000 euro fine for being caught out of my hotel room.

I'm passing through Reagan, O'Hare, and Zurich en route to Malta. I could easily catch COVID in any one of those places. Or I could fall victim to a false positive, etc.

[Five Banners]

My scheduled flight to Malta leaves in four days. I am getting cold feet.

It's not that COVID is running wild in Malta: Malta has a similar number of COVID cases per day as Arlington, VA and given that it has twice the population of Arlington, that's a pretty low rate. Is that I would have to take a COVID test on my last day in Malta (per US entry requirements) and if I test positive, it's 14 days of quarantine in a Maltese hotel for me. 10,000 euro fine for being caught out of my hotel room.

I'm passing through Reagan, O'Hare, and Zurich en route to Malta. I could easily catch COVID in any one of those places. Or I could fall victim to a false positive, etc.

Unless their quarantine rooms come with a complementary falcon, I completely understand the cold feet

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

My two cents: the risk is about 85% while in the US, especially on the ground;  personally I'd N95 it at DCA and on the first leg, go straight to the Lufthansa lounge at ORD, and then not worry too much about it.  The air circulation and filtration on planes is really good, and from the sounds of it you'll be in a low density cabin at the front of the plane.  Malta is low risk.       

[Count Walewski]

Yeah, I agree, if I get COVID-19 I'm going to get it en route to Malta rather than in Malta. That opens up the possibility that by my final day in Malta, even if I got pozzed on the way over I will no longer be reactive to antigen tests. It'll be 5 full days after my arrival, 6 full days after being in the USA.

[wj73]

We were sweating out that re-entry test to come back into the US from Tahiti. While quarantining for 2 weeks in Tahiti sounds nice, like you say, hotel rooms can be very expensive and you’re not allowed out of your hotel room. What good are turquoise waters and white sand beaches if all you can do is gaze at them through a hotel window?


We used N95 masks for all air travel, public transportation, and in airports. We actually even brought straws so we could sip beverages without totally removing masks while in transit.


French Polynesia spiked a few months ago, but has a low rate now. Indoor mask mandates were generally adhered to, so we felt pretty good while in country. It was traveling to and from there that felt a bit more dicey.


I understand your hesitation completely as we went through the same should-we-or-shouldn’t-we-go angst.

[Count Walewski]

The good news is that if Malta puts me into 14 day quarantine, they will pay for the hotel room I will be trapped in. The Maltese government will also pay for my breakfast every day of quarantine. The other meals, plus the cost of rescheduling my flights etc., will be on me.

Yesterday I was leaning towards canceling, now I am leaning towards going so long as I can get permission from my office to work from abroad if I'm quarantined. I'm a fed so typically that would be a strict no-no.

[English Natsie]

Just tell them you're doing undercover work for the DoT, checking out hotel conditions for US citizens who may have to quarantine...

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Bob Sendley says go 

[wj73]

Bob Sendley says go 

 

[Natsinpwc]

Common sense I suppose.

https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/586879-risk-of-infection-on-planes-doubled-with-omicron-report

[Count Walewski]

Well I made it to Malta. The weather here is beautiful for Europe in late December (daytime temps of 65 degrees).

[imref]

Well I made it to Malta. The weather here is beautiful for Europe in late December (daytime temps of 65 degrees).

Enjoy!

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Well I made it to Malta. The weather here is beautiful for Europe in late December (daytime temps of 65 degrees).

If you try ordering a milk shake, do they serve it malted?

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

ie, a Cannery Row beer milkshake?

I really liked Malta.  Friendly cats are everywhere, always a good sign.     

If you try ordering a milk shake, do they serve it malted?

[English Natsie]

I thought they liked making derogatory remarks - you've heard of Malta-Teasers...

[blue911]

I thought they liked making derogatory remarks - you've heard of Malta-Teasers...

We call those nasty little bastards moth balls

[Count Walewski]

It's the last of my 6 originally scheduled days in Malta. I've had a great time. The weather has been warm the entire time (though 2 days were extremely windy), I have explored both major islands of the Maltese archipelago (Gozo and Malta), I have been in some spectacular churches and in prehistoric temples a thousand years older than the pyramids. I have been able to do this vacation almost entirely outdoors as well. All the restaurants here still do outdoor seating because of the fine weather. There are street cats everywhere that the locals clearly feed and take care of.

Maltese and Gozoan food is incredible. We've eaten well everywhere we've been and the restaurants serve American portion sizes, not European portion sizes. There's a local orange soda called "Kinnie" that we've really taken a liking to.

Tomorrow morning, at 5 AM local time, I need to show up to the airport and do a rapid antigen test. If negative, we go home to the United States. If positive, Malta detains me for 14 days. Neither me nor my wife are symptomatic so fingers crossed.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Have a good trip back!

I was flipping through an old magazine and happened across this story about shenanigans in Malta, which only makes me want to go back there even more:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/21/murder-in-malta

[Count Walewski]

Tested negative for COVID at the airport in Malta! A big van was waiting to drive me to the quarantine center and drove me to the departures gate instead.

I have a short flight in a few hours from Malta to Vienna, followed by an insanely tight layover in Vienna where even the slightest delay on my inbound flight will strand me in Austria. Assuming all that goes well, I'll be in Chicago overnight to ring in the new year and then fly to Reagan on New Year Day. Assuming the half foot of snow Chicago is anticipated to get that day won't ground my flight.

[imref]

Safe travels!

[Five Banners]

Safe travels!

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