this information is coming directly from friends of mine that just got back from traveling to
germany and england they had so many experiences that i wanted to share them with you because it
is an actual real life story of what it's like to travel this year so one of the good things
that happened to them is that they didn't run into any crazy long lines now this is certainly not the
case i think they lucked out in this regard everybody's experience is that the lines at
airports are just complete chaos they fortunately didn't have anything longer than an hour wait
but that was a light weight so this is something that actually went well for them only having an
hour wait was actually a good thing all right the next thing that they encountered was issues with
their transitions so like i said they went from england to germany and then back home to the us
and they actually had some cancellations which i'll talk about in a minute but
what ended up happening is they would have a layover or just changing planes
in a different country and when they went to try to get on the new plane the people at the
gate were saying well where's your passenger locator form or your health at a station
or this that or the other thing and they had no idea that things were required on the in
between countries that they were simply passing through on their way to their ultimate country
so that was also a problem not being up-to-date on the latest requirements not only for the countries
they were going to but the ones that they were traveling through they had to sit there at the
gate as the plane was in final call trying to fill out all the forms they needed so they could get on
the plane it just added a ton of extra stress and worry and pain and they weren't alone there
were several other people trying to get on the plane as well that had the exact same problem
so this is another problem that is happening right now is people who are not prepared for
the transition countries the ones that are simply passing through also have their own set of
requirements that you need to adhere to all right so speaking of airlines the other problem that
they had is cancellations now they actually booked this trip pretty early on i believe it was the
beginning of this year maybe early last year and relatively quickly they had their primary flight
cancelled on them but it wasn't enough time that they were able to make other accommodations
but the same thing happened while they were in germany it was the night before they were set
to return home they were packing even and got an email that the flight the next day was cancelled
so then it was a huge scrambling nightmare to try to redo that flight in order to get home and not
get stuck in germany and not have any hotel or any accommodations or anything like that
so this is another thing that's happening airlines do not have their full contingent of pilots back
and so a lot of flights are being canceled not that it's for sure going to happen to you but you
have to know that it's absolutely a possibility it's no longer one of those rare situations it
is something that very well could happen and you need to know that and have some backup
and contingency plans just in case and i'll talk about that as soon as i'm done covering all of the
things that can occur on your trip this year okay the other thing that happened is their rental car
so they had rented a car there was five of them and they needed an suv sized car in england in
order to travel from london up to manchester and that's what they reserved and right up until the
day they were supposed to get the car the uh it was hertz actually didn't end up having the size
available and they had to get a toyota yaris which if you don't know cars is a very tiny car for five
people plus all of their luggage and so this is also occurring where rental cars either you can't
get them at all uh or prices are super inflated or the cars are being changed at the last minute
so just know that that might be a possibility as well if you need a car just plan around that know
that have contingencies for it but if there's any way you can get away with not necessarily needing
a car it might be better to avoid that because that's one less thing that you're going to have to
stress about so there are some other stresses with regard to their trip that i wanted to mention as
well but it wasn't necessarily particular to 2021 it was simply to do with how much they had planned
in the time allotted so they had things jam-packed going from place to place to place they ended up
changing locations i think it was four times and so that sheer volume of tourism all in one pack
jammed schedule they were just exhausted and then what they found is that when something would go
wrong it would have a domino effect on everything else after that and so it just created more stress
on their vacation so that is another thing you need to consider especially this year there's
a likelihood of things happening and stress occurring so maybe this is not the best year
to jam-pack full i know we've been stranded for a year at home and you're dying to get out there
but maybe for this first travel experience in 2021 spread it out a little bit give yourself
a little more room so that when things go wrong it's not cascading and causing everything else
to go wrong as well so how do you protect against this what should you do well here are my tips for
overcoming some of these very specific things that are happening this year the first is not
only checking the travel requirements when you book your trip but staying on top of them
all the way through including while you're on your trip so as i mentioned one of the problems was
knowing what the the countries they were passing through what those uh travel requirements were
part of that was because flights were canceled and they made a change at the last minute like
they didn't know they were going through france so they didn't know to prepare for it but that is why
you need to check your travel requirements all the way through even while you're traveling so before
you head out for the next destination make sure you're double checking what is required in that
next place or the any places any countries you're traveling through to make sure you're always up
to speed with the absolute latest information and if necessary call the airline the airline
should know what to be expected at the gates where they're servicing just double check all the way
through from you book it all the way through your entire travel program until you get home
make sure you're always checking and knowing exactly what's happening the next thing to do
is to buy travel insurance i know i am beating the dead horse about this one but it is so important
not only this year it's always important but this year it's really emphasizing why you need to have
it travel insurance in this situation when their flights got canceled the travel insurance company
would have helped them and or would have helped front the money so that they could get the flight
home or the flight to wherever they needed to go they would have been a huge help in this situation
and they wouldn't have been on their own trying to struggle and scramble to find a new flight home
in addition to flight cancellations delays if your baggage is lost or stolen if there's a medical
emergency and you need or a dental emergency and you need to be airlifted or you need medical care
this all is covered by travel insurance and also many of the travel insurance companies nowadays
they should be having some code protections none of them are going to cover every single
code situation but there should be some protections in case you get sick abroad
or in case there's an outbreak and a shutdown and you need to get home travel insurance should be
able to help you out with that and we do have a company that we like because they have coveted
protections and they also cover for things that aren't covered by other agencies such as
they call them adventure things but they're not it's things like hiking or kayaking and little
things that you would imagine would be covered by insurance but it's actually not unless it's
specifically written out in the policy so this company that we recommend does cover those things
and that's why we recommend them i have a link to them below if you'd like to learn more if you go
to any of the other travel insurance companies make sure you're reading the fine print and
know not only what it covers but you need to also know what it doesn't cover because there's a lot
it doesn't cover and it might be something that you're planning to do the next one is to prepare
for the chaos at the airports if you've seen any of my recent videos you know this is another dead
horse that i'm beating but it is going to be chaos at the airport get there early expect lines if
you have little ones traveling with you especially make sure you've got maybe some extra snacks maybe
some activities to keep them occupied or even if it's just you something to keep you occupied so if
you are in line for an hour two hours three hours there are some airports that are up to eight hours
just be prepared just know that that's possibility and and prepare for that also on your travel days
whether it is your first travel day whether it's just an in-between travel day coming home whatever
it is do not plan any other activities the same day so that way if you are stuck in line for
eight hours god forbid but if you are you're not missing out on the activity you booked or rushing
to try to get to that activity you have that day is just a travel day so that you can relax just
worry about the travel piece and getting to where you need to go and that's it there's no other
stresses on top of that on that note remember returning home you are likely going to need
testing to get back home if you're an american you for sure need testing whether you have a vaccine
or not i'm certain that other countries have their own requirements for their citizens to return home
so make sure you're checking with your country and in the case of americans that means on your
vacation you need to plan to have a test for your return home now you don't want to wait until the
last minute to find a place to go because yes there are walk-in places but lines are super long
and you don't want to spend an entire vacation day again in line so make sure you're planning
for that ahead you can even call your concierge to get an idea of where you can test make
appointments or reservations whenever possible that way you have it planned and you know it's
going to be covered also make sure you're doing it so if it's a 72-hour window for the u.s you have
to be tested within 72 hours make sure you do it kind of as early as you can get away with that way
there's plenty of time for your results to come back because some people are waiting too late
and the results aren't returning in time and they get stranded and then that leads me to my final
tip and that is to always have backup plans and contingencies just know things might get canceled
things might change uh you might miss flights something might happen so things like having
your travel insurance things like making having your hard copies and then be over organized have
just try to think of every possible contingency and plan that you possibly can and to help you
with that we've created a resource that helps to jog your memory so you don't forget anything
and also has some of our tips and tricks for how to book things we also have added the travel
requirements section so that you know where to look and where to go and then a worksheet sections
work sheet sections so that you can fill all that information out but even if you don't use that
write everything down a notebook try to imagine every piece and little small tiny bit of your
vacation and plan for as much as that as possible build in redundancies build in protections and
backup plans because this is the year that things are going to go wonky and if you're if you're
planned out and you have a plan for everything and you're prepared and nothing goes wrong fantastic
but at least if something goes wonky it doesn't stress you out and freak you out you have a plan
and your vacation can still happen all right so if you are traveling this year be sure to check
out these videos they should help you out with your planning and preparation like i said we
have that resource if you're interested in that and the travel insurance if you're interested in
that and then if there are any destinations that you would like me to cover travel restrictions
on go ahead and comment below other than that we will see you on the next video take care bye-bye