Travel Region Updates

Covid-related travel news, by region.

Caribbean Best Efforts

While Belize seems like a clear choice for Central America, the Caribbean needs our team to do more research. Blogs like this one Travel Restrictions: Safest Destinations To Visit in the Caribbean don't integrate safety with ease of visits. What's affordable, doesn't make you quarantine, but is safe enough?

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Thailand

Temple in Chiang Mai, sunrise, bird in flight.

Thailand is right on the border as a travel destination. They've handled Covid-19 pretty well: people were wearing masks in January 2020, and for getting started early they never really had to shut down. There is an interesting experiment ahead to make Phuket a "sandbox," vaccinated more aggressively than other areas and ready for vaccinated tourists to visit.

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Central America

Reuters Graphic: Belize is at 3% of Peak and Rising

in Central America the two countries I might consider traveling to are Belize and Costa Rica — Belize doing surprisingly well at the moment, and things are bad in Costa Rica but getting better. Everything, of course, is a gamble, and changing fast. Getting more vaccines to the region is vital, for vastly more important reasons than our vacations, but maybe we can leverage travel to get whole populations vaccinated.

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Traveling to Europe

First opensource image I found that looks like a travel destination in Europe

January 2022 is not a good time to go to Europe. Omicron's spike is hitting fast. In mid-January, the UK is reaching a plateau: if you make plans for even a few weeks from now, there are very good odds that rates will be falling. Much of Europe was hit later, and so will see their peaks later. Still, Omicron is fast: you might cross your fingers and make plans for March.

A few points worth emphasizing: