Advice For Travelling In Uncertain Times

[intro music playing]

Meggan: I'm Meggan,

Jenn: and I'm Jenn, and you're listening to the travel mug podcast.

Meggan: Every episode we talk about travel destinations, interesting trivia and even some travel fails.

Jenn: Let's dive into today's episode, don't forget to travel mug!

[intro music fades out]

Jenn: All right welcome everybody to episode one of the travel mug podcast um we're really excited to get this project off the ground. So yeah let's talk a little bit about us first. Who the heck are we and why are we starting a podcast in the middle of a pandemic? A travel podcast at that when most of us haven't left our houses in awhile.

[laughs]

I uh I had the idea to start a travel podcast and I messaged Meggan and um Meggan also has a travel blog and I knew that we had met one time for coffee but we had gotten along really well so I thought this would be a super fun project to do together and she said yes so…

Meggan: I did!

Jenn: I don't know why but here we are.

[both laughing]

Meggan: Here we are indeed, well obviously it was a very instrumental coffee because it's led to a podcast so never doubt what a coffee pot uh coffee date will lead to.

Jenn: I know and we called it the Travel Mug Podcast because we both like coffee and uh sometimes there's wine in the travel mug so...

Both: you never know!

Jenn: So we thought today we would start our episode by talking about traveling in uncertain times because that is the world we're living in right now and so here are some things that we can all keep in mind while we're planning a trip during these uncertain times, and our first tip is about travel insurance um do you usually buy travel insurance Meggan?

Meggan: Honestly when we usually book it's usually on Visa and maybe we depend too much on that and I know that during this pandemic people have done that and now they're sort of waiting to get their money back and it's taken them a little bit longer maybe if they had bought direct insurance when they were booking so we don't necessarily buy insurance. Maybe some health insurance if it's not covered at our current jobs but we don't necessarily buy it for the air travel what about you?

Jenn: So we have bought travel insurance for the last couple of trips. We had to cancel a two plus week trip to Europe back in April so travel insurance helped us get our money back from our flights. So the airline had refunded us most of our flight fare but um travel insurance helped us get back the rest of that so we would have been out $600 if we hadn't had travel insurance so it was definitely well worth the price. I know a lot of the times you buy travel insurance and you don't use it but there is this one situation where things go wrong and travel insurance comes in handy.

Meggan: Oh 100% and we never could have expected this and we actually just yesterday we would have gone to Germany so we also have missed travel due to the pandemic and for us uh we took the credit from the airline which we definitely intend to use next year and then we actually didn't lose anything on any of our hotel or our car rentals because we were well within the cancellation period. So travel insurance definitely um wouldn't have helped us in this instance but I can't stress enough at this point that probably going forward it's going to be important.

And on the note of health insurance too um I have heard that some insurances or a lot of insurances aren't going to cover you in this particular pandemic of Covid-19 if you go away and you get sick so I think that it's going to be key to keep that in mind too, like what does pandemic coverage look like and what a crazy phrase it is to even say that but I think it's going to be key to really ensure for going forward what what that looks like and how you can keep yourself safe.

Jenn: Yeah I think the most important thing when you're buying travel insurance is to read it, which is not a lot of fun because the language is confusing and weird but understand what your policy covers and what it doesn't because almost zero travel insurances will cover a global pandemic. But it's just important to read it and uh I mean decide for yourself if you're willing to take the risk of losing the money. Maybe if it's a $500 flight to somewhere where you're just visiting a friend and you're not going to be out a lot of money you might gamble and think that that's worth not to buy travel insurance but it's definitely worth looking into.

Meggan: Yeah and keeping in mind too if you're okay as well to you know 100% you're okay to take the credit that's something to keep in mind too because we know we're gonna go back to Germany and Switzerland so we were fine keeping the credit and now we feel like we've already paid for our flights for next year but it really just depends on your situation I think.

Jenn: Definitely.

Meggan: Um which actually really leads really well into you know our next tip which is check cancellation policies. So I think with us back in you know, February/March when stuff started to get real we were still hopeful we'd be able to go to Germany what a what a joke we were playing on ourselves at the time I think but we were dreamers we're dreamers.

Jenn: Yeah for sure.

Meggan: So we what we did for our own peace of mind is understand when our earliest cancellation was for our hotels so that was sort of our drop dead date to sort of say we have to call it ourselves and sort of say this is the date we must cancel by and having that plan gave us a little bit of peace of mind. So I think hotels it's key really understanding when you book a hotel can you get free cancellation and when will you be charged in the future if you can get it immediately so book with hotels directly sometimes too actually talk to a human it really helps to understand their type of policies that way what are your thoughts on the cancellation policies?

Jenn: Yeah I was lucky at the hotel that we had booked in Italy I was able to cancel no problem through Hotels.com which is who we had booked through. I going forward feel iffy about booking through third parties because I've heard so many horror stories of people trying to get through to companies and not being able to so it just... I'd be worried or wary of those third-party sites in the future but if they have free cancellation a lot of them are up to 24 hours before and you just hit cancel and it's done so I would definitely look into the policies before for any hotel, car rental, tickets that you buy for like events or museums or anything that you buy in advance, I would check the cancellation policy before you decide to go ahead and purchase it.

Meggan: 100% and I think in the past too I've been sort of like oh you know it it matters if we're you know charged right away but it's gonna be fine like there's no reason that we can't go and and now I just feel like it's always going to be expect the unexpected and we've actually started re-booking to, again, make ourselves feel better for next June um this weekend and every - and we've noticed a difference in our booking already every hotel that we've booked so far we've make sure it's free cancellation up until May or June of next year so it's already taking effect and I think - I think it's the right thing to do now going forward just to cover yourself.

Jenn: Definitely, I think that also leads into our next tip which is consider using a travel agent. Um I have been - I'm probably 50/50 on using travel agents when we've booked so I know you and I like to plan -

Meggan: Yes.

Jenn: so we don't need someone to plan a whole trip for us right um so that's one of the reasons that I haven't used a travel agent in the past. We did use a travel agent for our trip to Italy that was cancelled which was really nice because she handled calling Air Canada and she actually kind of guided us through the process of submitting a claim to travel insurance which I had never done before.

Meggan: Right.

Jenn: So I would definitely consider using a travel agent. They don't cost anything. So travel agents are paid by the company that you are booking so if you book a trip to Disney, Disney pays the travel agent you know airlines pay them so it's just - it doesn't cost you anything but it gives you the: you don't have to spend three hours on hold with a company to cancel -

Meggan: Right

Jenn: So that is a definite bonus. Yeah you're not alone like you have a - you have a travel professional to help you out I mean no matter how much - how much you and I have traveled we're not professionals.

Meggan: No no no exactly and I think - I think the two major trips that we've used uh travel agent for was our honeymoon and also back in 2010 my dad my sister and my nieces went to Disney and both of those trips for some reason even though I don't normally use them there was an undercurrent of comfort just knowing that we weren't alone, they were handling a lot of the details we were getting updates. Now like you said we're you and I and our and our spouses just sort of like book ourselves and and we're pretty adept at doing it but we're not travel professionals and when something like a pandemic hits which my word I hope never happens again!

Jenn: Please no!

[both laughing]

Meggan: Please! But I do hope you know in the future travel agents can be come even seen as more valuable because they certainly are and again like you said there's not necessarily a cost to you so that industry is one that hopefully will get a boost from this because of the sense of comfort and and the leg work and the hard work that they do in case people have to cancel.

Jenn: Yeah definitely.

Meggan: All right so maybe if you're not up to using a travel agent our next tip could be about doing local travel. So this is definitely on our radar so we are in Nova Scotia and uh there's currently a 14-day quarantine period if you leave our province when you come back so local travel I think is going to be on a lot of people's radar going into the summer I mean there's no airplane required, obviously you do get to support your local economy, and for us we're trying to discover pieces and places in our province that we've already you know in the past thought of going but there's bigger and better in our own minds.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: when it's really in our backyard and I think that that's a big piece of what we're going to focus on and we do have trips booked each month to explore somewhere new and I'm actually quite excited about it. We've already gone somewhere, Canso, within Nova Scotia and around that region and you know you're not always going to find when you do go, the biggest gem of the province but you are going to leave with a sense of knowing your own backyard better and I think that that's a big deal.

Jenn: Yeah I think definitely us in the past have you know like oh it's it's there like it's always there so...

Meggan: Right

Jenn: it just hadn't been a priority for us and I think that there's definitely a lot of hidden gems around that we just haven't tapped into yet so... I'm also excited to I mean really just like drive around like and kind of see what what you find. We did a little pack a picnic and drive around early in the in the quarantine period to a part of the province that we hadn't been to and it was only oh my gosh maybe an hour / an hour and a half away from our house it wasn't far but just to drive along the coast and see something a little different it's - it I think that we all no matter where you live take for granted what's right around you.

Meggan: 100%

Jenn: And I mean people no matter where you live people are coming there as a tourist so there - there are things you just need to to seek them out so...

Meggan: Yeah no I agree and I think you know it is coming back to um supporting local and it doesn't always have to be overnight trips it doesn't have to cost a ton of money to do this either, it can just be like you said an hour from your house a day trip to a little nook or cranny in Nova Scotia that you've never been and we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful province and I think that we all do when you - when you - there's a whole world to explore you take for granted what's in your own backyard.

Jenn: Yeah I think a lot of people will be staying local this summer and maybe even longer than this summer so it's - it's just going to be a really good chance I think to get to know your own area.

Meggan: Definitely and I think that our own province is going to need our support so we can definitely do that as well.

Jenn: Yeah... but if you are brave enough or able at this point to get on an airplane there's definitely some things that you want to think about before you get to the airport to go on the airplane. Cleaning your seat area on the airplane and understanding the airline policies on mask wearing etc. so I have always thought about bringing wipes on an airplane and -

Meggan: I do it.

Jenn: I've never done it. I've never done it.

[laughing] I'm always like oh yeah the planes are dirty,

Meggan: [laughing] but let's just sit down and go somewhere

Jenn: oh it's so terrible but I mean I'd bring hand sanitizer but other than that... I'll definitely be thinking more going forward about bringing wipes or - or something like that. so yeah it's definitely good to remember that there is still a liquid policy about how much you can bring on an airplane so you cannot bring a giant bottle of spray whatever -

Meggan: or hand sanitizer

Jenn: or hand sanitizer. They still have to be small no matter - no matter what - how much cleaner you want to bring to shower and Purell while you're on the plane you can't... so um definitely remember there's still the liquid requirement. You're allowed to wear masks but I know you have to take it off for a like passport control needs to see your face.

Meggan: Oh yeah.

Jenn: so just remember that they are going to ask you to do that because you have to prove that you're the person in that picture so...

Meggan: I think that makes some good sense.

Jenn: Yeah yeah I know. I think I've heard that they're experimenting with other ways of confirming uh identity other than the visual passport photo too but I mean where - where will technology be we'll be scanning retinas or fingerprints or god knows. but but -

Meggan: Brave new world out there Jenn.

Jenn: Getting crazy.

[Both laugh]

Meggan: Well for us I, Peter my husband he's he's sort of you know let's just sit in the plane and go he's fine and I'm most - pre-pandemic I was mostly like that however I did see a Canadian program about the amount of bacteria and mold that there were on plane headrests and on the arms and on the on the on the tray so I have to say that even before this I was bringing wipes with me, and you know what did it make a difference? I don't know maybe my my hands or my the back of my head realized that it did but... I guess mentally it helped. But I also have always sort of come under the guise that I don't want to be someone who is ultra paranoid about sort of germs and stuff it's just not sort of how I've personally wanted to live but you know the pandemic has changed things a bit I'm definitely more aware of my surroundings and so I think if this has always been important to you keep it up and if it hasn't been it's just something to keep in mind.

And also you know if you do have to take your mask off for like passport control make sure you understand how to do it properly so that when you put it back on that you're not sort of messing with anything that might have already attached itself to the mask so really make sure you're grabbing the elastics properly and then putting it back on properly. So masks don't make sense if you're not wearing them right.

Jenn: Yeah masks and gloves don't make sense if you're not wearing them right. but yeah I think as we get further along into our new normal it will - we'll all get better those type of things...

Meggan: Yeah

Jenn: because I think that's going to be the normal for a while in - in - especially in small spaces like airplanes I think you'll see a lot of people wearing masks for - for quite some time at this point.

Meggan: Yeah agreed, and I mean hopefully someday if there's a vaccine or something we can sort of move back to what used to be normal but that was I think now just an illusion and we all realize that.

[both laugh]

Meggan: Whatever it means going forward I guess we'll have to do to travel. So if you are brave to get on a plane or even in your own sort of province or if you're able to travel to another province you're not necessarily flying but driving... I think another big key is going to be research I know that you and I when we travel we do a lot of research anyway so this is probably going to be nothing new for us but maybe for the next year/ year and a half who knows hours of places we want to go might be slightly adjusted. I mean did places even have the opportunity to reopen financially after the pandemic passed? I think there's just some really things that you're going to have to consider that maybe you just took for granted before. Sure you might have gone on google and said oh what are the hours of the museum but you really I think now have to like maybe visit the website maybe do a bit more digging to really see how things have reopened and what that looks like for you when you travel.

Jenn: Yeah definitely I think you'll see a lot of places especially in the beginning like limiting occupancy -

Meggan: Yes!

Jenn: so I think it'll be really important to buy those tickets in advance to make sure you get a spot I mean I think everywhere is going to be operating a little bit differently but I think you might have to dig a little bit more than just like assuming something is open and just driving there and trying to do it because it's it - you might be disappointed.

Meggan: You might be disappointed indeed, yeah um I agree and I just think you know research is key. Understanding what you're getting yourselves into and especially if you have kids or a group of people and everyone's excited you just don't want to be disappointed there's been enough disappointment in the last few months we don't need to add to it.

Jenn: We don't need any more.

Meggan: No that's for sure.

Jenn: And on our next tip kind of similar to the local travel but consider road trips: no airplane you don't have to get on any nasty airplanes you can -

[laughing] depends on how clean your car is right if the germs are better or worse in there I don't know.

But I think even once borders uh you know provincial or um states wherever you are borders open up that a lot of people will be driving places instead of flying so road trips are great. I'm usually not a road trip person I will admit, but I'm definitely coming around to the idea a little bit more. I usually like to hop on a plane and just get where I'm going and be done with it but I like the idea with road trips that you can kind of stop along the way maybe if you see something cool on the side of the road or something you can just stop and like check it out.

But we have a couple of tips if you're doing a road trip too -

Meggan: definitely

Jenn: uh just in case so packing snacks and food so you're not stopping as much or stopping into places that might not be clean or open at the time so definitely pack a lot of snacks.

Meggan: No one wants to be hangry.

Jenn: no it's - I've been on road trips when people have gotten hangry.

Meggan: [laughing] No one needs that man.

Jenn: [laughing] not so pretty, so pack more snacks than you think you'll need because you will eat them -

Meggan: eventually you'll eat them.

Jenn: yes - and water.

Meggan: yes I think another good tip too and it goes right along with sort of the packing snacks and you never know of course what's going to come up. So a really a great app that we use is Google maps and we have Apple Carplay so we definitely are able to look at it in our car as well which is really handy but it of course helps you with gas stations if it's a longer road trip and you have run out of snacks and it's the next day and you need to find a grocery store it's a really good way to sort of help you navigate as you're maybe coming into new territory if you're out exploring parts of your province you've not been to or wherever.

um and it also does help you reduce stops. You know you try to plan as much as possible but you're eventually going to run out of stuff; gas, you're gonna have to use the washroom, and whatever the case might be and if you could even do it all in one spot in terms of like a gas station where you could buy snacks plus use the washroom again cuts down on those uh those trips. And for me in terms of road trips when I first met Peter I was - I was against the road trip I was not into it, I wasn't having it and he - he doesn't love airports, so road trips for him, getting out - he loves to drive so getting out driving was was his thing and I really in the last 16 years have definitely come around to it and we are good road trippers. We plan really well and it's become really fun and and I think that if you can sort of get used to the idea even if you just start small... um and then make bigger trips later but it's a really it's a really great alternative in terms of traveling and you can definitely support local and pull in like you said when you see cool things that you didn't expect.

Jenn: Yeah I think I'm gonna need your help with planning road trips because we're gonna do an entire episode on Jenn's disastrous road trips.

Meggan: Oh but we must.

Jenn: [laughing] There have been many because I A: don't plan very well uh don't use any type of GPS system so I've always...

Meggan: [laughing] I see flaws in your plan already.

Jenn: I've learned from these mistakes - sort of - that we've - we've had some disastrous road trips so don't listen to me listen to Meggan on this one because I'm not I'm not the road trip guru here.

[both laughing]

Meggan: We've all got our strengths and our weaknesses and we're going to play off of them.

Jenn: [laughing] Road trips are not my strength.

Meggan: Awesome well I think you know in terms of like maybe a final tip for people and I know that you know things are really uncertain and people don't you know some people are so scared and some people are really unsure and that's okay I think we all sort of have to get used to what's going on. Things are just starting to open up at least here in Nova Scotia it's different sort of across the world everybody's in a different place... but I think it might be a good idea too to sort of really stop and think for the time being... is it really better for you to wait and maybe travel when things are more certain so that you can really have the trip you're hoping for and Peter and I talked about that in terms of let's say we just missed the cut off for Germany and Switzerland and got to go but what kind of trip really would that have been.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: Would we have been able to see and do the things that we hope to do? And likely the answer is no, so it's sort of in a way a bit of a blessing that we do have to wait till next year and hopefully nothing else major will happen.

[both laughing]

But I think it's just key to sort of really maybe stop and consider what are your thoughts on that?

Jenn: Yeah I think it's... this is hard for me because it's - it's a blend of you don't know what's going to be happening next year either; um personally, globally, all those things. But I mean in the sense of huge trips where you are going and if you're worried nothing's going to be open then what's the point in going? But I think it's just... it is it's a really hard thing to balance and I, I don't know what the right answer is.

We're not planning anything big probably this year like I don't I don't think we'll be leaving Canada this year um so... for us I think we'll just be kind of sticking close to home and following all of these tips to check cancellation policies if we decide to do something else but um I think this will be kind of a - a bit of a, I don't want to call it a down year for our travel but definitely not...

Meggan: different

Jenn: It's definitely different, yeah, I think it's a hard thing to balance but um do your research see if things are open see if - if it's worth it to you.

Meggan: Right and I think worth it you know personally and also financially do you want to spend money at this point to go somewhere and be disappointed and like I said earlier there's been a lot of disappointment so we just we just want to make sure that you know at this point in time there's so many other things going on in the world is this necessary right now - and and of course not all of these tips don't necessarily apply to a pandemic there could be countries with unrest there could be lots of different things and you know and another another great thing too is to always check advisories so I think all of these tips in terms of pandemic and unrest um are just a new world for us and a new way to start being cautious and just making considerations that maybe we never thought of before.

Jenn: Definitely I think travel is going to be different going forward but... I'm hopeful that you know the industry is going to rebound and tourism employs so many people around the world and a lot of places rely on tourism. I definitely think that we will be traveling soon and you know even if not far but I think everybody is going to want to start exploring a little bit more after being stuck at home for the last couple of months. I think people are ready to get out and even just drive two or three hours away to stay in a hotel or something.

Meggan: Yeah.

Jenn: Um I'm I'm hopeful yeah things are going to be good in the travel world again.

Meggan: Yeah I think I'm hopeful too and I know that even going back to 2008 when there was a financial crash and and people sort of thought, it was different, but people still sort of thought you know travel's not necessary right now we don't have the money to do this and it's it sort of hearkens back to that and things did rebound and of course everything takes time and with a with a pandemic things are a little bit more sticky in terms of what that looks like in terms of the the virus itself or - or whatever the case might be when your travel is coming up.

So hopefully you know overall these tips have been helpful we'd love to hear some feedback if you have any other tips that you think are important or you'd love to share because of course again we're not travel professionals, we both just have a passion for travel um which is why we're here. So we hope you enjoyed the first episode.

Jenn: yeah yeah definitely we'd love to hear from you guys um you can subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening to this just hit subscribe and you'll get our episodes uh we're planning to release every two weeks right now and... uh you can find us on Facebook and Instagram @Travel Mug Podcast on both of those.

Meggan: yeah

Jenn: yeah you can also both of us have travel blogs as well so if you want to read about us or what places that we've been uh mine, Jenn, is called Will Save For Travel and I write about travel and personal finance.

Meggan: And ours my husband and I do it together it's Let's Get Tripsy, honestly it's just about local travel, international travel and we do a lot of brewery reviews. We - we both have a thing it seems like for uh - brew houses so we cover a lot of those as well and we'll put all this information in the show notes too so you can find the links there um and really to help us out obviously we're new, hopefully you enjoyed it but you can definitely please leave a review if you uh so feel inclined or share the show with another travel loving friend the more the merrier.

Jenn: yeah I know there's a lot of travel lovers out there so... the more we can find...

Meggan: the better

Jenn: for our travel travel loving gang the better so yeah thanks for listening and we'll see you next time

Meggan: bye everyone.

Jenn: Bye