It’s been a conversation starter for more than a year: When it’s safe to travel, what’s the first place you’ll go? Some people have grand plans — Paris! Venice! Others are more low key — national parks, or a visit to Grandma. As deputy travel editor at the New York Times, Elisabeth Goodridge ’97 has mulled the question over for a while. “We really want to create the most inspiring stories for people in terms of where they should go, what they should do to improve and enhance their world,” she says.
Travel is becoming safer for people who have received vaccinations. And, with your next trip waiting to be planned, get some travel ideas and helpful tips from Goodridge:
Trip ideas:
Revisit your honeymoon destination. Bring on the nostalgia while making new memories.
Take a road trip, even if it’s just down the road. “Cars are the ultimate social distancing vehicle.” Drive across the country to a different climate, or take a day trip to a drive-in movie theater.
Visit the great outdoors. “Europe is pretty amazing, but so is our country… Americans are so different across the board, but there’s probably a national park that fits your bill, whether it’s petrified forests, or it’s the national seashore, or you want to go to Roger Williams Park in Providence.” Book ahead — other people have the same vacation idea.
Tips for planning your trip:
Be flexible. The pandemic will still affect your travel plans, especially if you’re going abroad. “If you are planning a trip right now, you should really be flexible with your travel plans. You should make sure you book at a location that has flexible rebooking policies. You should get an air ticket, if you do choose to fly, one that you can either get reimbursed or credit for.”
Rent your car first. At the beginning of the pandemic, many rental car companies sold their fleets. Now cars are hard to come by. “It’s usually the third or fourth thing you do when you plan a trip. But now you’ve got to really figure out if you can get a car at your destination, and then book your ticket.”
Be prepared with masks. “All of these practices that we took to keep people safe, even if you’re fully vaccinated, you’re going to continue to do this and you should not let your guard down when you’re traveling.”
Weigh your risks, even if you’re fully vaccinated. For example, are you OK traveling to a place with a low vaccination rate? And what’s it like to travel with your unvaccinated kids? Are you OK with bringing them to visit fully vaccinated grandparents? “Some people are going to make that decision. Other people are going to say, ‘You know what? Until there’s a children’s vaccine, I’m not going to do it.’”
Think about the positive impacts of travel. If you feel comfortable and safe traveling, you might be helping others. “More than 60 million jobs were lost last year in tourism and travel worldwide. So there are people who are desperate to feed their children because tourists have not come to their home [countries].”
Consider hiring a travel agent. “Travel agents have survived because they have connections and relationships with people with boots on the ground. There are slews of travel agents, for example, who focus only on family travel or LGBT travel.”
More about Goodridge:
She was named deputy travel editor in January 2019. In March 2020, with travel halted, she was pulled into service desk news. “We did so many stories about how to live in this new pandemic world,” she says, from entertaining kids at home to recipe recommendations. Now, she’s back on the travel desk, greenlighting pieces like “The Caribbean Conundrum: United by Tourists, Divided by Covid.”
Her favorite travel memory is from age 6. Her parents bought a Coleman pop-up tent trailer and drove the family from West Hartford, Conn., to Denver, Colo., for a month, stopping at national parks along the way. “We swam in Lake Powell. We went to Wall Drug. We did the American adventure road trip.”