Almost Homeless in Madrid
airbnb, madrid, airbnb horror story,
THE BOOKING GAME
A multitude of apps, internet sites, and tools make it easy to book and we generally use a combination of them when doing our research and making reservations. Over the decades of booking our travels, we have made plenty of mistakes but with each error; we become a little wiser and a little more cautious as we do our booking due diligence.
Here are some lessons we’ve learned.
Cruise Fever
The Return to Cruising Survey coincides with the nearly first anniversary of the suspension of cruising in the United States. One year ago, we were in Oman aboard the Azamara Journey, preparing to fly home after mounting COVID fears truncated our exotic voyage. That was our last voyage to date and the ship’s as well. It’s now docked with two sister ships in Glasgow, Scotland. Little did we know when we walked down the Journey’s gangway that cruising would come to a standstill.
Uncharted Waters
Perhaps the biggest unknown is the duration and strength of the current surge. Will the dramatic rise in infections and deaths in the United States lead other countries to again close their doors to American visitors? Will people continue dying needlessly because brainwashed and ill-informed citizens refuse to be vaccinated or wear a mask? Will the politicians who have recklessly resisted calls for mask mandates, testing, and vaccinations finally wake up and join in taking the much-needed steps to secure citizens around the world from this scourge?
CRUISE AT YOUR OWN PERIL
There is risk in any travel, whether hitchhiking through South America or spending a weekend at Disneyland. This fact was emphatically validated for us when our recent luxury cruise turned from dream to nightmare. In these never-ending pandemic times, we knew that...
Travel in the Time of Chaos
Without a doubt, we live in interesting times. Devastating wars. Global warming. Economic uncertainty. Pandemics. Threats to democracies, including our own. The Chinese curse about “interesting times” has seldom rung truer. Then why is everyone traveling?...