Federal Government will be allowing fully vaccinated Australians to leave Australia for outward travel and to return (with 7 days of home quarantine).
Wondering if this has tipped many OzBargainers to pull the trigger and book an international flight?
Hoping to see some announcements from the major airlines about increasing flights to and from Australia in December.
Can’t afford it, but it doesn’t sound like much of a holiday, especially if you end up in hospital
off to japan in march ^_*
Was meant to go to Glastonbury in 2020 so booked an around the world flight for $1800 - London, Charlotte, Los Angeles then return
I booked flights to Fiji in January next year. Used Qantas FF points. No penalty to cancel or change until end of 2022 so pretty low risk. Waiting on confirmation of change / cancellation from the place we want to stay before booking that in to minimise the risk. Travel insurance might be the fly in the ointment though - will have to wait and see what Nov/Dec brings. Lots of talk that Fiji will reopen to international travelers in November (almost 75% of their population fully vaxxed already) and govt has talked about Fiji being a "safer" destination. Home quarantine when I get back is fine as my wife and I both work from home anyway. So no major financial risks at this stage. We've been fully vaxxed for months already and happy to get a booster if needed.
Missed out on a business trip to Thailand last year April, a wedding anniversary "trip-of-a-lifetime" to the Maldives in July last year and a business trip to Vegas in Feb this year. Need to go somewhere! Lockdown sucks, Covid sucks - but life has to eventually go on.
Sounds good and well thought through. Only risk with the home quarantine is a flight switcheroo that lands you somewhere with hotel quarantine.
Fingers crossed that won't happen! Subsequent to my last post, Fiji has announced they are opening up, NSW is allowing returning citizens to bypass quarantine completely, Scomo has allowed us to fly out and Resort we wanted confirmed we can cancel for full refund up to 22 days before booking and only pay a day's worth of stay between 22 and 7 days before booking. So I've now booked the accommodation as well. Need to get transfers in Fiji sorted and travel insurance. Slowly but surely it is all coming together!
Enjoy! Nice duck line-up! We've had some nice hols in Fiji, and it's so close!
@bbinc: This will be our second trip. Haven't told the kids yet just in case something happens but with all the ducks doing the right thing and lining up nicely so far, I'm taking a positive approach :-)
I've already got a holiday planned in April to head to WA. If flight specials for NZ come up I'll book a holiday there in August/September but there's no rush…
Keep in mind that quarantine on return is not up to the federal government, its up to state governments. If they want 2 weeks hotel quarantine ($3k-ish) instead of 7 days at home ($0), then they can enforce that for all arrivals. Same can be said for opening airports to international arrivals (state gov can set limits, which we saw the other month when they halved international arrivals) .
SA and NSW have been trialling home quarantine, so we will see how it goes. There has already been a case of a lady in nsw breaking quarantine and going on the ghan (train) heading to NT. If too many people break it, then states won't do home quarantine.
Fingers crossed though. booked Perth in March. Hope it goes.
No way they will open lol..
Maybe after May next year
Aren’t people worried about catching Covid overseas? What if you have to go to hospital overseas? I imagine travel insurance won’t cover you for anything related to Covid
Some travel insurances cover hospital costs from issues caused by catching COVID, they just don't cover cancellations due to border closures / costs incurred for quarantine. E.G The most recent Covermore PDS has a specific section about COVID and you will receive benefits as long as you don't travel to a country that is considered a "Do Not Travel" area by Smarttraveller.
Ahh ok that’s not so bad
Well only new zealand is in the list for now
its just a flu
Tell that to a couple of people I know who have had it
And once you are sick (with anything really) what options will you have if the hospitals are full? And now, because you are ill, you can’t travel? I know that sounds worry-wartish but look at the ambulance ramping in Melbourne in the last few weeks and people waiting for treatment that never came. Which is one of Dan’s points - unvaxxed people filling ED’s is preventable.
I’m with the others above who want to wait till we can accurately assess the consequences of the new normal. For now, just going to a cafe for a laksa and seeing friends and family will be a huge treat. If friends and family were overseas (which quite a few above have talked of), that might make me consider travel.
Already booked and left.
OzBargain.
Safety before freedom. You know the drill…
i booked flights to hawaii for late december (fully refundable of course) using points.
I have a business reason to travel to Germany in early December but geez feels dicey. Don't really want to get stuck in 2 weeks hotel quarantine on the way back for Christmas if they reneged on the 7 day home quarantine.
So we can go to Singapore but not Perth?
Lololololol.
Divided states of Australia?
No for a few personal reasons and some speculation on my end.
1) The government could change their mind and start disallowing int'l travel altogether, or ban some countries
2) I really haven't checked the prices, but I would assume demand would be high so prices would be more expensive than usual (again, I haven't researched this)
3) If our laws change or a new strain occurs while abroad, we could be stranded overseas or find it difficult to find a flight home
4) Again I have done no research on this, but do health insurance providers cover pandemics? My previous one claim they didn't, and additionally, I think health insurance could be expensive.
5) And lastly, not in a financial position to do so.
Feel free to educate me if I was wrong about any of these points.
I've booked Qld for Feb and think it's 50-50.
Overseas?… lol, no way.
This aged quickly lol
I have not changed my mind about overseas travel. Qld in Feb I still think is 50-50.
Time will tell.
Have you booked an OS trip?
QLD is open Dec 17 (interstate, no quarantine). No ifs or buts.
I will book OS trip when the 2 week home quarantine for QLD is removed
@Eeples: 80% is the criteria not the date. I paid a lot of attention to this as I have a wedding to go to on 10 December.
I’ve booked bali now for August.
To many unknown unknowns if I will
Indeed be there. But it’s booked. But I did take out Farecredit.
I have NOT taken the experimental mRNA vaccine as yet because not sure about long term side effects.
I have been told i have until the 22nd of October to take the jab otherwise i will lose my job which is answering support calls at a desk, in my own cubicle.
I am very confused because the federal gov says the jab is not mandatory, i do not work in aged care, and i work under a federal award:
https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-…
But Dan Andrews says the vaccine is mandatory for me, but not for judges, lawyers, or anyone else that works in Victorian run courts because he needs their support to throw out the numerous legal challenges currently underway to his vaccine mandate.
Regarding International Trips, if you do your research you will find most European countries allow unvaccinated travelers in as long as they are not Covid positive.
It is Covid positive people they do not want, the unvaccinated are welcome.
However, Dan Andrews is hoping to pass laws soon that will prohibit the unvaccinated visiting Bunnings and other stores for example, yet European countries welcome unvaccinated travelers.
If your vaccinated you can still be covid positive and spread the virus to others as we are seeing in highly vaccinated countries like Israel, Singapore and others.
Anyway, no point debating with left leaning pro-vaxxers. It is like playing chess with a pigeon. It just knocks all the pieces over, sh!ts all over the board then struts about like it won.
If you quit your job because it is mandated for your job because you do not want the jab much respect to you.
Otherwise, not so much.
Noticed this in The Australian today - GOPASS Global. Checked their website - $3 per risk assessment, and it analyses your safest covid path across the globe - 3900 airports, airlines, aircraft and seat etc. Catch is it is corporate focused and they only sell in blocks of 100, but some travel agents may use it? Also has some useful free country information.
Link to The Australian story - note this link may be paywalled https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/covidrisk…
or Travel Weekly Asia - shorter story, not paywalled : https://www.travelweekly-asia.com/Travel-News/Travel-Agent-N…
Booked some redemptions for April and Sept.
Still got heaps of points to burn
Just booked flights to Singapore for Chinese New Year now that Singapore has announced a bubble (and will give a little time for processes to settle).
Just patiently waiting to book tickets to Singapore/Malaysia and Japan. Meanwhile, thinking if i should cancel our family holiday from Melbourne to Gold Coast in Jan. Feels like QLD will be closed for a very long time.