Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
LOOKING TO TRAVEL THIS SPRING? HERE ARE SOME TIPS
For most people, just the idea of traveling has been much more taxing than the traveling itself, said Christine Lucas, a travel advisor at Boscov’s Travel in Pottstown.
She attributes that to the COVID vaccination and testing requirements that have impacted the travel industry since the start of the pandemic. But with a decrease in COVID cases leading to an easing of restrictions, things are beginning to change.
That might make you more inclined to want to venture across the U.S. or out of the country.
“It’s much different now and it’s fairly simple,” Lucas said. “A lot of destinations are easing up on their COVID requirements.”
Depending on where you want to go, each destination might have a different set of COVID restrictions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you should get a COVID test no more than three days before you travel domestically.
If you plan to travel as part of a tour or other group, in most cases restrictions will apply.
“Some of these tour companies require you to be fully vaccinated and sometimes even boosted if they want to travel to the national parks, Canadian Rockies, even Niagara
Falls,” Lucas said. “Getting a negative COVID test is even necessary to go to some U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and different islands in Hawaii.”
Easiest place to go
Lucas shared what she believes is the easiest place to go if you want to feel assured that your trip will go as planned.
“The easiest places to travel right now are Mexico and the Dominican Republic because they don’t have any vaccination requirements, and you aren’t required to have a negative COVID
test,” she said.
However, there will be some things to consider on your return trip.
“When you leave the U.S., no matter where you go outside of the U.S., you have to get tested before you can get back into the U.S.,” she said. “You can’t avoid that unless you stay in the U.S.”
The war in Ukraine is also having an impact on some European travel, Lucas said.
“We have a lot of people cruising, and St. Petersburg, Russia, is very popular, and it’s been re