I should have asked about the hotel situation, probably rock bottom there too.

I am in Krabi right now. It is fairly quiet. They checked both of our temperatures before checking into the hotel in ****et and before a massage, but otherwise there seems to be no corona effect. When we were in Bangkok a few weeks ago, it was more tense, but that was two weeks ago

Son and wife were supposed to go to Ireland on a HS Band trip. School District cancelled all sanctioned trips out of the country and state.

The trip was booked through British Airways which has onerous cancellation and change ($300) fees. The tour group is trying to figure out how much may be reimbursable, if any. Trip insurance (if they had it) supposedly would cover Covid 19 since Ireland is open to flights. They can still take the flight and have the meals, lodging, and transport cover. If not, we're probably out 80% of the costs. Third option is pay a $300 change fee to BA and fly this summer separately. They would have to book all their own accomodations, so additional costs on top of portion we lose and change fees.

They are leaning towards going as part of an unofficial group of probably 20% of the original group so they don't lose all the money. However, we wonder about the risk of them getting hung up in a quarantine situation and not being able to make it back.

Out of where? Austin I'm guessing?

Be careful on Disney, discussions this morning on CNBC that closing parks was on the table:

Rut roh. In Argentina and they just quarantined US citizens for 14 days. We leave on Saturday.

Should be fine, but not exactly comforting.

Sitting in Taipei airport now. All asians have masks and some others too. Airport is half as busy as normal based on a dozen times here.

yukmonkey said:

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Rut roh. In Argentina and they just quarantined US citizens for 14 days. We leave on Saturday.

Should be fine, but not exactly comforting.

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Have a buddy and his family there now ... crazy stuff

Assuming it's on new arrivals and they aren't going to pull some bull**** where they stop my exit.

Do we need to start a thread for last minute deals relating to this travel stoppage? I'm considering a cheap flight and stay in Vegas. Anything else dramatically cheaper right now?

Woah.

wessimo said:

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Woah.

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Whoops...

If you aren't coming back tomorrow you need to donate a kidney and try and get back through the UK. Or have a nice extended European Vacation.

I would love to be trapped up there.

I'm traveling to Belize tomorrow, coming back in a week. I'm a little concerned on what our border entry looks like in a week. Doubtful but I give it a 10% chance it's closed from all international travel if **** hits the fan.

Is tonight's Trump briefing changing anyone's international travel plans?

I just tried to cancel my wife's flight to Mexico through Kiwi on Monday and no dice. Either a 10 euro refund or reschedule and hope airlines charge reasonable change fees (yeah right). Cancellations are still voluntary and no travel insurance coverage for that. If she were to get stuck in Mexico she'd lose her job.

Just landed fom Amsterdam about 5 hours ago. That plane was maybe half full. Holy ****, good thing I was being a cheap ******* this time and bought the midweek flight.

jeffdjohnson said:

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Just landed fom Amsterdam about 5 hours ago. That plane was maybe half full. Holy ****, good thing I was being a cheap ******* this time and bought the midweek flight.

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They are half full but I have the Delta Flight loads and they are filling up fast right now. As well as the standby lists. But I doubt anyone will be able to get back tomorrow on standby.

And as of 8:37 Central everyone I know up there is asleep. I tried to text the people I know in Europe they need to buy a ticket but they won't be up for hours. There may not be seats left.

I was going to be leaving for Ireland on Sunday for a week.

Pouring a tall one tonight.

One of the guys in my group has a daughter that went to Germany this week for a spring break trip. Will be interesting to see how she gets back.

I've got price watch on for flights to Germany out of Houston for the first week of December and over last week have watched them drop by 100 from 725 to 625 hoping they keep falling into the 400 range

Travel ban only applies to foreign nationals.

Quote:

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After the president's address, acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolfe released a statement which outlined the European travel restrictions, saying that it applied to any foreign national who had been in the "Schengen Area" which includes France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and others over the last two weeks. The statement added that the restrictions did not apply to "legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation."

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https://www.nationalreview.com/news/coronavirus-president-trump-announces-30-day-ban-travel-from-europe-over-coronavirus-threat/

We just bought our flights for Switzerland and Greece last week. Going in June. I think we should be fine, but definitely getting that travel insurance

RealTalk said:

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Travel ban only applies to foreign nationals.

Quote:

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After the president's address, acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolfe released a statement which outlined the European travel restrictions, saying that it applied to any foreign national who had been in the "Schengen Area" which includes France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and others over the last two weeks. The statement added that the restrictions did not apply to "legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation."

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https://www.nationalreview.com/news/coronavirus-president-trump-announces-30-day-ban-travel-from-europe-over-coronavirus-threat/

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Well, that's dumb.

What city are they stopping you from entering?

In Germany right now. Scheduled to leave Monday on British from Luxembourg to Heathrow and then to Houston. Woke up to a friend calling to tell us about the travel ban. On hold with the State Department now to see if this is a problem.

chickencoupe16 said:

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In Germany right now. Scheduled to leave Monday on British from Luxembourg to Heathrow and then to Houston. Woke up to a friend calling to tell us about the travel ban. On hold with the State Department now to see if this is a problem.

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You are good it only applies to foreign nationals

Well, that's interesting.

Trip to Russia and Ukraine in 10 days. Neither are on that list.

However, Latvia IS on that list and I'm supposed to fly through Latvia on my way to Kiev from Moscow.

Unsure who I should even contact to find out if I'll be allowed to do that without sitting in a lab somewhere on my return for two weeks.

Any ideas (outside of cancel your trip, dummy)?

Aggie_3 said:

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chickencoupe16 said:

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In Germany right now. Scheduled to leave Monday on British from Luxembourg to Heathrow and then to Houston. Woke up to a friend calling to tell us about the travel ban. On hold with the State Department now to see if this is a problem.

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You are good it only applies to foreign nationals

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Trump said Americans were exempt subject to screening. So, the question is what that screening will consist of.

Aggie_3 said:

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chickencoupe16 said:

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In Germany right now. Scheduled to leave Monday on British from Luxembourg to Heathrow and then to Houston. Woke up to a friend calling to tell us about the travel ban. On hold with the State Department now to see if this is a problem.

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You are good it only applies to foreign nationals

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I'm convinced, just not the wife.

ETA: The screening requirements are fairly vague.

schmendeler said:

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Aggie_3 said:

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chickencoupe16 said:

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In Germany right now. Scheduled to leave Monday on British from Luxembourg to Heathrow and then to Houston. Woke up to a friend calling to tell us about the travel ban. On hold with the State Department now to see if this is a problem.

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You are good it only applies to foreign nationals

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Trump said Americans were exempt subject to screening. So, the question is what that screening will consist of.

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Can't be worse than a TSA full body strip search just take ya anal probing and move along sir or ma'am

AgFormerlyInIrving said:

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Well, that's interesting.

Trip to Russia and Ukraine in 10 days. Neither are on that list.

However, Latvia IS on that list and I'm supposed to fly through Latvia on my way to Kiev from Moscow.

Unsure who I should even contact to find out if I'll be allowed to do that without sitting in a lab somewhere on my return for two weeks.

Any ideas (outside of cancel your trip, dummy)?

---

Just got off of the phone with the State Department and they were predictably no help. Only said that it did not apply to Americans and that we may undergo increased screening. She could not say what that screening consisted of. We also called the embassy in Luxembourg and spoke with a Marine who knew nothing.

It wasn't either person's fault and they both seemed like they wanted to be helpful, but they are just cogs in the machine. This is all so new and it doesn't seem like a coherent plan was put together to handle citizens' immediate concerns. I've finally convinced the wife of this and that no one will know anything at 4AM German time.

Good luck and goodnight. Maybe there will be more in for when we wake up.

AgFormerlyInIrving said:

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Well, that's interesting.

Trip to Russia and Ukraine in 10 days. Neither are on that list.

However, Latvia IS on that list and I'm supposed to fly through Latvia on my way to Kiev from Moscow.

Unsure who I should even contact to find out if I'll be allowed to do that without sitting in a lab somewhere on my return for two weeks.

Any ideas (outside of cancel your trip, dummy)?

---

The biggest question would be if the air carrier is still offering that flight through Latvia in two weeks.
Most likely it will be canceled.

BKK immigration line was non existent. Last time I was here in November ot was 1.5hrs wait. Today I walked right up. The customs agent said it's been this way for two weeks. They did check temperatures upon arrival and all those departing.

Off to ****et in a bit....

Flight scheduled Friday for Madrid.

Can cancel right up to flight time. Tracking.

Our flight back to the US is April 8. People at work are saying we should head home asap. I dont' think it's worth it to pay all the extra fees, deal with the craziness that is going to be flights to the US for the next week just to get back to empty toilet paper shelves.

Everything is serine and normal here on Tenerife. Well except for business owners panicking that tourism is going to take a massive hit.

Wait time on AA line (even premium) is almost 3 hours. Damn!