All Posts By

Allan Wright

Sydney riding in the snow

Are You Ready to Travel? The Malaise of COVID

By Travel Tips No Comments

Recently I have found myself in a travel malaise.

I did not plan any travel at all during the first week of January, when my daughter was off school for winter break. We were in the peak of the Omicron variant surge. Instead, we hung out at the house and, frankly, had a great time.

I canceled my participation in a cross-country ski weekend I had planned with a local outdoors group. Granted, we were supposed to get a snowstorm making traffic terrible – but others who were signed up continued as plan while I stayed home.

This past weekend, over President’s Day, I researched flights to Florida for warm weather or to Colorado for a ski weekend. The flights were either super expensive or leaving at terrible times. I opted not to go.

I run a travel company. I traveled to Mexico to run a sea kayaking tour in December. I am scheduled to guide five trips later this year. Yet I have been reluctant to travel and content with that decision. What is going on?

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Omicron Variant

How to Fly Safely During COVID & Omicron

By Travel Tips, Travel Well Series No Comments

We have not recovered from the Delta variant yet, only to enter a new phase with the onset of the Omicron variant. While we don’t yet know whether the new variant is more severe (the initial evidence is that it is not) or whether it can more easily get around the vaccines, we do know it is much more infectious.

Many of you are likely considering a flight for the upcoming holidays or for a winter vacation. After all, news outlets (and we at Taste Vacations) have been talking about living with the pandemic and moving on with our lives. So how do you fly safely during COVID, especially with the more contagious Omicron variant?

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COVID Vaccine Card

Changes to Europe Travel Restrictions

By Travel Tips No Comments

Today, August 30, the EU made a non-binding recommendation to its member countries to ban non-essential travel from a handful of countries, including the United States.

The EU had added the US to its “safe travel” list in June but, because of increasing COVID cases, the US was really outside the parameters of that list for the past month or so. This move had been expected.

Because the EU decision today is non-binding, it will be up to each country to determine its own rules and there are excellent indications vaccinated travelers will continue to be allowed.

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Mindi Abair Wine & Music Adventure

Wine & Music Adventures

By Taste Vacations, Wine No Comments

We recently completed our first Wine & Music Adventure, an extraordinary five-day tour in Sonoma County filled with amazing wines, wonderful music, outstanding weather, and a very fun group of 40 people.

This tour was the brainstorm of professional musician Mindi Abair and her husband, wine industry veteran Eric Guerra. And while we had worked with Mindi and Eric for well over a year to set up this vacation, even we were blown away by how great it was.

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