It seemed almost as quickly as travel died in 2020, it picked back up in 2021, at least domestically. Unfortunately, the shortage of labor had a major impact in operations from airlines to hotels, all of which I got to experience firsthand. It seemed that I had more flight delays and other operational issues (I had to wait 30 minutes for a gate checked bag at EWR) than any other year despite traveling much less.
On the flip side, major tourist destinations like the Louvre and Eiffel Tower were much emptier than usual, allowing for a much more pleasant experience - we actually got to see the Mona Lisa up close rather than from behind hundreds of selfie sticks!
In 2021, I only traveled 42,000 miles - well below pre-pandemic years when I would annually clear 150,000 miles. Funnily, I actually traveled slightly more in 2020 as I had a trip to Singapore in January of that year.
2021 flights courtesy of MyFlightRadar24
Forsythe Park
In February 2021, we got on a plane for the first time in 11 months. After weeks of below freezing temperatures and multiple feet of snow, we had to get out of Chicago. Unfortunately, we were too late to the Florida party, so we settled on Savannah and booked 6 nights at the Andaz through Hyatt Privé ($100 property credit) and a third night free promotion. While the flight and hotel were not empty, it was still very clear at this point that travel was still well below pre-pandemic levels.
While it wasn't Florida hot, it was in the 50s and 60s. In Chicago, we had restaurants setting up domes and igloos outside in the freezing cold to keep their businesses alive, but in Savannah we had a very difficult time finding outdoor seating - not what we were expecting.
Park Hyatt St. Kitts Christophe Harbour
In June, we got married after changing states, venues, guest lists, and even the honeymoon. With the uncertainty of travel still in early 2021, we pushed our original honeymoon to Nice and Paris from June to September (which we changed again 2 days before leaving and I will detail in another post!). We also had some points that I had transferred to Qantas for a trip in 2020 which we canceled. Somehow, I ended up planning a 4 day mini-honeymoon to St. Kitts which was our first international trip since going to Mexico City in the Fall of 2019.
While we weren't able to leave the resort due to Covid restrictions, it was still wonderful to sit on a beach and do nothing after the wedding. The hotel was clearly mostly empty and some other guests told us when we arrived that earlier in the week they would go whole days without even seeing other guests. There was actually a wedding at the hotel when we were there so I gues it was "busy" that weekend.
Sadly, on our second day there we got food poisoning (we think from mayo on a chicken sandwich). The hotel has three restaurants, but because of how empty it was, only one of the restaurants was open each night. Complete speculation, but my guess was that food was not turning over quickly enough and was going bad.
Barcelona, Mallorca, and Paris
Eiffel Tower
Our original honeymoon plan was to stay in the Côte d'Azur and then spend a few days in Paris. However, France implemented the Health Pass that is required to get into almost any public area (restaurants, museums, etc.). As soon as this was announced about 3 weeks before our trip (in September after we had already moved it from June), we submitted our documents but of course heard nothing. As we were traveling on Iberia via Madrid to Nice, 2 days before leaving we decided to stay in Spain for a majority of the trip and then end with 3 days in Paris still.
This actually turned out to be one of our most amazing trips. It's clear international travel has still not come close to recovering (although the Park Hyatt Paris was 100% full). Our hotel suite upgrade requests went through and museums like the Louvre were essentially empty compared to the massive crowds in the pre-pandemic days. We even ended up getting the health pass after Gwen read that our best chance would be to submit an application at 0900 France time as that's when the office opened - we got a reponse back within 30 minutes with our pass!
Trafalgar Square
Gwen had a last minute work trip to London in December, so I figured I would meet her for an extended weekend. It seemed like a great idea at the time as you were just required to take a Covid test within 2 days of arriving. Unfortunately, the UK changed the rules the day before I left and then the US changed the entry rules the day before we returned. So, I spent the majority of my 4 days in London looking for places to take Covid tests.
While not ideal, it still felt great to be back in London and see friends again after almost 4 years.
In Summary
Domestic travel rebounded in 2021 almost as sharply as it stopped in 2020, but it seems the industry hasn't been able to match the speed of demand leading to many delays and operational meltdowns for airlines.
Major hotels made massive service cuts, many of which it seems are here to stay such as daily housekeeping and free breakfasts.
I returned to business travel in 2021, but many major companies have not. It's still to be seen if business travel will return as it was pre-pandemic now that many organizations have "figured out" how to work remotely.
International travel is opening slowly, but navigating the constatnly-changing COVID restrictions can be a major hassle.
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