OPINION: Tough call on next holiday

Africa was our destination of choice in 2019 and with our trips being planned for every alternate year, 2020 was to be our planning and saving year for the 2021 adventure.

Enter COVID-19 and suddenly everything was on hold. There was no reason why we couldn’t still plan our holiday, we just wouldn’t be able to book anything until the government gave the all-clear for interstate and overseas travel.

Neither my travel buddy nor I had a destination in mind that pushed all our buttons, probably because we have been fortunate enough to tick so many places off our bucket list.

We are both thankful we hadn’t decided to make some really early bookings for 2021 and possibly be faced with trying to get our money back or a voucher to use at a later date.

Today the dilemma remains.

Where will we go and, more importantly, when will we be able to go? The where question may well be dominated by currency values.

With the Aussie dollar dropping rapidly it makes Europe and the United Kingdom look financially unappealing, as does the USA.

All of those countries also make me nervous with the incredible rate of COVID-19 infections and deaths they have suffered.

Canada looks appealing on a financial basis but how safe will it be in 2021?

Our past trips have always been either bus tours or cruises.

I reckon a team of pack donkeys couldn’t drag either of us on to a cruise ship any time in the next decade, while bus tours suddenly look far less appealing too, being enclosed in an air-conditioned bus with 30 or more other people.

Perhaps we will have to become more adventurous and organise self-guided tours, although possibly not self-drive tours in the interests of our safety and everyone else on the roads!

Accommodation isn’t a problem as we aren’t in the habit of sharing a room with anyone other than each other, while on holidays.

Avoiding people is something else we prefer to do a lot of the time so it might be a case of seeing the sights at 4am or midnight to avoid any crowds.

Probably work OK in the summer lights of the northern hemisphere, not so great in winter I’m guessing.

Regardless of our choice of destination and the date we can finally travel we will be praying airlines insist on social distancing on flights.