We’ve been experiencing some great travel since the vaccines have been flowing here in the United States For many gays the D.I.N.K money (double income no kids) is what we thrive to use on travel. Still being cautions with traveling, vacations like Scottsdale and Las Vegas here in the states and our writer Buck Jones living in Paris, France has experienced Amsterdam and Slovenia have been wonderful to share with you. But what about us Americans taking the plunge and traveling to a foreign nation where there may not be as much success with vaccinations and occupancy rates.
This past week, I had the pleasure, and it was a pleasure, of going to Mexico City for the very first time. With all of Mexico being at different percent capacity rates, it’s always good to visit sites like the US Embassy and Consulate websites to know more. Here is some of the information we found on the US Embassy in Mexico’s website:
- No states are designated “red” under the federal stoplight system between June 21 and July 4. Under red, only essential activities are allowed. Essential activities include: the provision of medical services and supplies, grocery delivery services, operation of grocery stores, restaurant delivery and carryout services, assurance of public safety, maintenance of fundamental economic functions and government social programs, work in critical infrastructure, construction, and manufacturing of transportation equipment. Hotels are limited to 25 percent occupancy for guests working on critical activities. Parks are also limited to 25 percent occupancy.
- Five states are designated “orange” under the federal system between June 21 and July 4 (Baja California Sur, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, and Yucatan). Under orange, hotels, restaurants, barber shops, open-air parks, and gyms are limited to 50 percent capacity. Markets and supermarkets will operate at 75 percent capacity. Additionally, shopping malls, churches, cinemas, theaters, museums, and cultural events will be limited to 25 percent capacity.
- Eight states are designated “yellow” under the federal stoplight system between June 21 and July 4 (Campeche, Chihuahua, Colima, Mexico City, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Veracruz). Under yellow, all work activities are permitted. Public space may open on a regular basis, while enclosed public spaces can open with reduced capacity. All activities should be carried out with basic prevention measures. People at higher risk of developing COVID-19 symptoms should continue to take extra precautions.
- Nineteen states are designated “green” under the federal stoplight system between June 21 and July 4 (Aguascalientes, Baja California, Chiapas, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico State, Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Tlaxcala, and Zacatecas). Under green, all economic and social activities, including school, are permitted while taking appropriate precautions.
Looking pretty good for travel blossoming and restrictions lessening just after the Fourth of July. But seeing where some restrictions are heavy, you may look into getting even better deals as tourism hot spots and luke warm spots may be looking to cater to your every need.
But before you buy that ticket and make that reservation. There still should be some more pregaming done. And any pregaming we did was worth it when this was our Deluxe Guest room, 1 King, Beach front.
Kristin Braswell of Condé Nast Traveler recently published – “How I Tackled International Flight Requirements without Getting Overwhelmed“. These are very helpful and can give you some guidance before you get to the airport, before security, and before the airport. I found all of this to be spot on this past week.
Take advantage of airlines’ new resources
Some U.S. airlines are pulling all the necessary information together for their passengers in a single place. United Airlines’ Travel Ready Center is a one-stop shop that outlines all necessary testing or documentation needed for international travel, organized by destination.
United Airlines was the way I went. Their Travel Ready Center was very good as I was able to see that I did not need to have any paperwork done to enter Mexico, but did need to have a test done, uploaded and approved before I could go through to the ticketing booth or drop my bags off for the return flight. You could have printed off your results and brought them with you, but the upload, which I was told was approved by a human, made the process that easy as it was one less piece of paper to lose.
Vaccine card or vaccine passport?
One constantly evolving aspect of international travel is what proof of vaccination or testing is required across borders. The multiple explanations I found online as to what qualified as a “vaccination passport” made me even more confused about what documentation I’d need to travel.
Yeah, I did not look into this, but you never know what country will be slapping this new policy on domestic and international travel. Stay tuned as more nations get better at vaccinations which will make implementation more advantageous as more will be involved.
Schedule a test to reenter the U.S., the easy way
It’s not just your outbound flight that requires planning ahead: To reenter the U.S., fliers still need to show a negative COVID-19 test. Some resorts and hotels are providing onsite testing for guests, but if you don’t have access to those services, don’t worry. Airlines are taking the guess work out of tracking down tests.
YES! We stayed at the St Regis in Punta Mita Resort and they were very happy to assist us with knowing where the closest exams were, a cute little hospital just past the gated community. This testing center has worked with the resort before so it was an easy process. Take your passport with you when getting tested as it makes it a little easier. Results were emailed that day and were uploaded to United so quickly and approved by a human through the United app less than 15 minutes later. It’s the efficiency of the St Regis and United that put us to ease that we would be able to get back into the country successfully.
If you do fly domestic within a foreign nation, or at least what we saw in Mexico, was that we needed to just answer a few questions on a page found via a QR code before security. Don’t forget that part. There were two of us in the group we had that did not speak Spanish, myself and one other and we were able to get through all the security and be at the gate a quarter of an hour before the well-traveled Spanish speakers. Just pay attention to your surrounding, see that people are taking out electronics or not, shoes off or not. Just don’t expect there to be someone speaking English through security as we did not speak to anyone bilingual for about 20 minutes. And it was fun! Amazing Race here we come!
All Braswell’s information is great and you can read more of her post over at Condé Nast.
But should we partake in international travel now? Is it safe? Well I am feeling a little sluggish today, after 2 days in Mexico City and 2 days in Punta Mita and then 8 hours to come back home. It was all worth it and I would do it again.
One thing I did not do was to do any money exchange before I left, but all was done on a credit card that has a great exchange rate or was added to the hotel bill.
Here are some of the sites from our stay. We’ll cover and share more in the future as well as on our Instagram soon.
And representation was seen everywhere in Mexico City as the pride was not really supposed to happen this year because of the pandemic, but alas, we were seen!
The art of Sabrage – dating back to the battles of Napoleon Bonaparte, who famously opened champagne with his saber in both victory and defeat, the art of sabrage is the signature ceremony of the St. Regis Rituals. We will share the video in a future post.
Source: Condé Nast
I would still hold off on all international travel until next year because many parts of the world are still dealing with surging coronavirus rates and many countries have an unknown myriad of restrictions regarding travel. I would restrict our travel just to the USA this year just to be on the safe side. There are a lot of unknowns out there in the rest of the world.