We have been planning on leaving Chicago and flying to London in late August. From there traveling to Paris, Strasbourg, Zurich, Milan, Tuscany, and end up in Rome at the send of September. We have hotels, Airbnb and VRBO's we are staying at. United has "no change fee" till the end of April for travel planned through the end of this year. Any thoughts on what to do? Thanks for any advise.

Moved to Europe board

Robert,
So, I guess you have to ask yourself the same questions we are all asking ourselves:

How confident you are that:
The airlines, airports, trains, etc, will be free of infection?
That the 5 countries will be "open", and that you will be able to freely travel from place to place.
That there will not be a resurgence, and that you won't be stranded somewhere for a period of time.
That there will be no restrictions on returning to Chicago.
That you are in good health, and won't be at high risk for any exposure, and won't risk getting others sick.

I'm not that confident, so I've postponed our upcoming trip to next year, even though we may have to pay a change fee. ( So far, don't know about our airline) And I want so much to visit Europe this year!

BTW....have you booked hotels with no cancellation fees? Or pay at hotel? I booked places in advance, but chose ones where I didn't have to pay til we got to the hotel. That made cancellations stress free.

Well, it's of course up to you to decide, but there is no way I'd go ahead with that trip, or any other European trip, in that time frame. We've already canceled three upcoming trips, including one in mid- to late fall, and we live in Europe so we're pretty aware of what's going on here and how to cope with medical systems and emergencies if need be. Even if there were no other considerations, and there are lots of them, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a European airport, or on a plane or a train, for at least the next 6 months, probably longer.

This "problem" is not suddenly going to go away in August. The virus is going to be floating around. So a better question might be, "Do you prefer to catch the virus in Europe or in the US?" This is a general conclusion among the experts that virus will be a problem until at least 50,60% of the population is infected -- the beginning of herd immunity. And second it not going to be really safe to travel until an effective treatment and/or a vaccine is developed. Which circles back to where do you want to be sick? We had three trips planned for the next year. Italy in Oct was first one and it will be cancelled shortly. The other two are in Jan/Feb are on hold. I really don't see any travel until a vaccine is available.

You would do better supporting your own tourist industry this year assuming that any travel is allowed by then.

#'s so far, confirmed dead from the virus

UK: 15.5k
France: 19.3k
Switzerland: 1.4k
Italy: 23.2k

so in just the 4 countries you're asking about the total is close to 60,000 people, and more every day.
as other have said, it's up to you to decide, but my first question would be are you living somewhere that the real human impact of this isn't evident? I don't mean the inconvenient lockdown, I mean people getting horribly sick and dying.

I live in Belgium, and we are being advised that we may not be allowed to travel to other European countries this summer. All large gatherings, festivals, sports events have been cancelled until the end of August.
People here are preparing to spend their summer holiday in Belgium.

How likely do you think it is that the EU is going to allow American tourists to travel around the continent by August?

Crap, we're going to be the kid who doesn't shower and never gets invited anywhere....

I don't think any nationality of tourist will be welcome in Europe this year, and that includes other Europeans.

Your comment about "all large gatherings" being cancelled is interesting.
We have attended the opera festival in Verona every year for more than a decade and that organization, AFAIK, absolutely refuses to say anything about even the remote possibility of cancelling any performance unless I have missed an announcement. And this is in Italy of all places. The Arena di Verona holds 15,000 people at each performance. Could a person "catch" something??? Yeah, I think they could which is why we long ago cancelled our trip there fopr this year.

Dukey1 I guess you will know more about whether it is going ahead at the end of the month, but it seems unlikely to me that it will be able to, unless some miracle happens in Italy in the next week or so.
https://www.arena.it/arena/en/pages/...update-en.html

Good to see you posting again btw, I hope you are feeling better.

I agree. This isn't only about people from the US not being able to go to Europe. My friends who live in Switzerland are basically in lockdown and assume they will be unable to make their usual summer trip to France.

For the OP, will the trip be possible... maybe. Would I try to do it as soon as August/September, sadly no I'd cancel.

Heti, MANY thanks for the link to that "update" which I have been unable to read until now. Santa Fe Opera is also "waiting until the end of April" to make a decision about its program in July and August. As to Verona, the program begins in mid-June as a rule and extends through the first week in September and I agree that I cannot see how they can possibly go on with the program this year. Yes, we know it will be "bad" for the city but let's face it, this thing has been bad, or worse, for a lot of cities and people.

Music festivals are relieved that the government mandated this; at least there is clarity now. They have not decided yet on smaller events, such as village fairs.
Those holding tickets for Tomorrowland and other festivals have been told their tickets are good for next year.
I cannot imagine that the Verona opera will go ahead.

Next issue; how to manage crowds within the country if all of Belgium decides to visit the coast during a heatwave...

The issue is no one really knows. If someone could accurately predict what will happen in May then I would be more inclined to believe what they have to say about August. No one has been able to do that as really, if anyone thinks a virus like this magically disappears then I'm sorry to say no. It could be around years from now just at lower cases.

I still have airfare booked and paid for in September. I haven't made any other plans yet. I figure I will wait it out as no I can't predict the future. So my advice is, just book what can be refunded and make the decision when the time gets closer.

The Hampton Court Flower show slated for early July has been moved to early September (my hunch is it will eventually be canceled altogether). The RHS offered a refund, credit for next year's show, or moving your July booking to the same level in Sept. I chose the Sept option -- very much wishful thinking. I had booked the special evening preview with dinner, drinks, music, use of reserved table for the evening. Haven't yet any other expenses at risk. If it is finally cancelled I'll still get my ££ back or a ticket for next year. And if (huge if) things are so improved in the UK that it can go on -- then it will be a lot better just about everywhere and I'll probably take the trip.

By the end of July I'll likely know one way or the other.

I live in Italy and I have seen all events, gatherings and activities being shut down one after the other. All cultural institutions are doing their best in trying to continue their work online and engaging their normal audience on social media. I also understand the crisis such organizations are facing and can only imagine how difficult it must be to take decisions in such a delicate moment. I don’t think we will be able to do any such thing as a concert or a festival for a while now. Especially because many fear a decrease in the number of cases in the summer to have a new peak in September.