After much soul searching we have decided to cancel our trip to France. We were due to leave on April 2nd for ten weeks doing our usual thing of driving around the country roads in France. We had to make a decision in order to salvage some costs. We are mid sixties and in good health, but felt the risk was increasing. Australia does not have a reciprocal health agreement with France and the possibility of ending up in hospital was unsettling. I know we will not be alone in making this difficult decision. It is a sad day for the world as this crisis escalates.
I will have to re read my trip reports and remember the good times. Here's hoping we will soon be planning another trip to this wonderful country.
Look after yourselves, especially Cheska who is already there.

A hard decision, I'm sure, but also a wise one.

rhon, I had hoped it wouldn't come to this for you. I think it's for the best, though I know how disappointed you must be.

We may be doing the same. My husband is still optimistic but I'm not, and we'll soon have to get serious and make a decision.

Even if we leave home healthy and arrive in France healthy, we'd be asking the B&B hosts where we always stay, who we're very fond of, to take the risk of hosting us when we'd have just come from an infected area and passed through three international airports.

I think of France without the bises and the handshakes. Social distancing. Closed schools. The possibility that our older friends might be self-quarantined. Maybe some weekly markets will be closed. A lot of what we love about visiting France is being among French people living their normal lives. All of that is on hold right now and who knows for how long.

I'm glad you, and we, have so many good memories of France. Not to mention zillions of photos to keep us going till the next trip. What are you two planning that will replace this trip? Personally, I'm hoping for a good vegetable garden if we don't go.

Our thinking was the same as that Coquelicot. We love being in France and we did not want to bring it with us or bring it home. It just would not be enjoyable being on edge all the time and we consider ourselves very lucky to have as many wonderful trips as we have had. My 90 year old mother is relieved, as are our three children even though they would have been supportive. I hope it improves so you can go. That is the hardest thing for us. Because we go for so long, who knows what it will be like in six weeks time when we would be only three weeks into our trip. But we had to decide and in a way I am relieved. Now we will just move on.

We have a camper trailer and will pack up and do some travelling here depending on the situation. Otherwise I will sit down with my patchwork and hope to avoid getting it.

Fingers crossed for you and others who have later trips planned.

That must be very disappointing for you, to have to cancel. We had plans to visit New York, from Brisbane, but it's more and more likely that we won't be able to go this year, much as I'd love to. The cost of medical care in America gives me nightmares just thinking about it. It's hard not knowing how this whole thing will pan out...

Kay

rhon I am sorry you have had to make this tough decision. The issue of the non reciprocal health agreement is a big one, and insurance companies not covering for this type of issue is another. while we can afford the isolation costs, if we needed to go to hospital those costs could be significant with no insurance coverage. My view is that you have made the right decision for you, and because of the above issues I would probably advise Aussies to do the same.

While life here seems to be going on as normal, the virus spread is increasing. I’m not sure what we are going to do regarding our road trip. We have until Sunday to cancel Aix-en -Provence, and I am waiting to hear what the French Government puts into place. We have paid for the accommodation in Blois for the end of March so we could loose that money €418.


Yesterday I came across your trip report from 2008 to Aix-en- Provence and really enjoyed it. No doubt I will come across more of your trip reports. Even though you may be very disappointed, please know that all your previous travels and your writing of them is still giving lots of pleasure.

Cheska, I will be thinking of you. Up until a few days ago we still felt comfortable because of the way we travel. But in light of the current situation, we are pleased we have cancelled. We will get some of the car lease back and just lose the deposits we paid for our gites. Hopefully we will get some of the flight taxes back, but who knows. Fortunately we do not stay in expensive gites so the deposits were not huge. One refund has already come through and because of the lousy exchange rate we ended up $15 better off !! Silver lining?

My biggest concern now is getting toilet paper. It is just ridiculous . Only arborio rice on the shelves. Obviously no one is making risotto.
Please continue to report and we can live vicariously through your experiences.

Killed our 9th trip to France for 4/21 for 3 weeks. 7 in Paris and 10 split in Brittany. Refunded fully on 2 of 3 gites. All auto Europe deposits. Tour and 1 of 2 train rides. See about AA soon. Probably 150 for my miles redeposit and 200 rebooking for my wife’s ticket with voucher to use this year for balance. If France goes to level 2 airlines May pass on fees I read

maybe October will look ok

So sad a time. Always plan self-insured trips with good specialized credit cards that include some as well.

We decided not to cancel and here we are outside of Paris. We have 4 nights in Paris starting tomorrow, then trying to decide what next. Our tickets back yo the US are May 29. We were supposed to go to Florence today but had to cancel that part. So we are trying to decide how to spend the next 3 wks. We are supposed to meet family in Lisbon April 3. Obviously now, all that can change. We are thinking the same est thing is to rent a car after Paris and avoid public trains, planes and buses.
Everything is changing so fast
we are new to this forum and our first time in Europe.

Welcome to Fodors Schhug. This is certainly a tumultuous time to be traveling! I suggest you start a new thread asking for advice on how to manage the next couple of months. I might seriously consider flying home though - the airlines are being very liberal with change/cancellation policies.

dsevig, please let us know how it went with aa in cancelling and rescheduling. We are in the same boat, leaving April 27 and returning May 9. I can cancel the gite and apartment, the rental car, hotels for the first and last nights of the trip and get full refunds, but we redeemed miles with aa, and I haven't gotten around to attempt to tackle that. We have until 3/27 to decide, but I see that situation only getting worse before it gets better.

Welcome, Schhug. What a time to make your first trip to Europe!

That said I think that JanisJ has a sensible suggestion in the circumstances especially if you could reschedule a flight home for free. Where are you flying home from?

if you are thinking of a one way car rental beware one way rental charges.

Your other option might be to rent a gite say through Gites de France https://www.gites-de-france.com/en

I'm sure that owners will be thrilled to rent to you and you could be quite self-contained so not interacting with other people that much. That said many places you might want to see may close and if France introduces the same measures as Italy life might get rather limited.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Well, planning AND canceling trips seems to be my primary activity this season. After canceling our trip to China, scheduled to start at the end of March, I quickly developed a wonderful trip to northern Spain and Portugal. And no surprise, I’ve had to cancel that trip, too. Now is not the time to travel. Period.

I agree, progol. I guess all those hours I spent this past winter meticulously planning spring and summer trips will eventually prove worth it, and I'm glad we squeaked in a trip to Paris earlier this month, but I'm happy to ride out this pandemic and home until it seems safe again. It's not as though I don't have enough to do around here to keep me busy! I'm just sorry so many friends chose to visit us this year and have now canceled.

Cancelled Sicily trip, then cancelled Toulouse trip. I am not afraid of dying from the virus, as I am healthy, but I am terrified of spreading it and causing someone else's death. I don't even have to catch it - it could be on my clothes, my bag, anything .. and can last up to three days.

Its like 'drink-driving' and no-one would consider doing that anymore.

To KayF--I strongly advise you not to come to New York now or for the foreseeable future. I've lived here all my life, and I can tell you that the city is barely functioning. Museums and Broadway shows are shuttered (some off-Broadway shows in smaller venues maybe running, but who knows for how long?) Sporting events are canceled, restaurants are emptied out (and who knows how long they'll be open?). Stores are open, however. For now the subway and buses are running, but do you really want to share a subway car with a thousand of your closest friends? Many workers are telecommuting, and the city has lost its energy and bustle.

New York is truly a hell of a town, and I love it dearly. But visiting at this time, until this is behind us, would be folly.

Now I'm off to try to find bread and tuna. Stores are stripped bare.

Oh, and we just canceled our trip to France for June. Hoping we can put something together last minute in the autumn if things improve.

Canada just instituted a Level 3 travel advisory to ALL countries, so that small hope that we could keep our Paris plans for 26/4 are up in smoke.

Selfishly, the only good thing about the advisory is that either our private insurance or our cc insurance will cover the flight costs. The hotel can be cancelled by 22/4 without penalty.

Best wishes.

Best wishes to you too, sugar maple.

We will most likely be canceling our June trip to Scandinavia, Norway and Iceland. I would feel better cancelling and rescheduling.
We are under our MD’s quarantine presently so will focus on staying well.
I grew up hearing about the epidemic of 1918 and deaths in our family. We don’t want a repeat.