Loving Travel In a Time of Uncertainty

Uncertainty.

It’s uncomfortable.

We’re all dealing with it now and, I’m gonna be honest, making peace with uncertainty is a skill set we’re all going to need to develop.

Whether COVID-19 is handled quickly or it resurges later, this is surely not the last pandemic the world will experience.

As climate change continues to worsen, dramatic weather events such as hurricanes, flooding, and record high-temperatures will be more commonplace, making travel even more of an uncertain proposition.

Travel insurance as we knew it a month ago will not exist post-COVID-19. I think medical benefits, along with the other reasons you’d ordinarily purchase insurance (you break an ankle on day one of your trip; your house floods; you get called for jury duty and can’t get out of it) will still be available. But those “cancel for any reason” policies? I’m predicting those won’t be available much longer, or will be strictly curtailed - the insurance companies’ underwriters just won’t accept that level of risk in today’s environment.

Where does this leave us? I don’t think it leaves us without options to travel; I do think it means we’ll all have to be more flexible, more understanding, and more able to adapt to changing plans with short notice.

If that doesn’t describe you? Then be honest upfront with both yourself and your travel advisor - traits such as flexibility do inform both destination and supplier recommendations. As always, no judgment here on your risk tolerance or comfort zone; just a need for an honest assessment of all the factors at play.

Travel is a resilient industry; it’s a natural human need to be curious and explore our world. It may not happen under precisely the same parameters, though, and we’ll all need to do a bit of a mental adjustment. All the more reason to have a travel advisor by your side while we all adapt.