CHARLOTTE, NC As you all are reading, travel is at level 0 from the USA. Some airlines have started to serve more domestic routes and have added a few more flights. Travel Vendors are again advertising for trips in the48 states. Hawaii is beginning to reopen, with the information they may soon ease some travel restrictions by September. Canada is still closed to US Residents.

All of this brought Barbara and me to a planning session. We have a Son in South Florida. He works in the health care industry as Director of Trauma Services. His wife is also in healthcare as a Surgical Technician. If we were going to visit them, we had 2 concerns.

1/ We could not take them away from work just to entertain us while we were there. We had no intention of joining the masses at South Florida Beaches.

2/ We had to protect ourselves from overexposure, as well as keep from exposing them to something we might be carrying.

A second reason to consider going to Florida is to experience what travel is like during these extraordinary times. Florida had just opened up the Keys to tourists. We researched all we could and found the keys were getting larger crowds on weekends, but weekdays were still pretty slow. Barbara and I made the following arrangements;

Depart Concord to Miami on Sunday, on Allegiant Airlines. Arrive 10:30 am.

Rent Car from Enterprise for Sunday to Friday

Drive to meet family. Dinner at a beach restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.

Stay 1 night at Hampton Inn, Miami Airport

Drive to Key West on Monday. Stay at Crowne Plaza Key West La Concha. Return the rental car on Friday at 5 pm.

Return home on Spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale. All told, we were pleasantly surprised by the changes and new procedures to keep us safe. We enjoyed all of the trips, had no disappointments, and stayed healthy. Here is what we found.

Join us next week for more of Where in the World is Phil- August 2020, Part 2

Link:

Where in the World is Phil, August 2020- Part 1 - Mint Hill Times