Travelling (accessibly) in a Covid world #2

 

Six months have passed since our blog post ('Travelling accessibly in a Covid world...') speculating on what travelling might look like in these Covid times. I feel an update is in order, as like everyone else, we adapt to this new normal. 

We have kept a close eye on what P&O cruises are up to, as we had our first family cruise booked with them for Summer 2021. Currently, as it stands today, P&O have paused all their cruises in to April 2021. Whether their summer cruises do go ahead next year, no one knows quite yet! 

We have been impressed by what P&O plan to have in place once they can sail again. From requesting all passengers have health screenings and Covid tests prior to travelling, rigorous cleaning regimes, enhanced ventilation systems and so on. You can read all about the measures P&O will be putting in place here.

That said, with the Covid measures in place, a cruise any time soon would be a different experience to what we were hoping for, especially as this will be our first try at cruising. With that in mind and the uncertainty of sailings next summer, as well as, not knowing if we will all have been vaccinated by then, we made the decision to delay our cruise and move it to summer 2022. We knew if we wanted to move our cruise we would need to act quickly, as soon as the Summer 2022 rates were released, as getting hold of an accessible cabin to accommodate the four of us, can be tricky.

P&O have been amazing! The whole process of changing our booking was a phone call of no more than ten minutes. Everything was changed over immediately to an identical cruise the following year and as the 2022 cruise was in the region of £300 cheaper, they passed this saving on to us also.

So Summer 2022 seems a long way off right now and we have itchy feet! Travel is our passion so we are desperate for more adventures, just maybe a little closer to home for now. We have been trying to work out what and when, travel might be possible next year. At present we are hoping a UK road trip at Easter may be achievable. 

We hope to head North and visit parts of the country we haven't previously. The children are also hoping we swing by Cadbury World on our way home! Getting a suitable hotel that is accessible enough for Miss S is always a bit of a challenge. It requires a lot of digging, reading reviews and detailed discussions with the hotel directly to ascertain if Miss S can get in to and around a hotel and it's facilities. We have learnt this the hard way previously. Our trip to St Ives particularly, springing to mind. We have found some options we think could be suitable but anything we book, will be only on fully flexible rates that allow cancellation, so we can stay put should we need to and rearrange. 

We feel flexibility will be the key going forward when travelling next year. Planning and booking rates that are cancellable or refundable will prevent us losing out and enable us to rebook should we need to. As 2020 has already shown us, we need to remain hopeful but flexible in these unprecedented times. Hope is not cancelled and neither is travel...just postponed!