Where better to ask the question ? We are torn. It's not a RTW Overland trip but after being stuck in the UK for two years, it feels like one. And it happens to be our honeymoon.

Me and the wife have booked flights to Costa Rica from the UK for 14th January 2022. We have to change planes in the USA as our carrier is American Airlines.

Since booking months ago, things have changed. USA is now requiring 24 hour tests. Omicron is spreading past. Holland and Austria have gone into lockdown and France requiring isolation of Brits. What next ??

On a positive note, the UK's quarantine hotel system seems to have been sidelined for Omicron. Which was a massive stress and CR was on the Red list for a long time.

We can cancel our trip within the next couple of weeks and get a credit note for our flights. We will lose no money. And re-book if life ever goes back to normal. Tempting.

Or we can just go in January. Gamble that the UK won't lockdown. Pay for tests, mask up on flights, constantly watch the news and try to enjoy our honeymoon in the "new normal"

What would you do ?

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

A question which 'bears' a reply alas also one to which only you can answer depending on your aversion to risk and costs.
Bite the bullet or not but if you chose to do so , plan for a possibly very long and expensive dentist visit.

p.s a friend of mine, after having had her trip cancelled twice to go to Sth Africa has now been able to get there a few days ago BUT, despite S.A now being off the red list, the airline has decided to cancel her return flight

Usual Caveat: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
There is no new 'normal' Ted; the world has changed and sadly, just like inflation, difficulties and costs just keep going up.
Look back-
When I started biking, we heard that one in six of us would get cancer. Now ...despite technology, advancement in science etc, it's 1 in 2...
Have we fixed the common cold? nope and it is a virus
Have fixed the flu? nope
What have we heard every autumn on the news? 'get vaccinated to avoid the NHS being overwhelmed...' and what have successive governments done to strengthen our blessed and amazing NHS to prevent this overwhelming? don't get me started... (I'll say no more as this could become off-topic and political!)

So... IMHO, go travel if this is what you want to do, live your life now while you can and accept the consequences of your actions- either way, we're all dammed! and while we wait for governments to finish their Christmas parties, we're killing time... and all the while Time is slowly killing us.

p.s
Since you say it's going to be your honeymoon, you may wish to consider that the 'activities' in which you will inevitably partake in carry life changing risks... financial, health wise, emotional, etc. Little Teds, if the original is anything to go by...are unlikely to give you an easy ride but is that going to stop you? wild horses springs to mind!!!

And a possible answer is in my sig.

If it was me I'd cancel - I'd like a honeymoon that's free from stress and mostly in the bedroom. But that's just my priorities

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FreeBSD fan since before it was cool ...

If you are landing in Liberia International its a good destination Its not a large airport and its not a small one either its just right and efficient enjoy Guanacaste Its Laid Back with many sun seekers, Pensioners and Beautiful coastline plenty a beaches
If you are landing in San Jose then its another matter Being the capital
CR is a good choice
enjoy

We have my son + wife + baby over with us from Sweden at the moment and the day by day changes are making it anything but relaxing. We've had to do 11 Covid tests between the bunch of us in the last week. They're now wondering if / how/ what they'll need to get back next week. My daughter has just had her long planned (a couple of months being a long time these days) ski trip cancelled this morning - she was due to go on Saturday. Stuff seems to change by the second. I know honeymoons are special but it could well have the potential to be special for the wrong reason.

Congrats by the way Ted

To my mind this is just not the time for international travel, or any other travel. As the vaccines take hold we may get out of this mess, so far the only really effective measures are those used in the Middle Ages - quarantine and lockdown.

I could not find a "sit-rep" for Costa Rica, but it probably won't take much to swamp their health system. Not a good startpoint, for example, if you need help with an infected cut on your foot, which often happens swimming in sea.

On the other hand, my parents honeymoon became memorable beyond reasonable expectations because the italians threw my mother in jail on the border because Norway had not signed a Declaration of Peace with Italy after WW II. Seriously, I think travel is such a hassle now, postpone!

Peter, in Oslo

Ted: if you wait for the situation to "normalise"; you could be waiting for ever. Sure, things might improve in 3 months, 6 months, a year?!? In the meantime life and time are still rolling on. We can't get the last 2 years of our lives back, but we can waste the next 2 waiting for the "right time" to travel. I've got plans to head off in January as well; as long as I'm allowed to leave the UK and my destination allows me in, I AM going. No more waiting and hoping for me.
Cheers and congratulations.

Congratulations Ted.

In my opinion, when I had more then enough time to spare and some financial backup I would go. If I had to come home for a fixed date or didn´t had money for unexpected costs I would not go.

Congratulation Ted!

The (c)ovid situation will get worse at 2022 till Avril/Mai - then calm down, will heat up at latest in November. Like last year. So the mid-summer is the perfect timeframe with not so much restrictions. The testing thing will be neccessary anyway I guess.

Look how much both you need "holidays" - the sun, the beach - and decide then.

Personally I did enjoy the covid restrictions times, the homeoffice, the time with my fiance, there is no need for risking the trip you just can just make once (honeymoon) - if your situation is just perfect.

If one of you need holiday, the warm weather, leaving the daily mask wearing - fly fly fly!

Costa Rica sounds great! I will follow your path too - we are engaged

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Congratulations Ted.

Which ever you chose, as long as you don’t look back and say what if? It will be the right choice.

We’re hoping to start a long trip in June/July - I’m quietly confident

A year or even six months ago, I would have said 'postpone', but with the latest variant of omicron causing panic, it seems clear to me that there will be more variants to come, and this pandemic will take years to fade away.

I say do what you can to protect yourself: get vaccinated, wear a mask, avoid crowds, be prepared to quarantine when you return, etc. - but live your life. If you postpone an important trip until the pandemic is over, who knows how many more years that will be?

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

This is exactly the point.

It's a very fixed trip. Every day is planned or reliant on everything going right.

Three flights to get there. Three to get back. Changing in the USA. Testing required 24 hours before each flight. If anything doesn't go to plan, it's going to be a mess.

I can be flexible with time. She can't. She has fixed holidays.

I think we're going to postpone until summer.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Given the scope for it going badly with three flights each way, more tests than you can shake a stick at - just think how sore your nose will be after all of them - I would concur with your decision to postpone.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

I had no strong feelings one way or the other until you mentioned there are six (6) flights involved, plus presumably twelve (12) tests. Throw in a transfer in the US, where AFAIK everyone has to clear customs even if transiting internationally, and the chances of something going wrong approach infinite.

I hear Brighton has some very nice beaches, almost the equivalent of any in Costa Rica.

Mark

hell can't you find a place closer to home across the pond is more problems go non stop if you can