The end of the year is nearly upon us and, from those of us who love travelling, can we all say ‘good riddance’!
The COVID-19 pandemic scuppered many travel plans around the world and it also presented travel problems the likes of which we have never seen.
While COVID-19 was obviously the focus for the year, there were other things that happened as well; you just have to cast your mind back a long way.
Here are five of the best questions we received throughout the year.
Immunity passports
This one seems particularly relevant as the COVID-19 vaccine starts to be rolled out around the United Kingdom.
Back in June, Victoria inquired about the possibility of immunity passports being required for travel. Since then, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has hinted that this may be exactly the kind of thing required before you can travel internationally.
Leon explained what exactly an immunity passport is and how it could work to get travel rolling again as quickly as possible.
Recovering lost travel money
One of the most common questions we answered this year was how to go about refunds.
Paul had some queries about getting banks involved to allow chargebacks for travel, which is possible to do with any booking that you make with a credit card. But there are a number of rules and steps that need to be followed. Ben explained the process in more detail and what you needed to do to make sure your money wasn’t lost for good.
Travelling around New Zealand
With international travel on the backburner, our friends across the ditch received a lot more attention from people that normally holiday elsewhere. Paul wanted to know the best way to take self-drive holiday that incorporated travelling across both the north and south islands and some of the better ways to plan a driving holiday on the shaky isles. This could provide some inspiration for those planning their own trip to New Zealand in 2021.
Road trips
If it wasn’t New Zealand, then the only other option for most of this year was road trips and we also had plenty of questions on that topic.
Barbara could see the merits in trying her first trip around Australia but was worried she might set out with bold plans only to get cold feet once she had set out on her big journey.
Travel expert Lee Mylne was able to explain what to expect and the benefits of trying some shorter trips first to make sure that the great Aussie road trip actually lived up to expectations.
Travelling with pain
Remember all the way back in February, when people had heard of the coronavirus but were unaware it was about to turn the world upside down? It feels like it was 15 years ago, but back then people actually thought about travelling long distances on a flight.
Some of those people suffered from back pain, like Paul, who wrote to ask if we had any advice on how to alleviate his discomfort while flying. Ben consulted with Pain Australia, who had some great tips for all travellers who have to travel with painful conditions.
Hopefully next year brings you much better travel opportunities. As always, if you would like to have any of your travel questions answered in 2021, please email newsletters@yourlifechoices.com.au.
Where are you hoping to travel in 2021?
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Related articles:
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/travel/flying/qantas-controversial-covid-policy
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/travel/self-drive-holidays/seven-ways-to-save-on-fuel
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/travel/destinations/australia/australian-capital-territory/sydney-to-canberra-road-trip
