Happy Easter all. This may be a brief one as I have a few things to get done today.
So let’s address last week’s cliff hanger regarding Louise’s present. I appreciate cliff hanger may be a little strong as I doubt anybody lost sleep, but I’m going to tell you anyway. It didn’t arrive until Tuesday but when it did it was received very well.
Now, having been married for a long time now I am more than aware that you should never, ever, buy domestic appliances for your wife on her birthday. However, as an exception that proves the rule, this year I did and I lived to tell the tale.
So what was it? Meet Trevor, our new robot hoover.
To understand why I broke the unbreakable law of not buying your wife a hoover for her birthday, we have to go back to just after we moved in and Louise suggested, several times, that we should get one as it would be ideal to keep our kitchen floor clean without us having to hoover every day manually.
So after all that kerfuffle, late it might have been, but it did the trick.
On Monday of last week, not able to wait any longer to do something about the holiday, I contacted Virgin. I don’t know if I was just lucky or if they have finally managed to sort out their wait times over 12 months into the pandemic, but my message was answered very quickly.
I just wanted to assess my options really. Of course, as right now our flight on the 14th of June is running, they are limited. I can cancel and get about £7.50 refunded to me or as I have now had my two free changes, if we move it again, it will incur change fees and price differences. I tried new dates in January. That resulted in me having to pay the price I had already paid again unless we dropped Premium on the way back in which case it was just £30 each to move it.
I didn’t, which was an amazing show of self-restraint for me as I need to let things play out a bit yet. Who knows if masks will be gone even by January anyway.
We have been chatting about our options and a lot depends on what is decided for May 17th by the governments involved. It is being suggested that the US may be on a “green list” by May 17th allowing travel, probably with proof of vaccine or a negative test going out and coming back in for those not yet able to get one. If so, of course our options with Virgin come down to either going or moving it to a set of dates like January where the financial pain of doing so is not too high.
We aren’t too keen to go in June I have to say. As amazing as that sounds, it would no doubt entail masks for the nine hour flight and at the airports. We probably wouldn’t do the parks for that reason too and so it would be a chance to relax, eat, recharge and just be there. I’m sure we’d enjoy that but it isn’t the holiday we have planned.
If we move, then when do we move it to? Masks may be a thing at WDW for a long time yet. Maybe January would be more tolerable in the cooler temperatures, but who knows if the winter might bring a rise in COVID rates and new restrictions anyway.
All the while, what really upsets me is the time that is passing and the lost opportunities to have Freddie experience what we have all known and loved for so long. It’s a mess really.
I guess there is one last option of, if allowed, going in June, doing the parks, sucking up the mask thing and doing the best we can. The worst that could happen is that the parks become no fun and we end up only doing them a little bit and wasting the money on our park tickets. Also, with the lack of shows, fireworks and all that jazz, Freddie’s memories of the first trip he will probably remember would be a shadow of what they should be.
Sigh.
We may know more tomorrow as the PM is due to give another of his clear, concise and enjoyable briefings and it is rumoured to cover international travel. The US did 4.1 million vaccines yesterday which is just mind blowing. It is amazing what can be done when you don’t have an idiot in charge.
Who knew that going on holiday could ever be so hard?
OK, I did warn this may be brief. I can feel the weight of my outstanding chores on my shoulders so I need to crack on. More unhelpful waffle about US travel options next week no doubt.
Till the next time……
Mkingdon's Blog 
Funnily enough, we got one of those a few weeks ago. Ours is called ‘robot monkey butler’.
With this thing and Alexa it’s like living in the final scene of Carousel of Progress!!
This is the dilemma for all of us. As someone who has been often, as you know, but my advice is I really think you should move to January. I have a suspicion the mask thing may just about be eased up then and June is as hot as Hades with masks, and is peak summer holiday for the Americans, and will be incredibly busy; you probably know this too. We are late Sept right now and just booked for January to use up a Virgin companion flight we get with our card ( the annual fee) and our DVC points they kindly extended. We went in January 2020 for the first time (little did we know how lucky we did that in that particular year) and if you go after the race weekend of the 7/8th it is much quieter. The weather was a mix but there were still loads of days you can sit by the pool from around 10 to 5/6. I also feel fast passes will be back by then. It is lovely to walk around in January with a t shirt on. You would need a warm jacket for some evenings, the temp. can drop, but it is lovely touring the parks I the dark and no heat, and getting a beer jacket on if you need it.
I love mine and now feel he’s neglected as he doesn’t have a name.
I want borders to open, but unless the places increase the capacity allowed in stores, malls, restaurants etc etc holidays will involve a whole lot of standing outside in a line, my parents are hoping for December so fingers crossed!
We have flights booked for July/august. I booked through a third party, so my options are to receive vouchers which probably won’t cover half the cost new flights next year or wait and see if the flights are cancelled. I expect the flight will go, So we will probably be on it. I can’t cope with masks but I’m worried about testing. What if we get stuck there for two weeks at the end of the trip? Sounds great but the reality is it won’t be great if it happens. So many things to think about.