Our 2020 Travel Plans

We have to say that 2020 in terms of international travel has been a dud. It’s a lost year of sorts when it comes to travel, with no international trips for our family, nor have we been on an airplane for over a year.

But that’s not to say that 2020 has been a travel bust. We have been exploring a lot of Florida, chasing hotel deals that are available to us for quick weekend getaways (using our points/credit, of course), and making a conscious effort to avoid the Ft Lauderdale/Miami area.

For now, here are our 2020 travel plans. I understand some people may not want to travel at all during these times of uncertainty, but we are taking every precaution possible (more on that below).

Also, our personal choices should not affect yours. If you do not wish to travel, then don’t. If you want to see what’s out there in neighboring cities while taking more precaution and helping the economy by spending on small businesses, then go. We just find it hard to not explore, so here’s our travel compromise in the midst of the pandemic.

2020 Travel Plans

We had tickets to two conferences for September and October, but as bigger gatherings have also been cancelled and the tickets rolled over to the events in 2021 and 2022, respectively, we have decided to make alternate plans since our vacation days have already been approved.

September 2020: Sanibel Island, Ft Myers, Tarpon Springs, and Silver Springs State Park

Mostly Southwest Florida spots, but this is very exciting for us to actually discover some new cities within a few hours drive from where my in-laws live. Expect our trip reports to pop up on our new site, Voyage Florida.

We chose Sanibel Island/Ft Myers since we found a great deal at the Candlewood Suites, which we paid 5,000 Citi Thank You points for.

For Tarpon Springs, my husband has been there once and would love to visit the Greek community of Tarpon Springs once again. I personally have not been there, so I’m excited about this trip. On the way back, we found a category 1 Holiday Inn Express in Brooksville that we paid points for (10,000 IHG points).

There was a cheaper hotel available (Microtel) for around 5,000 Citi Thank You points but my husband was not a fan, which ultimately led to our decision. The Holiday Inn was also available for 9,000 Thank You Points fora non-refundable stay.

We’re doing this to break our long trip from Sarasota back home to Jacksonville and it will be one of our trips with the little one. His last trip was in February 2020 in Disney Springs so a lot has changed since then!

October 2020: Atlanta, Helen, and Stone Mountain, Georgia

We have been to Atlanta before on a long weekend getaway (in 2015), but we concentrated on the downtown area, armed with the Atlanta Citypass.

This covered the Georgia Aquarium, the Zoo, CNN Center, and Coca-Cola Experience. While we have not seen a lot of the city yet, this time we wanted to visit the little German-like town of Helen, and also see Stone Mountain, which is like a big, outdoor theme park of sorts, with a huge rock as its centerpiece.

This little vacation plan may change, depending on borders between states or additional restrictions because of the virus.

Botched Cruise Plans? No Problem!

We originally had two cruises booked in 2020: one to the Bahamas on a Carnival Cruise for the second week of November, and another on Virgin Voyages for the second week of December. We love cruising, as evidenced by our cruise to the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and Alaska.

Since there is a lot of uncertainty in the cruise front, we are not even sure if the cruises we booked will happen! However, since we have the vacation days filed and approved, we have decided to make the following alternate plans:

November 2020 – Tallahassee/Panama City Beach area

For people who live in Florida, we have sadly not explored the Panhandle area as much – we’ve only been once to Fort Walton Beach & Destin on a long weekend getaway.

For a few days in November, we’re planning to take a trip to Panama City Beach and Tallahassee to see the state capital and maybe take a break in one of the emerald beaches up north.

We initially planned to go to the Florida Caverns State Park along with the Tallahassee trip, but as of August 2020, the cave tours are temporarily not being offered, so alternate plans had to be made.

December 2020 – Key Largo/Islamorada area

Since Miami is a hot spot virus-wise, we decided to go to the Keys instead. The last time we were there was in 2017, and went to Key West, which was a really long drive away from Sarasota or Jacksonville.

We normally want to get away from the colder, wintry months of Jacksonville, so the Keys are one of the best places to actually do that. Hopefully the keys are open for tourists, but this is only a standby plan if our Virgin Voyages cruise has been cancelled.

We have not booked anything from October to December 2020. We normally find cheaper deals closer to our actual travel date, so it may also work as a good strategy for travel planning.

How We’re Planning to Travel Safely

Since we’re staying in hotels in most of these trips, we’re taking the usual precautions: we try to stay away from other people by social distancing, wiping down surfaces with disinfecting wipes, and constant use of hand sanitizer and hand washing.

The trips will also be done by car, so we’re not going to be in crowded airports or planes as we visit new cities. We’re consciously picking outdoor and nature activities instead of being inside a building, which means more beaches, nature trails, preserves, and boat tours.

On top of that, we’re also visiting used bookstores whenever we travel, to help support their businesses (as we add more history books to our bookshelves and TBR lists), and to pass the time when we are at home on weekdays, dreaming and planning our next destination.

How are you planning travel this 2020?

While I understand that nearly three quarters of the year has already passed, it is never too late to make plans for the remaining months of the year. We are also going to make alternate plans for 2021 in case we are not able to fly abroad just yet.

Share where you’re going in the comments below, would love to hear more about destinations within Florida or beyond where you’re planning to travel in.