Greetings from hot and sunny southern California. I’ve gone to the beach a couple times this week with my family as they’ve really loosened the restrictions. We still stay at least six feet away from everybody and for the most part, we’re about 100 yards away, except when frolicking in the water and a random jogger comes by. The beaches in SoCal are so huge and wide that there’s plenty of space for everyone (except maybe on weekends and holidays). That’s why you will want to go mid-week or early or later in the day. Barely anyone was wearing a mask and according to my doctor, you don’t need to if you’re outside and at least six feet from other people. We wear ours down to the beach and keep them in our pockets in case someone comes close.
We also had our first takeout in 2.5 months, which is by far the longest I’ve ever gone without ordering in, including when I was growing up. We’ve had takeout twice this week and the first was from my favorite pizza place in L.A. – Slice and Pint in El Segundo. They did a great job with physical distancing. They moved the cash register near the door, everyone is required to wear a mask, they have hand sanitizer and Apple Pay. The bad part, besides their pizza not being as great as it used to be, is that you still need to touch the screen to complete the transaction which is ridiculous. I used my finger protector, which I just featured in
my 2020 Father’s Day Travel Gift Guide.
How to Properly Reheat Pizza Speaking of Slice and Pint, their to-go box is hilarious and teaches customers how to reheat pizza properly. I never knew how to do it the right way. I tried it and it worked.
Here’s how.
Is COVID-19 Still Here? It might feel like the COVID19 is over but according to the experts, it’s on the rise again and one Harvard professor
has predicted another 100,000 Americans will die by September. That’s scary. I’m still not comfortable traveling by airplane, especially after speaking to doctors. I’ve had multiple doctors tell me that they'd rather treat COVID19 patients in the hospital than get on a plane because at least in the hospital, they know what they’re dealing with, they’re properly PPE’d and they can go in and out. On a plane, they’re exposed to strangers for long period of times.
And not everyone is welcoming tourists, especially Americans, since we’re the epicenter of the world for Covid19. Including our own states! Hawaii just extended their quarantine until August and
a Hawaiian resident was arrested after flying from San Diego to Honolulu and violating the mandatory quarantine.
Here are the states that are requiring a quarantine.
Well, my friend,
Angela Sun, was one of the first to contract COVID19 in Australia. She attended
what is known as the “COVID Wedding” by Australian media and she sat down with me for my YouTube Show (and I uploaded it to my Travel Podcast as well). It’s pretty fascinating to hear
what her experience was like being quarantined in Australia, then her experience flying back to the U.S.A. (
Spoiler alert: The U.S. didn’t do anything, which is why we have such a problem today).
If you recall, a couple of weeks ago
I posted a story about a different podcast with my friend Kylie who did the opposite trip. She flew San Francisco to Sydney and she shared her experience about the flight and arriving to Sydney. You can listen to that podcast
here.
Travel news roundups (scroll down) Once again, there's a ton of travel news so I created separate posts for each category (air, cruise, domestic, international…) to help organize it. Below are links to most of the major travel industry stories, including an extension to the closure of the U.S.-Canada border, a new Uber "Hourly" option, and more.
Airline and airport news:
Cruise news:
Hotel and lodging news:
Domestic travel news:
- The Keep Maine Healthy plan, effective July 1, allows visitors in lieu of quarantine to sign and submit a certificate of compliance to their lodging facility that they have received a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their visit
- Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are reopening on July 17
- See all the domestic travel news that's got people talking this week...
International travel news:
Miscellaneous travel news:
