We were in Gravenhurst, Ontario (about 2 hours north of Toronto) yesterday visiting with our son and his girlfriend. Our daughter and the grandkids showed up as well! It was a great family send off for us!
However...
Just before lunch I got an email from our Airbnb host in Berlin. She said that Berlin has been declared a Covid hotspot and that we would have to quarantine for 5 days after we arrive in Berlin. Not only that, but we might have difficulty moving on to another spot in Germany depending on the rules of the German state that we would happen to be moving to.
She said that her preference was that we cancel the booking, and she said that if we lost any money as a result of cancelling, she would personally reimburse us.
So, we cancelled... and we spent the next two hours or so doing some last minute planning.
We narrowed our options down to three different choices.
1) Continue on to Berlin as planned, but rent a car at the airport and get out of the city to somewhere in the countryside that isn't having as many problems as Berlin.
2) Fly to Amsterdam instead, and then rent a car and again get out of the city and head into Germany.
3) Forget about Germany altogether and carry on directly to Turkey.
We chose option 3.
Yes, it's a major change of the plan, but things are getting worse in Europe, and not better. Even though we had wanted to check out some other motorhomes with the possibility of getting into one right away, our preference was still to get the new one next March. And to be honest, the weather in Germany is not the best right now, and only getting colder.
So Germany is on hold until next March.
There was no cancellation fee on the Berlin Airbnb. There was no cancellation fee on the German car rental we had booked. We ended up losing $40 by cancelling the second Airbnb in the countryside that we had booked for our 2nd week in Germany. We lost the $87 on the two flights that were from London to Berlin. And we lost $30 on the UK SIM card that I had bought for use in Germany which I do not think will work in Turkey. So we forfeited $157 to cancel the trip to Germany.
It cost us $175 additional to book flights from London to Dalaman, Turkey. And then I booked a very nice one week Airbnb in the town of Fethiye for a total of $212.
So while we lost some money, it will actually end up being cheaper in the long run because Turkey is so much cheaper than Germany.
The temperature when we get to Turkey will be 26C and sunny. Berlin was going to be 13C and raining.
So, we plan to be spending the next 3 months in Turkey. Although, that length of time is not written in stone either. We shall see!
It is definitely good to be flexible with your plans if you want to travel during these times!
Next blog post coming to you from London, England!
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If you are strolling around the harbour in Fethiye keep your eye iut for the gulet "ARKADASLIK". It is owned by a Canadian woman (Sue)and her Turkish husband. They do wonderful weeklong tours in the area. Www.arkadaslikyachting.com. I spent a week on it 6 years ago - priceless! Have a safe trip.
ReplyDeleteWe will keep our eyes open for it and if we see it we will stop to say hello if we see anyone around. Not sure if they would be doing tours at the moment though.
DeleteFrom the Scottishj proverb of Robert Burns that Gran'ma used to say "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."
ReplyDeleteMy dad named me.after one of Robert Burns poems "ode to.Corinna" :) [ im an Australian]
DeleteThat they do, and we weren't surprised to see that we had to change our plans at the last minute. We were sort of expecting it, I think we would have been surprised if there hadn't been any last minute changes!
DeleteI think your parents picked out a nice name when they named you Corinna! :-)
Its been a few years, but my brother spent two tours for a total of six years in Turkey with the U.S. Air Force. His family loved it there and the reason they went back a second time.
ReplyDeleteWe have heard many good things about Turkey and how much people have enjoyed the country, so we are really looking forward to spending lots of time there this winter. :-)
DeleteSo glad you were able to replan your route quite easily..safe travels xxx
ReplyDeleteWe were too! It's a good thing we are pretty flexible. :-)
DeleteSo are you hiring a motorhome in turkey?
ReplyDeleteNope, that would be too expensive. We are going to do Airbnb's and travel by public transportation, unless we find a good deal on a car rental.
DeleteYou guys are so flexible!!! Do you still have to do 24 hours in Gatwick?
ReplyDeleteYep, we sure are and it's a good thing because we had more stuff to deal with today. A little less than 24 hours now and there is more to the story which Kevin will be posting about.
DeleteWishing you the best with as few problems as possible.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
Thank you! Unfortunately we did have a few more issues to deal with this morning upon our arrival at Gatwick. Kevin will be posting about that shortly.
DeleteSafe Travels
ReplyDeleteThank you! :-)
DeleteIf you haven't found this yet it may help when planning, possibly the most accurate picture of Covid Europe. There are tends that become obvious if you follow the chart for a couple of weeks.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/cases-2019-ncov-eueea
Thank you for the link, I have seen others COVID maps but not this one. We won't be traveling to many other countries in Europe now that we are headed to Turkey but it is something to keep our eyes on.
DeleteMy two sisters who are very experienced international travelers both say Istanbul is their favorite destination.
ReplyDeleteWe have heard many good things about Istanbul and it is possible that we might make our way there but at the moment we would just prefer to keep our distance from big crowded cities and stay in small cities, towns and rural areas where there are less people and less chance of coming across COVID.
DeleteWishing you the best for this new trip! Quite an adventure and an exercise in flexibility and adaptability! Enjoy! Wish you all the best! Shall be following you through this new journey- thanks for keeping this blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! We are looking forward to getting to our new destination of Turkey and taking our time to really explore it. We have definitely learned that you need to be very flexible if you want to travel these days, as there are going to be lots of last minute changes for a lot of people.
DeleteWe're so relieved to hear you cancelled your trip to Germany!! I subscribe to a European English language newspaper, The Local, and have been following the rise in cases in Berlin and stories of people not being able to leave Berlin to travel to other German states. It's a mess there right now and yes, it's raining and cold too. So happy you'll be in Turkey! We sailed that whole Turquoise Coast in our 39ft Catamaran back in 2001 and 2002 and kept our boat in Marmaris for two winters. It's charming, beautiful and dotted with small towns and villages and if I were going there now, I probably wouldn't go anywhere else in Turkey. I too loved Istanbul but agree, stay in the more low key places. Great change of plans!
ReplyDeleteWe are happy as well that we cancelled our trip to Germany this fall. Yes, things have gone a little crazy over there and it just didn't make sense to go to Germany and then have to worry about where we can and can't go each and every day, as things are changing that fast there. Germany will be there for us to explore next spring. :-)
DeleteWe are really looking forward to our new Turkey adventure, the weather will be much better and the country itself will be cheaper. I don't think we will have a problem keeping ourselves busy there. And yes, as much as we would love to visit Istanbul, we will most likely give it a miss unless things improve over then next month or two with COVID. The smaller places will be the better places to be.