Not Sure If You Should Travel For Christmas, New Years Holidays? You're Not Alone
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Second-guessing your holiday travel plans? You're not alone.
The ever-changing landscape of COVID-19 has some people wondering if they should cancel.
Experts say it's too early to tell if the omicron variant will become the Grinch of Christmas travel, but it's yet another factor in the nearly two-year question of whether to stay or go.
"I've had to put off plans to go to Brazil. I had planned to go a month after the pandemic hit, and I've had to put it off three times," said traveler Brian Chambers.
Casey Carr, General Manager of Sharon Carr Travel in Dallas, said much depends on where you're traveling.
"If you're traveling domestically, you really don't have anything to worry about," he said. "But there are rising cases in Europe that are causing some disruptions."
Austria, for example, is under a temporary travel lockdown, and many countries that are still open require documents including vaccinations cards and test results.
To return to the U.S., you'll now need to test within one day instead of three.
Add to that concerns about travel hiccups.
"The constant concern of are they going to delay the flight and put me on another flight at another time?" said Chambers.
But perhaps the biggest worry - about health and safety - is ultimately a personal risk calculation.
"If you're vaccinated, you should be able to get together with your loved ones without worrying too much about it, or at the very least have a negative test," said Carr.
Carr said the one thing you should be concerned about if you're traveling domestically is long lines.
He recommends getting to the airport two hours before your flight, three hours if it's international.