Vacation Spotlight

New Year International Travel ­— Real Talk

It’s become the standard that every change of the calendar to the new year we tend to set ourselves new goals. Whether it’s ‘New Year, New You’ weight-loss goals or grand adventure goals, getting organized or trying something new—whatever it is, it becomes your January focus. It’s no wonder that in the travel industry, January is one of the biggest times of the year to start planning your next trip.

Families get together at Thanksgiving and Christmas or Hanukkah and close out the year with a wonderful new year celebration to start planning adventures for the following year. Whether the past year has held health issues, financial issues, or just the ever-growing amount of stress in our daily lives, closing the year out and starting anew leaves a renewed sense of joy, enthusiasm, euphoria for what’s ahead.

For me, it’s all about the experiences.

I’m not one of those people who think changing the calendar means you’re going to suddenly accomplish all the things that you put down on paper. You have to put the work in to accomplish the goals that you’ve set for yourself. But every Christmas and holiday season, I wish for my friends and family the gift of experiences. Sometimes it’s the experience of a new dining venue. Other times it’s the experience of family time playing a new game or going bowling. But I always wish for the experience of travel.

Over the course of the last year and a half, we’ve all dealt with ever-changing schedules when it comes to travel. This isn’t new, and it won’t be going away. But if you want to travel internationally, you can. There’s nobody stopping you from traveling internationally.

The thing stopping you is fear.

I’m not saying that the fear isn’t rightfully there. But I also believe that you need to go into experiences with a fair amount of research and education, as well as some trust.

Here’s the thing: people are afraid to go to Europe or Asia because they saw that Coronavirus happened there first. But that means that those affected countries have had a longer amount of time to cope, plan, and understand moving about and traveling during these times.

On a regular basis, we work with clients in my office who’ve been misinformed or misunderstood what the news was telling them about traveling to a certain country. Our job is to make sure that our clients are adequately prepared to travel and fulfill entry requirements to be able to enjoy their amazing adventure planned during the time of COVID.

We’ve had clients come back from exploring Europe, from visiting Canada, from experiencing Central America, and from enjoying cruises over the last several months. The most important thing is to know where you want to go, and then we can help take it away from there.

Some countries require a PCR test before you arrive. Others require an antigen test. Most require vaccination documentation, as well as some sort of paperwork that you’ll fill out before arrival into their country. And we’ll make sure you’re up to date on all the current protocols so there’s less confusion and stress so you can enjoy your experiences.

Look that fear in the eye and tell it it’s time to be put away. Trust that we can help you plan your best vacation, and we’ll help make sure you’re ready for whatever needs to be done to get there. Is traveling a bit different right now? Yes. But it doesn’t need to be impossible. Let’s start your 2022 off right by planning those experiences you’ve been dying to have.

Amanda Vallone is the co-owner of Roseborough Travel Agency in DeLand. She is passionate about helping people experience the world around them. She was awarded and or recognized for the 40 under 40, President’s Excellence in Business, Future Leaders in Travel, Best Travel Advisor, and Best of the Best awards over the last 10 years.