Our Publisher’s Perspective

an I travel in 2021? Where can I travel? How do I find the information I need to C travel safely and responsibly during these everchanging times? As someone who has traveled several times over the past year, I can help navigate these questions for you. Of course rules and policies can and do change. Always check the official resources for the most up to date information.

Each state has its own rules on traveling there and what services are open. If you know where you want to go, one of the quickest ways to find current information is on that state’s official tourism board website. For example, it’s important to know that Hawaii requires proof of a negative COVID test that was properly performed by an approved location. If your test is not from a place on their list you will not be allowed on the plane.

There are several countries currently open to American travelers. Mexico is popular as people are traveling south of the border. There are few requirements for entry and many want to escape to the warmth climate found there. Tanzania is also open with no entry requirements — my spouse and I traveled there in October for a safari. It was just our driver, the Safari animals and us. We were respectful of social distance and it was an amazing trip.

Many other countries allow entry with proof of a negative COVID test. Some allow entry with quarantine upon arrival. This can still work if you

BY MICHELLE WICKS CYPHER

plan on staying long term. Some countries offer options to encourage telecommuters to stay and work for six months or longer. In that case, after quarantining for two weeks, you are there living as a local and following the same COVID protocols as the residents. Rules and restrictions often are modified so it is important to monitor the situation closely before and while traveling.

You can mitigate the risks even when it is not required. Be responsible and have a COVID test before you embark on your journey. You can do an antigen test, which provides quick results so you know you are negative before you depart.

Additional precautions we took included outdoor dining where proper steps were taken by the eateries. We also love activities such as hiking, golfing, and time on the beach. To be responsible we always wore our masks, maintained social distance, washed our hands and used sanitizer.

Before traveling, be prepared to quarantine if you do contract COVID or have symptoms. You should have insurance to cover your care and unexpected costs. Be mindful if your employer demands that you quarantine upon return. For international travel, you are required to have a negative COVID test to board the plane back into the U.S. so you need to know where you can get tested once you are there. Don’t forget to pack plenty of masks and sanitizer. TSA allows you to carry 12 ounces on board and extra medications in case of quarantine. Many airlines have reduced or eliminated food service during COVID — pack food and an empty water bottle to fill once you are through security in the airport.

As a participant in the Book with Confidence Program, I had access to their 55-page document, which walks through traveling every step of the way. It covers essential items you need to know regarding flights, baggage claim and ground transfer upon arrival. It also covers best practices while dining and even how to properly enjoy the beach.

Again, please don’t view this story as the exhaustive source of information but as motivation to gather all you need to know to travel safely. The resources are there. Many are easy but you might need to be a bit vigilant in pulling together all you need to know so you can enjoy globetrotting during these interesting times.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michelle Wicks Cypher is a professional travel agent who has circled the globe. She writes and shares her expertise with her clients and friends via her business Travel There and Back. Among many travel services, her and her husband Michael focus on designing golfspecific experiences. They can be found at TravelThereAndBack.com or on social media.

Purgatory Golf Club • Noblesville, Ind.

’m looking outside my window at a couple of feet of snow. I don’t know if that’s the official I depth, but in our house, we measure snowfall by the circular column of cold, white stuff that sits on top of the circular table on our deck. As well as this snow — stuff I stopped enjoying about, ooh, 30 years ago — the temperature has averaged less than 25 degrees for the last few days. There probably has been a sunny day or two somewhere along the line, but really it feels like the sky has been a solid, dark grey since September. And, what’s more, this miserable pandemic continues to wreck lives.

It’s a gloomy state of affairs and no mistake. But at Destination Golfer, we refuse to succumb to melancholy, become downcast, or lose heart. Even if we’re not traveling to play golf right now (many people are by the way, just read our piece Globetrotting’ piece on page 6), the thought that we will again sometime fills our collective heart with hope.

Thanks to the brilliance of medical researchers, and the unwavering reliability of nurses and doctors all over our country and throughout the world, people are being given vaccinations that will eventually bring this sorry period to an end. And when it is finally over, we’ll be free to span the United States and cross the globe golf clubs in tow. We’ll play bucket-list courses, stay in fancy digs, eat and drink more than we should, learn local cuss words for poor shots, celebrate birdies with a zeal that has sat dormant for too long, broaden our horizons, and make new friends wherever we go.

BY TONY DEAR

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

But where will you go?

I reach a milestone birthday this year. I won’t come right out and say what it is, but if I mentioned I’ll become eligible for the Champions Tour, you could make a pretty educated guess at what the number is. Such a moment deserves a special celebration. Indeed, to commemorate getting this far, I was planning on returning to Britain, where I come from, and knocking off a few courses, old and new, with my oldest and dearest golf buddy, well, mate.

The place I am most looking forward to returning to is the Machrie on the island of Islay (pronounced ‘eye-ler’), off the west coast of Scotland. Twenty-five years ago — could be more actually — this mate and I visited Islay as the guest of a Machrie member and spent a week playing golf by day (sometimes 54 holes) and sampling Islay malts by night. The course, without doubt, was the most enjoyable golf course in the world, provided you liked extreme quirk and didn’t mind blind — a lot of blind. It was one crazy hole over, round, and through the dunes after another, and we loved every second of it.

An English architect named David Russell has since reduced the quirk and removed some of the blind, but word is if you loved it before you’ll love it even more now. Something else that’s changed are the accommodations. There weren’t many 25 years ago, but there’s a fancy new hotel now and the whole operation is rather polished I hear. I enjoyed our humble digs and unsophisticated meals (haggis and black pudding from the local store, with gallons of Irn-Bru) last time, but I don’t suppose I’ll mind a chef-cooked meal and comfy bed overlooking the links when I do eventually make it back.

What won’t have changed, of course, is the whisky. Laphroaig is an acquired taste that I certainly acquired in my youth, but I fear I might have gone too long without it to enjoy its overwhelming peatiness now. Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Bowmore, and Caol Ila on the other hand…

Back in the States, there are a dozen places I could go. I’d go back to Bandon Dunes a seventh (eighth?) time at the drop of a hat, but there are several places I’ve not visited and would like to. How about Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, which looks incredible? I’ve played some great courses in Michigan, but there are plenty more I’d like to see. I wrote about Kentucky’s system of State Park courses in Links Magazine recently so I know how highly they’re rated, and I’d like to play them all.

So many places to go and courses to see, and soon…all the time in the world to play them.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: It’s with great excitement that we welcome acclaimed golf journalist Tony Dear as editor for our two 2021 issues. After 10 years at the editorial helm, Brian Beaky has moved on to an exciting life as an educator. He played a major role in developing DG and his impacts are immeasurable. Tony has written for Links Magazine, Cascade Golfer, Golf World, The Open Championship Magazine and has authored five books including “Good Golf Made Easy” and “The Story of Golf in Fifty Holes.”