[ad_1]
After suffering severe burns during the outbreak and being diagnosed with PTSD and ADHD, Kathleen Gibson, 34, knew she had to make some changes.
“I realized I wasn’t taking good care of myself and I was stressed both personally and professionally,” the former health care worker told Health Blogger. “Self-care and self-love are priorities now.”
As Gibson’s priorities change, so do her summer vacation plans.
“Most of the time I’m running around doing what the kids want to do – Disney, Universal. But this summer, I plan to take care of myself.”
On her agenda: A two-week stay with a friend in Phoenix, Ariz. “We relax by the pool with some drinks, get pedicures, talk about life, have dinner together, brainstorm ideas to take over the world and make all our dreams come true.”
Amidst the chaos the world is experiencing, this type of travel — as well as spiritual retreats and outdoor and adventure travel — is gaining momentum, said Ben Harrell, US manager at Booking.com. “This summer will be the ‘summer of escape’.”
“What we need is an escape – physically, emotionally and mentally,” Harrell said. “For some people, ‘escape’ means going to a new place for a new kind of experience, for others it’s an old and familiar place.”
Orlando, Fla., Myrtle Beach, SC, Las Vegas, NY and Ocean City, MD.
For 38-year-old Kristen Valenti, ‘getting away’ means staying close to home and keeping things simple.
She and her fiancé (along with their dog), who live in the West Hartford, Connecticut area, recently purchased a trailer and are planning a 3-week road trip through New England this summer. “We’ll go to Vermont first and spend a week hiking there, then Maine and then New Hampshire.”
Others, like 27-year-old musician Alyssa Musto, have more elaborate plans. “Before I fly to Europe, I’ll spend two weeks in Santa Barbara, California and two weeks in the Wisconsin Dells, where I’ll spend two weekends in southern Germany, perform in Waldshut, and explore nearby Switzerland and Liechtenstein. On to the Netherlands and Austria (which were on the bucket list) and then on to Poland. I plan to go.
Like many travelers, Musto is mixing business with pleasure and is especially excited to travel internationally again as things open up.
Pauline Frommer, co-president of frommers.com, agrees. “I think we’ll probably see more international travel this winter than ever before. Look at the incredible amount of people getting passports.”
At a recent House Appropriations Subcommittee budget hearing, Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken said the question was unprecedented. The State Department is receiving half a million passport applications a week, which is “30 to 40% higher than last year,” Blinken said.
Rome, Paris, London, Athens and even Tokyo, which closed last summer, are top destinations globally, Harrell said.
“Bucket list travel is huge,” Frommer said. “People say, ‘This is the summer to go to India or Mexico or go on that African safari you’ve always wanted to do.’ They bite the bullet and go there.”
Personal finance journalist Vera Gibbons is a former staff writer for SmartMoney magazine and a former correspondent for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. Vera, who spent more than a decade as an on-air financial analyst for MSNBC, currently serves as co-host of the weekly non-political news podcast she founded. is not.
Click here for the latest personal finance news to help you invest, pay off debt, buy a home, retire and more.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
[ad_2]
Source link
