As has been the case for the last 11 months, the travel news is all-COVID all the time.
First Things First
• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now requires a negative COVID-19 test for all air passengers entering the United States. Testing must be within the 3 days of departure to the U.S. and passengers must show written documentation of the laboratory test result (paper or electronic copy) or provide documentation of having recovered from COVID-19. Passengers that do not provide proof of a negative test or recovery, or choose not to take a test, will be denied boarding.
This means, of course, that you will have to find a place to get tested during your vacation or business trip and risk being stranded if the test is positive.
• Starting February 1, a medical protective mask (surgical mask or FFP2 mask or a mask with the KN95/N95 standard) is mandatory on all Lufthansa Group airlines (SWISS, Austrian, and Brussels) to and from Germany. Fabric masks will no longer be permitted.
• Also from Lufthansa: If you have a ticket issued up to and including August 31, 2020, and are waiting to reschedule, the deadline for rebooking has been extended to May 31, 2021. Tickets purchased since August 31, 2020, of course, can be rebooked with no change fee. This applies to tickets purchased at published fare rates directly from the airline. Some consolidators, however, may charge an admin fee for rebooking. It may be worth noting that consolidator fares are usually cheaper by $100 or more than airline published fares.
(We book consolidator air to Europe. Get a quote and save...almost always cheaper than published major airline fares.)
• United Airlines now offers what it calls the “Travel-Ready Center” app, aimed at helping customers navigate travel restrictions, just as the CDC testing requirement for international travel goes into effect. With the app, customers can review COVID-19 entry requirements, find local testing options, and upload any required testing and vaccination records for domestic and international travel. Those with an active reservation can access the app through the “My Trips” section at united.com.
When Can We Go To Europe Again?
COVID vaccine is a reality and it appears that sometime this year travel to Europe will commence. Exactly when is unknown…by anyone. The pace of inoculations is disappointingly slow and, according to the Walt Street Journal, given current circumstances, may not soon pickup. To get everyone at least one dose by the middle of this year, says the Journal, the average current daily rate of about 1 million per day needs to almost double to 1.96 million/day. Though some states have been slow in getting distribution organized, the main problem seems to be manufacturing; it’s an extremely complicated process that is difficult to speed up.
Of course the foregoing applies just to the U.S. What if we are ready for Europe but Europe isn't ready for us? The German publication, Der Speigel, reports Germany and other EU countries failed to order enough vaccine and may still be in lockdown well into 2021. It says:
“Way back in July, the U.S. secured 600 million doses of the BioNTech (ed. note: Pfizer/BioNTech) vaccine and 500 million doses from Moderna. Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, and others signed contracts in the summer and autumn. The EU only reserved doses. It didn’t place concrete orders until mid-November. And even then, it ordered far less than it could have.”
Car Rental Update
Since our last communique in December, rental car rates have mostly risen in Europe. That’s partly because of a weakening dollar (since March the cost of a euro has gone from about $1.07 to $1.23), but mostly it has to do with supply and demand.
• Rental companies have substantially reduced fleet sizes in order to reduce the overhead expense of thousands of non-revenue-producing cars sitting in parking lots and garages. This has driven up prices and, in some cases, created availability issues. Thus the choice of cars, locations, pick-up and return times, is not what it was several months ago. There are fewer automatics, station wagons, SUVs, vans, and luxury category cars. So now, as travel increases in 2021, industry experts predict car manufacturers may not be able to supply enough replacement vehicles in time to meet the coming demand. This, of course, will raise rates and affect availability.
• Travelers should also know that rental companies have laid off employees, reduced hours of operation (even at some major airports and rail stations), and closed many smaller locations. It may no longer be possible to rent a car in that charming small town in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc.
• To ensure the best price and vehicle availability, it’s wise to book and pre-pay as early as possible. This, of course, requires an ability to cancel for a full refund until the time of rental…as you can with gemut.com. When you have a pre-paid, confirmed booking and rates increase, your price is not affected. If rates drop, however, you can cancel and re-book at the lower rate.
Get a car rental quote for our personal, full-service and in-rental third-party support and, if needed, post-rental billing assistance.
Trip Insurance During COVID
The purpose of trip insurance is to obtain reimbursement for non-refundable costs when travel becomes impossible due to illness, death, family emergency, natural disaster, the financial failure of a travel supplier, and certain other specified unforeseen events. The basic cost of trip insurance for a U.S. couple, age 60, traveling for two weeks in Italy next June, and insured to a maximum of $1500 each, is a little over $100 per person.
However, as some of our customers discovered in 2020, trip insurance carriers do not consider fear of COVID to be a covered reason. Fortunately, most travelers were able to obtain refunds or future credit for canceled flights or cruises, but those who simply decided to stay safe at home forfeited all prepaid, nonrefundable costs, including trip insurance premiums. It is possible with some trip insurance carriers, to purchase “cancel-for-any-reason” coverage...but at a much higher premium.
Trip insurance is more important than ever in these uncertain times. Call us at 800-521-6722 x 2 or get a quote at www.gemut.com.
Book Short Day-Trips and Sightseeing Tours
We are frequently asked: “Where can I book a half-day sightseeing tour at XYZ city?” It's an easy answer, the Gemut.com website (please note that it may take as long as 30 seconds for the page to appear…sorry, we’re working on it). You’ll then see our affiliation with the TripAdvisor-owned company that offers over 350,000 city tours and packages, food and wine classes and workshops, helicopter tours, balloon tours, walking tours, bike tours, half-day tours, night tours, sightseeing tickets, transfers, ground transport, shore excursions, cultural and theme tours, sailing and water tours, and many, many, many more.
In Munich, for example, you can choose from approximately 60 different activities. You will pay $39 for a small-group bike tour. Same for a Munich City Pass that includes public transport and admission to 45 sights and activities. A Bavarian Beer and Food evening tour is $58, while $198 buys a small-group Munich City and Oktoberfest Tour that includes a precious reservation at an Oktoberfest tent table. This booking service is not just for Munich, but virtually every European destination of any note, plus thousands of cities throughout the world, many in the U.S. and Canada. (Check it out via computer or tablet...not a smartphone.)
Remembering John K. Bestor
December 15, 1921- October 5, 2008
It's a bright, cool morning in the summer of 1944. For reasons I no longer remember, if I ever knew, we are ambling toward downtown. It’s not far; Plattsmouth, Nebraska—about 18 miles from Omaha—is a small town of perhaps 5,000 residents. I'm six, he's 22 and a first lieutenant in the Army Artillery, but about to get captain's bars. In a few days he will be in Germany and, in the spring of '45, sit on the very tip of the Allied spear aimed at the heart of Berlin and Victory in Europe. But on this day he's letting his nephew tag along, treating him like a person instead of a kid.
"Whaddaya wanna talk about?," says the lieutenant. "I dunno," replies the kid. "Well then, how ‘bout God, man, woman and the universe?" And so began a conversation that lasted for 64 years and covered sports, politics, music, food, wine, the stock market, computers, and most of all, European travel—especially Germany. It all came to an end very early Sunday morning, October 5th, in a Kansas City, Missouri, nursing home. To be completely accurate, the actual talking stopped several years ago when the Alzheimer's began in earnest to do its awful work on his fine brain (he was a high school valedictorian who never cracked a book, top of his University of Nebraska law school class, and senior partner in what, at the time, was middle America's largest law firm 
outside of Chicago).
I’m talking about my uncle, John K. Bestor, without whom there would be no Gemütlichkeit travel newsletter, no Gemut.com.
While growing up, I never dreamed of travel in Europe, especially on my own, and especially in Germany. I knew no language but English and I pictured Germany to be the bombed-out, rubble-strewn place I had seen in newsreels. But in 1973 Uncle John introduced Liz and me to independent European travel when he convinced us to meet him in France, where we toured by car for a few days together, visiting Bordeaux, Burgundy (Liz and John at Moulin-a-Vent, 1973, photo right) and Alsace. He taught us the Michelin Red Guides, detailed maps, and the backcountry byways he called "Yellow Roads" (their color on maps). Then, at my uncle’s urging, using our newfound travel skills, the next European destination was Germany where he had been going annually for several years. I was immediately captivated and, somehow scraping up the money, we returned year after year.
We didn't travel much with John, managing only a few times to connect with him for a day or two. He liked the solitude of his little rental car and the backroads, stopping at tiny inns where he could speak German and drink beer with the locals. On his last few trips he rented flats in the Partenkirchen end of Garmisch-Partenkirchen where he basked in the Bavarian country culture and the slow pace of village life. Regrettably, his first wife, Fritzi, who died in the early ‘90s, didn't travel. I am sure it was one of his life’s joys that his second wife, Lorena, accompanied him on those last visits.
Over the years 1965 to the early '80s, my jobs with professional sports teams took me frequently to Kansas City. When I came to town with the Oakland Raiders, John would prepare great feasts for me and my colleagues and friends in the media. He was an adventurous cook and had what must have been one of the town's best wine cellars. Long before movie stars and dot.com multi-millionaires drove up the price of French wines in this country, John was laying down case upon case of classified growth Bordeaux, and top-of-the-line Burgundies, both red and white. For us, he poured Chateau Latour 1962, '59 Chateau Palmer, the fabulous dessert wine of Sauterne, Chateau d'Yquem, the great ports of the celebrated '63 vintage, and his favorite bubblies, Moet and Cristal.
Some of my friends became his friends. The late Bill King, longtime San Francisco Bay Area football (Raiders) baseball (A's)and basketball (Warriors) broadcaster, hooked up with John for lunch or dinner every time he was in Kansas City.
There was nothing John would rather do than practice law, often saying it was so much fun he’d do it for free. Among his clients were several Fortune 500 companies. His specialty was labor law, and he lived for the negotiations; the ultimate test of his experience, knowledge, wit and nerve. At his funeral, his son-in-law, Les, told me he had seen a newspaper article that listed the midwest’s top attorneys as rated by their peers; John was number one in the labor category. He kept the same clients for decades, only stepping down when, at the onset of Alzheimer’s, he realized his mind might fail him—and his clients—at a critical moment.
It wasn't just how to travel in Europe that I learned from my uncle. Looking back over the past 40 years, it's clear he was a pretty hip guy. He told me about Warren Buffet in the mid ‘70’s. He managed his own investments, pouring over Barron's, the Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily and Valueline. He eagerly anticipated personal computers and in 1983 purchased one of the first IBM PCs. With a pioneer investment software called Dow Jones Analyzer, he monitored his stocks and made buy-sell decisions. A wise and prudent investor, he made millions in the market.
Being a well-heeled, sought-after attorney changed my uncle not a bit. He belonged to a country club but never went there. Kansas City society bored him. Instead he spent much of his free time, probably too much for his marriage and family, in Luigi's, a small restaurant and bar that, for a time, ran a wide-open bookmaking operation, posting odds on a chalkboard behind the bar. Its owner, Luigi Bonura, who became perhaps John’s closest friend, was rumored to be “connected,” a notion my uncle dismissed. On Sunday mornings after Mass, John would visit his mother (my grandmother) and then drop by Luigi’s for a beer. Kansas City’s “blue laws” prevented the sale of alcohol on Sundays, but Luigi did paperwork on Sunday and discreetly hosted two or three of his favorite customers. Among them was a tiny, shabbily-dressed man who owned a number of office buildings in the Kansas City area. One morning this eccentric, five-foot tycoon choose me to complain to about the runaround he was getting at the local power company. “In life,” he said in his thick mid-European accent, “one God, one wife, but not one power company.”
My uncle was also, of course, a member of the so-called "greatest generation;" those men who risked their lives for an ideal, got the job done, and never talked much about it afterward. I did coax one story out of him, however.
As U.S. forces moved eastward across Germany in early1945, his assignment was to fly in a light plane over the German lines and assess their positions and strength. On one mission he and his pilot were forced down in the no-man's land behind the retreating Germans, but ahead of the advancing U.S. Army. There was no choice but to spend the night with the airplane. At dusk, a handful of thin, raggedly-dressed men materialized in the gloom about 50 meters from the airplane. Gesturing toward a bucket on the ground before them, they beckoned the Americans to approach. With great caution and drawn pistols, my uncle and his pilot slowly advanced. The scarecrows were, of course, DPs (displaced persons), Eastern European forced laborers, abandoned by the Germans to survive on their own. Cool white wine sloshed in their bucket. They led the way to a nearby cave where a river of wine splashed onto the cave floor from the open spigot of a huge cask. Needless to say, a good deal more wine was drunk that night than the currently recommended, heart-healthy glass or two per day. Though the language barrier prevented meaningful conversation there were many toasts and much laughter.
Very early the next morning, my uncle and his pilot awoke, no doubt massively hungover—an affliction John claimed he never suffered from—in a rain puddle under the airplane’s wing. The small cask of wine they had rolled from the cave was too heavy or too large to fit in the plane so they hid it in brush, hoping to retrieve it later. They never found it.
The day the war in Europe ended, John watched the celebration from a rooftop in Stuttgart. A German man tried to shake his hand but, with the fresh memory of a liberated concentration camp, he refused. It was one of the few acts in his life he regretted.
He remained in Germany for several months after V-E Day, living with several other Army officers in a house in Heidelberg (2 Helmholtzstrasse, it’s still there), near the Neckar River. He came home on a slow troop ship, playing poker constantly during the eight-day crossing. But something in Germany pulled him back and he returned many times.
Not many people got close to him, and I count myself fortunate to be among the few. He was a mentor whose advice I frequently sought. “What would Uncle John do in this situation?,” is a question I still ask myself—a sensible exercise because he was perhaps the least impulsive, slowest to anger, clearest thinking person I’ve ever known.
“Iron-ass” was the joking term John sometimes used to describe a category of people he admired. Iron-asses never break their word and never compromise their values. No matter how hard the winds blow, they stand fast. But most of all, regardless the circumstance, they can always and absolutely be depended upon. I’ve only met a handful who meet those qualifications, and sad to say, as of October 5, 2008, there’s one fewer than there used to be.—Bob Bestor
(First published in Gemutlichkeit, The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 1991 at the outbreak of the Gulf War; then again after September 11, 2001.)
Among the very best days of my life was Saturday, October 6, 1973. Liz and I were in Copenhagen. It was the first day of our first trip to Europe. Her brief diary entry for that day reads, “Our room at the Royal was across the street from Tivoli Gardens which is closed now. After collapsing for a short time we walked along the Strøget and just looked. Had a beer in a small, quiet pub, walked back, had dinner and bed.”
Here we are in 2016. A stunning development considering just a few short weeks ago we were looking ahead to 2015—at least it feels like weeks. Time seems to fly at warp speed, but well do our best to keep up.
