On this week’s 51%, we finally get out of the house. We speak with travel agent Jean Gagnon about how to plan ahead this vacation season; cyclist and self-proclaimed “worldwide nomad” Rachel Yaseen discusses the drive behind her adventures; and Dr. Sharon Ufberg interviews Amanda Black, founder of the Solo Female Traveler Network.

Guests: Jean Gagnon, president of Plaza Travel Center in Latham, New York; Rachel Yaseen; Amanda Black, founder of the Solo Female Traveler Network

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It's produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue.

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You’re listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women’s issues and stories. Thanks for joining us, I’m Jesse King. 

I have been sitting on this episode for a long time. I’m very much a homebody, but if there’s one thing the coronavirus pandemic made me daydream of, it’s travel - because, of course, COVID-19 pretty much stopped it. For the past two years or so, we’ve all been staying closer to home - for good reason, I might add - but now that states are relaxing their COVID-19 restrictions, and the omicron variant appears to be on a decline, more and more people are feeling optimistic about dusting off their suitcase. Overall, travel in the U.S. is bouncing back. So if you’re looking for advice on your spring and summer vacations, some travel motivation, or just an excuse to daydream about the trips you would take if it weren’t for COVID-19 - today, we’ve got you covered. 

Jean Gagnon is a veteran vacation planner and president of Plaza Travel Center in Latham, New York. She says the pandemic decimated every corner of her industry, but slowly, the calls are coming in. 

"We do a lot of international travel here, so we are very affected by the testing requirement that is still in place by the U.S. government, that you have to test [negative for COVID-19] 24 hours before you return to the U.S.,” Gagnon explains. “As soon as that gets pulled, which we're hoping will be fairly soon, then travel will really get blown out of the water.”

When people are planning for their travels, what things should they be keeping in mind, still?

OK, they still have to book really, really far in advance. That is the number one way to save money. People say, “Oh, I'll wait, because maybe the fares will go down.” Airfares don't go down. Once in a while a hotel offers a last-minute deal, but it's usually not any place that you get an airfare to. So you really, really should plan in advance. I will give you an idea: so you have not only the two year pent-up travel demand, but then you have the people who normally would have traveled this year. You know, you've got three years worth of people trying to travel. I had a family trying to go to Hawaii in July. Now you would think, “Oh, July, that’s four months away,” but I could not find what they were looking for. People have to be flexible. They have to book far in advance. And they should try to plan to travel on the off times for their destination. So for example, Hawaii is a huge family destination, so July and August are very busy – fares are going to be up. You go in May, you're gonna save a lot of money, if you're flexible. Same thing with Europe: July and August, very, very expensive. Go in September or October, if you can, or again in May. The Caribbean actually goes down in the summer, because it's so hot. They're more popular in the winter, when it's cold here. So if you want to go to the Caribbean, go like in June or September – you’ll still have beautiful weather, but you'll pay a lot less money. So if you want to try to save money and have less crowded areas, you want to travel when it's not the peak time.

What's hot right now, where are people going?

The National Parks are still very, very hot. People are trying to stay within the U.S.,