"2020 was going to be a good year for travel, as my husand, Leo, and I had two international trips planned. On April 13 we were to depart on the 'Essential Holland & Belgium Culinary River Cruise' with Vantage Deluxe World Travel -- our fourth trip with Vantage. ..."
-- excerpt from Ann Cyr's letter
"In October 1993 ... we took a cruise up the Danube to visit Melk Abbey. ... On the upper deck, there was a gathering going on between US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts. ... At one point, the late M. Scott Carpenter, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, pointed to my Super 8 movie camera and asked, "Excuse me, may I ask what that is? ..."
-- excerpt from Ada Green's letter
"In the late ’80s, my husband and I were staying at a gîte (B&B farmhouse) in France, and the hostess asked if we wanted to have table d’hôte.
" 'What’s that?' I asked. She said that they would provide a meal at a reasonable cost. I asked what kind of meal and how much it cost. She said it would be $20 for two, and that day’s menu was ratatouille."
(excerpt from Robin Baron's letter)
"My wife, Cynthia, and I were in Morocco anticipating joining the tour 'Morocco: Sahara & Beyond' with G Adventures ... scheduled for March 16-30, 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck."
(excerpt from John Norton's letter)
(excerpt from Emily Moore's letter)
"My husband and I were enjoying an independent tour of New Zealand in 1993. Our little rental car took us up and down the mountain roads through lush green farmlands with thousands of sheep.
"Our first surprise was a traffic jam of sheep in the road ahead of us. There was no way around them. They filled the road, even spilling over into the woods on either side. ..."
Photo submitted by Katherine Shindel
"I bought this necklace and earrings from this very talented woman in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, in February 2020. (South Seas pearls are cheaper than Tahitian pearls.) I can't imagine all the hours she put into it."
"My wife, Eileen, and I left Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 12, 2020, flying to Quito, Ecuador, via Miami to join a cruise to the Galápagos Islands ... .
"Upon arriving in Quito, and because of COVID-19, passengers were greeted by airport staff in full hazmat suits checking our temperature and handing out health questionnaires, all before we entered the country."
(excerpt from John Leach's letter)
"He took us on a short tour of the Rathaus, including a chamber in which both President Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II had once spoken.
"Imagine our delight when we then found ourselves climbing a ladder up into the tower. With the rain falling just outside the turret walls, we reached the control panel for the Glockenspiel. The man then pulled a couple of tubes ... and started the carousel."
(excerpt from from Bruce Morrissey's letter)
Excerpt from letter submitted by Beverly Hazen (Mayville, NY) "... Upon our arriving in Seville [March 11, 2020], we heard of President Trump’s announcement that flights from Europe to the US would cease in a matter of days. While there was an underlying concern regarding COVID-19 that could not be totally ignored, the tour itinerary was keeping us moving along, and our tour director was reassuring that the tour was continuing. ..."
"I wanted to give a shout-out to one of ITN’s advertisers, Flo Tours. ... I was booked with them to travel to the five ’Stans, Sept. 7-25, 2020. Due to COVID-19, they had to cancel the tour on Aug. 4. I was offered a credit to another of their tours anytime through 2022.
"I requested a refund of my deposit instead, on Aug. 6, and they graciously credited my credit card the next day." (excerpt of letter from Mary Anderson, Littleton, CO)