Canadian snowbirds are watching closely this week, with suitcases waiting to be loaded and their RV tanks full of fuel, to check whether the United States finally eases the travel restrictions, a report said.
Some aren’t eagerly waiting to see an announcement from the White House, opting for the utterly legal option of flying to America instead – and many plan to get a COVID-19 booster shot when they get there, according to Toronto travel insurance broker Martin Firestone.
With Canada still far from making a formal decision on whether or not to provide boosters, many who have U.S. travel plans simply do not want to wait for government health departments as well as the provinces themselves to come to decisions, Firestone said.
Tuesday is the last day for officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to decide if it will ease the travel restrictions for non-essential travelers across the Canada-U.S. frontier or extend the ban for another 30 days.
The U.S. has remained mainly in the dark about when it will start to ease restrictions. Sea and air travelers are not subject to the ban, but those traveling on ferry, rail, and pleasure boats aren’t.
Firestone said older travelers want an automobile when visiting America and prefer to stay clear of the hassles of flying, mainly because Canada’s decision to permit fully-vaccinated travelers has added to the already slow and lengthy customs clearance.
Many prefer to travel with their RVs with them, as they provide accommodation and transportation. The lack of rental vehicles throughout North America has put an additional cost on bringing one’s car. Additionally, the cost of shipping the vehicles is still expensive.
Firestone said that if the border opens shortly, he expects the need for travel insurance to exceed 90 percent of the amount it was in the year before the pandemic. In the absence of the border being opened, he added the figure could be close to 50 percent.