With Winter Break approaching, junior Lauren Mannix has begun looking forward to traveling. 

“I’m really excited to go skiing and hopefully see snow,” she said. “I skied for the first time last year up at Beech Mountain [in North Carolina] and I love it so much.” 

Travel Agent Helen Deavers with Apollo Travel, Inc., says travel is starting to make its way back to how it had been before the pandemic.

“When you’re talking about the lesser COVID restrictions, you know, not having to do a PCR test or rapid test before you go,” Deavers said. “I see a lot of traveling to places like Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Mexico because they’re less restrictive.” 

She said travel restrictions vary depending on the destination. 

 “A lot of the different international countries, depending on the country you’re going to, they all have different rules, you know, with being vaccinated, or if you’re not vaccinated,” she said. “You might have to quarantine everyone. Most likely when you go to Europe, you’re going to have to do a COVID test like a PCR COVID test, not a rapid test. There are also health forms that you’re going to have to fill out prior to going to get approved to even get on a plane.”

Mannix said her family didn’t allow COVID-19 to curtail its travel.

“We didn’t really take a break, but we like, changed our vacations, she said. “We went to smaller places, like places where we could stay by ourselves, but we still kind of traveled, just not as much.”

While Mannix plans to go skiing in North Carolina, Deavers said other destinations appear more desirable for those planning ski vacations. 

“I would say the most popular that I’ve dealt with in the past, in the winter, is like Colorado,” Deavers said. “A lot of people go, especially here from Florida [because] they want to go skiing. If you’re asking an agency from somewhere else, like Michigan, it would probably be Florida.”

By Mattie Menzie