AARP Rewards Travel Contest 2022 - 5/9-5/27/22

[AARPTeri]

Welcome to the AARP Rewards Travel Contest 2022.  This contest will run from Monday, May 9, 2022 until Friday, May 27, 2022. 

Where is the first place you plan to travel now that Covid restrictions are lessening and why? How are you using AARP Rewards to save money on your trip?

Tell us what you are planning to do with travel opening up more after the pandemic!  Answer these two questions for a chance to win one of five (5) $100 AARP Rewards Travel gifts.  All participants will receive 50 AARP Reward Points for posting their response.

To enter, reply to this post with your travel plans and how you use AARP Rewards to save.  

Sharing your travel plans enters you for a chance to win one of five $100 AARP Rewards travel related cards along with 50 AARP Rewards Points just for posting!  A panel of judges appointed by AARP will select the top posts.

Rules for the contest are posted here -   https://community.aarp.org/t5/AARP-Rewards-Connect/AARP-Rewards-Online-Community-Travel-Contest-202...

[SeanK1]

Cruise - Western Caribbean. We feel that the cruise line is doing a lot to keep us safe and to keep us healthy that we decided we still want to go and enjoy ourselves and to create memories.  We ended up buying gift cards to pay for the cruise which saved us 10% each time we bought them and by the time we paid our last deposit we ended up saving close to $350. It might not be a lot, but we love saving here and there and by saving $350 we can use that for flights, hotels and excursions.

[JeanZ791507]

California 

[AARPTeri]

@JeanZ791507 To be eligible for a prize, please answer all of the required questions - Where is the first place you plan to travel now that Covid restrictions are lessening and why? How are you using AARP Rewards to save money on your trip?

[j879108c]

My husband passed last year after several years of ill health, in which I was his caretaker.  I am now 80, but in good health, and I am planning to go to Italy with a group of women, none of whom I know personally.  I believe I need to go while I am still able, and feel that he will be with me in spirit.

[JudyP277077]

I would take my family on a trip to Alaska.  We would you the aarp for discounts on different places to stay there and for any food places also if we took a cruise to Alaska use the discount they offer

[d598082l]

We have already planned a road trip to take place late summer this year up the west coast starting from Los Angeles and stopping at Solvang,CA to Monterey, CA to Sacramento, CA to Redding, CA and then on to Portland, OR and up to Seattle, WA.  Then on to  Vancouver, BC and Victoria, BC.  This will be a 3+ week road trip with stays at 7 hotels reserved with AARP membership discounts!  Discounts are better than AAA at these nice Marriott brand hotels with the AARP membership.  What a savings!  Of course, we will be checking for AARP discounts at eating places throughout the trip too!  Looking forward to a great, relaxing road trip...

[Sharoobie]

     Please be advised by these words to the wise that, yes indeedy, through the mysterious machinations of our judiciary system, Covid restrictions are rapidly being lifted across the country. This national 'easing' has resulted in America's citizenry - long feeling the strain of collective, and individual, fears, grief, worry and isolation brought on by a protracted and deadly global pandemic - throwing caution to the wind, along with their masks, like relieved high school graduates tossing caps aloft prior to embarking upon one last summer of abandon before the rigors of academia really hit home.

     I, too, plan on celebrating our survival via travel, after officially honoring the million+ souls who won't be taking any more vacations because, just like that, Covid-19 got their number and they ceased to be. Remembering is vital. It allows me permission to respectfully carry on in their glaring absence. Without it, my conscience would become mired in survivor guilt, likely rendering me frozen in this stifling inner-city loft for another two years before mustering the personal, moral wherewithal to warily venture back out into the world-at-large. I must look both ways, however: back toward a staggeringly-traumatic recent past, as well as into a possibly unsafe, yet certainly uncertain future, out of respect for Covid's victims, for their families and friends who shall forevermore love, mourn and miss them, and for those of us still left in life's lurch, compelled by Nature Herself to gather our wits, reassess, regroup and ultimately reseal our family circles as best we may and roll on down the road to see where it leads and discover what awaits us there.

     That said, reversing mandates does not banish Covid. We hail from a family of vocalists whose sire, Blessed Be He, did not live long enough to witness Corona's indiscriminate mass carnage. Our offspring - constantly working to maintain his own existence - thankfully did, however, and was understandably traumatized (like us all), yet simultaneously overjoyed upon being invited to perform in an upcoming June alumni concert with his prior choir. I, too, was elated for him, after successfully quashing my green-eyed performer’s ego, initially borne of becoming a chamber without a chorus immediately upon college graduation, followed by two long, lonely years of being a singer with stifled song. Admittedly, entertainers are strange eggs.

     But alas, our buoyant mood was short-lived when, after only two rehearsals of an extensive, challenging program, Monday’s practice was canceled due to multiple members having contracted Covid! Just Sunday, I sat at a Downtown bus-stop watching 100+ revelers at a club across the street, celebrating their newfound freedom shoulder-to-shoulder at a brunch held in an outdoor enclosure. DJ’s were spinning dance beats as the emcee performed Karaoke while giving out free shots (alcohol, not vaccinations) to the ever-increasing, ebullient crowd, nary a mask in the bunch.

     I have lost more dear friends and beloved family members these past few years than in any other period during my lifetime. And ain’t none of us getting any younger who remain. Therefore, I will be, fearfully yet with unwavering purpose, steadfast patience and mucho PPE, heading east from whence I sprouted in the dim way-back to reconnect with what’s left of my WV/OH/PA People. I am going home: to see my birth-father – fast fading from dementia – before recognition’s spark is ultimately snuffed; to visit old friends – still living hard – before said lifestyle takes them down for good; to relocate lost relatives, estranged from dead elders so many years past the why’s and wherefores no longer hold meaning; to again join in song with former bandmates, because despite spacetime’s expanse forming an ever-widening gulf between us, it only takes a few shared notes and we’re as tight as we ever were; to walk amongst stands of jewel-tone cemetery Spruce, Oak, Hickory and Hemlock, pause ‘neath boughs of whispering Willow and Pine, trace with reverent longing words carved deep in marble marker and granite headstone, while sharing with Spirit tales of Living missed to keep dead besties up to snuff with ever-restless comings and goings this side of the veil; and finally, to once again be enveloped by sacred River and timeless Mountain, absorbing dappled, coal-creased light filtering down through ancient Appalachian forest, whose root and rock and loam begot my blood and bone. Though forty years I’ve roamed, those hills still call me home.

     And A.A.R.P. will be key in allowing me to answer that call with some degree of confidence, as well as affordability! I stay up-to-date on pandemic travel safety and TSA rules and restrictions by regularly scanning my account for the latest videos and articles listing changes and requirements. Of course, I also check with my airline for any last-minute additions/cancellations; but in these ever-changing and uncertain times, one can never be too well-informed, especially when boarding a plane heading across the country for the first time in years!

     A.A.R.P.’s website puts relevant information – on everything from smart packing and maximizing sanitation in confined, shared spaces for prolonged periods, to healthy snacking, entertainment and exercise while in the skies – right at my fingertips. Tired of watching reruns, or re-reading emergency instruction cards and germy, dog-eared flight magazines? The good folk at A.A.R.P. have got you covered, with educational, informative and entertaining community forums, advice, interviews, videos, articles, puzzles and games to make those hours buckled betwixt breathing strangers fly by!

     With a bit of pre-planning, my A.A.R.P. membership perks shall provide substantial savings on meals, lodging, rental cars and even fuel costs, leaving something in my pocket to play with while on vacation. I will be taking full advantage of these offers, as well as using the gift cards I’ve won this past year entering “My Rewards” sweepstakes. It pays to be travel-savvy, and A.A.R.P. has taught me how. I just might even use some of the money I save trying out a few of the healthy and yummy, “Staying Sharp” recipes filed in “My Plan” whilst visiting those long-lost friends and fam!

Sharon R. Wolfe

[zelman2011]

We plan to travel to our backyard. The positivity rate in my state is almost 13%. We went out for lunch today and because of the mask mandate removal almost no one was wearing a mask, including the restaurant staff. We ate outside. In spite of the non-scientific community sponsorship of free-for-all living, the epidemic is not yet over.

We plan to spend any other winnings on online purchases from companies that do not put profits over the safety of their customers.

[stantgt01]

My wife and I are heading out west next week to visit and sight see National Parks in Wyoming and South Dakota. Started our planning in Fall and early Winter when restrictions were beginning to open up. Did all my own planning of sights to take in and reservations of Hotels and car rental plans as we make our way traveling from Denver, to Mount Rushmore, to the Bad Lands, Yellowstone NP, Laramie and Cheyenne, and take in a Colorado Rockies baseball game back in Denver. I was able to use AARP Travel Center for some hotel reservations and luck out with a Black Friday deal for the car rental in November 2021 which is even better now that the prices have gone up dramatically. Also now that gas and food prices have risen substantially the trip will take a much larger bite out of our savings, but we will try not to let it put a downer on the trip. Very much looking forward to it.

Delaware Dave 

[a170938b]

Hello Teri,

What are the travel gifts? Any clue?

Thanks.

[AARPTeri]

They will be $100 in value from our AARP Rewards program, specifics TBD

[afelzke]

I can’t quite figure out how to post-so replying here. We are headed to Western Nebraska with another couple. We are canoeing and going to see Miranda Lambert with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in concert. I have already used AARP to reserve a rental car. 

[afelzke]

It was a great trip. Saw some beautiful parks in NE & KS. North Platte, NE was a friendly, fun town that knows how to put on a Nebraskaland Days shindig! The van we rented (through AARP) worked out beautifully!

[JoanR465500]

Flying to Greeley Colorado courtesy of my daughter and son-in-law so that I can visit with them and my grandchildren. Plan on using my AARP card for discounts and gift cards for purchases of food, activities, and naturally - gifts!!

[DexterC132364]

Hi! We would like to go to Okeechobee Forida to do some crappy fishing!!

[PatriciaL185869]

After cancelling my trip to Africa for two years due to covid we are finally able to go!  So that is where I will travel in October hopefully using Travel rewards. Pat 

[a170938b]

Thank you.

[robertfernandez]

I plan to travel to India

[RosemaryB970371]

I am going on a Scuba diving trip to the Philippines in October 2022.  The trip has been rescheduled six times due to COVID. The borders to the Philippines  have been closed for two years due to COVID.