I think I may be the only fed who is looking forward to traveling internationally as the economy slows, planes get less packed. No not MAGA or an appointee so I have the same concerns as all other feds. Though I haven't taken a vacation in 5 years so I feel like we're due. Much different sentiment in my office of course, though they all take about 3-4 vacations per year every year - Europe once/yr, skiing once/yr, beach once/yr, and often throw in another domestic trip.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel within the US instead to boost our economy. A lot of Appalachian cities in North Carolina were really hurt by the flooding last fall and could use your tourism.

Hell no. We are avoiding red areas.

If you have money issues, don't travel. If you are afraid to fly, don't fly. But letting pure politics govern your travel is just plain silly. You are only hurting yourself, and life gets small really fast.

Many of us don’t feel safe in red areas. I wish it were different too, but I can’t risk physical harm just see, say, the Blue Ridge mountains again.

Anonymous wrote:We usually take a nice international trip in the summer, but I’m wondering about the economy’s stability. We’re not feds or contractors but realize the recent changes to the government can
certainly impact the local economy.

So what are you doing? Continuing to travel or delaying?

No not a good time

Gov shut down march 14 and they are not turning it back on

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I booked tickets to Europe for the summer using miles, but haven’t arranged anything else.

Normally, I really enjoy looking for vacation rentals and hotels, but this year, I don’t feel great about leaving home.

It feels like I don’t really want to go—good thing we can redeposit without any penalty.

Did you book with a US carrier? Many foreign carriers do charge fees to cancel award flights. Virgin and AirFrance/KLM do.

United one way; American the other. Both are cancelable. I’m grateful for the ability to pull back on travel plans without expensive insurance in this one area.

I’ve been haunting the travel forum, and there seem to be far fewer overseas travel questions (or boasts!) this year, which is disappointing. I always enjoy reading about others’ plans.

Anonymous wrote:Travel within the US instead to boost our economy. A lot of Appalachian cities in North Carolina were really hurt by the flooding last fall and could use your tourism.

Those people are Trumpers. Why would anyone want to help them out? Those people hate anyone who is not maga.

We have spring break and summer travel booked and paid for already. Next winter break is up in the air depending on employment

Anonymous wrote:I booked tickets to Europe for the summer using miles, but haven’t arranged anything else.

Normally, I really enjoy looking for vacation rentals and hotels, but this year, I don’t feel great about leaving home.

It feels like I don’t really want to go—good thing we can redeposit without any penalty.

Did you book with a US carrier? Many foreign carriers do charge fees to cancel award flights. Virgin and AirFrance/KLM do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel within the US instead to boost our economy. A lot of Appalachian cities in North Carolina were really hurt by the flooding last fall and could use your tourism.

Hell no. We are avoiding red areas.

If you have money issues, don't travel. If you are afraid to fly, don't fly. But letting pure politics govern your travel is just plain silly. You are only hurting yourself, and life gets small really fast.

Anonymous wrote:We book travel far in advance so spring break and summer trips have been booked for a while. Neither of us are feds or fed adjacent, but if the overall economy takes an actual nosedive we will reconsider the planning of future trips. But the currently planned trips we will take.

+1, we are going to Italy at the end of June. It is a milestone birthday/anniversary trip. We have plenty of savings even with the unease in the economy. But should things really go bad, we will not make plans in the fall for next summer (2026).

I booked tickets to Europe for the summer using miles, but haven’t arranged anything else.

Normally, I really enjoy looking for vacation rentals and hotels, but this year, I don’t feel great about leaving home.

It feels like I don’t really want to go—good thing we can redeposit without any penalty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Travel within the US instead to boost our economy. A lot of Appalachian cities in North Carolina were really hurt by the flooding last fall and could use your tourism.

Nope. Will find a nice place that didn't vote the person causing all the distress right now.

Everyone in NC voted for Musk? Nobody in CA did?

Just collateral damage. I am sure some fired feds voted for Trump too.

Anonymous wrote:People overseas will not be too happy to see Americans OP.

If you don’t run around with a MAGA hat flashing your passport, people won’t necessarily know you’re American.

Anonymous wrote:The dollar will be strong this year....maybe not after that.

I would definitely take advantage of that if Europe is in the cards.

Why only Europe? Weird.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not a good economy to plan discretionary travel. And something is up with air safety under trump’s leadership. There has been something like five airplane crashes since he took office.

All rational thought has left the building…

Unfortunately, the economy is all about “vibes” these days. If people don’t feel confident, they vote for con men. Or they cancel their vacations and cut back all discretionary spending.

Not planning any summer travel because I'm worried about getting fired. I'm not even sure how to handle summer camps. Will hopefully be able to put together some kind of drivable vacation at least.