Make your HQ somewhere new.
Did you hear? “Workcations” are in for 2022 – more than 40% of Gen Z employees plan to take remote work trips this year, according to a recent KAYAK survey. This is why we decided to launch a guide to help you decide where to work remotely. Get the details on this trendy initiative, this week’s travel news, and more – just keep scrolling.
The pre-check
Here’s the latest news about vaccine mandates for popular destinations, which airlines are keeping your safety (and budget) in mind, and other airline-related stories for the week.
- Where you might need a boost.
A handful of popular tourist destinations, including France, the Netherlands and the UAE are now revising their travel requirements to include having a COVID-19 booster in addition to being fully-vax’d. As Omicron continues to spread, we anticipate others will follow suit.
- What to do when you can’t get a testing appointment.
We don’t need to tell you: at-home COVID-19 test kits have become scarce. Luckily, there are several different options for accessing at-home COVID test kits ahead of flying and, starting Saturday, private insurers will be required to cover at-home testing costs. Because it looks like needing a negative test for most international travel won’t be going away soon. - Who’s putting some of their fleet on ice.
Alaska Airlines recently announced that they would be scaling back their usual schedule by 10% due to employee staff shortages. This is just the latest major airline (JetBlue also trimmed their flight schedules) to make changes due to Omicron’s impact.
- Speaking of JetBlue…
Last week, the top 10 safest and low-cost airlines for 2022 were revealed, which included fan-faves such as JetBlue, Frontier and RyanAir. In addition to COVID-19 precautions, it’s helpful to know that saving money on flights doesn’t have to come at the expense of safety.
- But they asked nicely!
The US State Department of Transportation recently requested that wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon kindlyhit “pause” on their 5G wireless service because it could interfere with aircraft signals, potentially causing further travel issues. Though the wireless companies replied “mmmm, no” to said request, they offered to “exclude areas around runways at certain airports” to try and keep expansion interference to a minimum.
Trending travel
Here’s what’s trending according to our data and how it can help you make the most of your trip.
Does your WFH space need a redo?
Is it just us, or does it feel like working from your bed without pants just…isn’t cutting it anymore? ICYMI, we recently chatted with our friends at Fortune about some of our 2022 travel trend predictions, one of which being that “working from home” is going to become “working from wherever.”
Introducing: KAYAK’s Work From Wherever Guide
You’ve decided to work from somewhere new – but where should you go? To help you choose, we ranked 111 countries around the world based on different criteria such as internet accessibility, social life, safety and more. Based on these categories, we created a handy guide with tools that can help you narrow down which destination could be best, including:
- Remote work rankings index: Our in-depth analysis of the best remote work locations around the world based on 22 different factors.
- Options in your timezone: A map where you can find out which locations are in similar timezones as the rest of your team.
- The 10 trending workcation destinations: Which locations are heating up for US travelers interested in mixing business and pleasure (travel, that is).
In addition to the Work From Wherever Guide, we’re also giving away the ultimate remote work experience with the Roam Remotely Sweepstakes, where one lucky winner will receive a grand prize of $10,000 in gift cards to put towards their own workcation.* Ready to find your next remote HQ? Head to our guide to start planning your next “work” trip.
Tricks of the trade
Where we share stories, tips, or hacks that might’ve been missed in your usual content feed.
Car rentals are wheely popular.
The good news? You can easily travel and road trip by renting a car. The bad news? Other people can, too. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, we shared that the average US car rental rate this past December was $81 per day, which was 31% more compared to the year prior. What’s even wilder is that before the pandemic, daily rental rates in the US were $46 a day on average during December.
Our advice? Book your ride in advance.
To avoid hiked-up prices and potential inventory shortages, we recco making your rental car arrangements long before your trip. Even if you’re on the fence about driving, it can’t hurt to book just in case; use our “free cancellation” filter (found under “policies”) during your search so you can book now and change your plans later. If rental inventory is low, be sure to look into car sharing before you throw in the towel – which you can also find on KAYAK with partners like Turo – it’s a great alternative to traditional car rentals and can still get you where you need to go.
Social shoutouts
Special shoutout to @travelling_glory for this winter wonderland shot of Yosemite National Park.
We love to see where KAYAK takes you, use #KAYAKPicks when you post to be featured.
* See the official sweepstakes rules here.
Methodology: KAYAK considered searches from 12.8.21 to 12.14.21. To compare year over year and year over two year, we considered searches during the same timeframe one and two years prior.
Links in this Newsletter are for informational purposes only, and there is no affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement by or with KAYAK Software Corporation whatsoever.
