When Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California would be entering its strictest lockdown yet in mid-December, some of his most well-to-do residents ran the other way – as far as they could – to places like sunny Belize.<\/p>\n
Others, who\u2019d seen the writing on the wall well ahead of time, were long gone.<\/p>\n
Unlike the first wave of Covid-19 lockdowns, which sent people on road trips and to second homes, the second wave has globally triggered a desire for more permanent, warmer, far-flung escapes.<\/p>\n
In the UK and Europe, the wealthy have flown to such warmer climates as Dubai, the Maldives, and Spain to escape winter lockdown, says Justin Huxter, founder of UK-based Cartology Travel.<\/p>\n
Americans have more options for tropical bunkers: Hawaii has eased its travel restrictions and borders are open in Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, and many parts of the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
After all, what good is a second home at Lake Tahoe or Napa, Calif., when nearby ski lifts, wineries, and restaurants are periodically inaccessible, as they were for much of December and January?<\/p>\n
“People with lockdown fatigue have realized they can continue life in places with a lot less stress and a lot more room to breathe,” said Jack Ezon, founder of Embark Beyond.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s seeing East Coast clients flock to luxury hotels and resorts in Florida, South Carolina, and Turks and Caicos Islands while West Coast clients flee to Arizona and Puerto Vallarta and Cabo in Mexico\u2014anywhere with equally good weather and WiFi.<\/p>\n
The average cost, he says, is $70,000 (R1 million) a month, with most clients booking two- to four-month stays.<\/p>\n
Extended-stay discounts, the reopening of certain international borders, and better awareness on the precautions to take when travelling have further enabled a second-wave exodus.<\/p>\n
While socially isolating in a five-star resort may have been a novelty at the beginning of the pandemic, it\u2019s now a need for a certain class of consumer; in Thailand, it\u2019s a business plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy October, people started to realize they\u2019d be facing another winter in San Francisco with no restaurants, no entertainment, no offices\u2014really nowhere to go.<\/p>\n
They wanted out,\u201d says Leigh Rowan, founder of Bay Area-based Savanti Travel, whose clients are buying one-way tickets and working remotely from beachfront villas or amenity-laden hotels.<\/p>\n
This time, he says, they\u2019re not coming back until there\u2019s promise of a vaccine appointment.<\/p>\n
Indefinite Checkout, Please<\/strong><\/p>\n Melanie Woods, a 39-year-old graphic designer, left San Francisco well before there was word of a winter lockdown.<\/p>\n Since 1 October – the day Belize reopened its borders – she\u2019s been working out of director Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s rustic-luxe Turtle Inn resort, where her desk is by a window with a sea breeze.<\/p>\n \u201cI swim for exercise between calls. On weekends, I feel like I\u2019m on vacation. I can snorkel, zipline, swim,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Belize requires travellers to have a negative Covid-19 test upon arrival, which gave Woods peace of mind. The 27-room hotel, located on beachfront in Placencia, is also almost entirely open-air, making it easy to eat and socialize in distanced, outdoor settings.<\/p>\n Rooms start at $329 (R4,750) a night, but extended stays reap 20% discounts on both accommodations and food; Woods is renting out her apartment back home to offset the expense.<\/p>\n \u201cI probably won\u2019t return until summer, or when I can get a vaccine,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Also requesting an indefinite checkout on their current escape are Los Angeles-based Alan and Bonnie Cartwright, both 71 and retired.<\/p>\n The pair had hopes of vacationing in the Maldives and Capri last year; by September, they\u2019d accepted that if they wanted to get away, Cabo was the easiest option.<\/p>\n They originally booked 10 nights at Auberge Resorts Collection\u2019s Chileno Bay, where rooms average more than $1,000 a night.<\/p>\n But the boon to their mental health was significant, and an extended stay deal offered a savings of up to 40%, so they decided to extend\u2014and extend, and extend, and extend.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been married 51 years and after every vacation, we ask ourselves if we really have to go home.<\/p>\n This time the answer was no,\u201d says Alan Cartwright, who has no plans of leaving until the couple can have the same quality of life back in California. Bonnie Cartwright, who is immunocompromised, says the hotel staff have made her feel incredibly safe.<\/p>\n \u201cThey even take the temperature of the taxi drivers before you get in their car,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n Improved Creativity and Productivity<\/strong><\/p>\n Jetting off to a sandy paradise isn\u2019t just a lifestyle play. Travel adviser Rowan says many of his clients can actually do their jobs better in a different setting.<\/p>\n \u201cMany creatives, startups, and techies are realizing they can meet interesting investors in places like Oaxaca or San Miguel de Allende,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Cheyenne Quinn, 39, a partner in a branding and consulting company in Los Angeles, is among that set.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen L.A. went into lockdown again, it was way more intense,\u201d she says. \u201cI was consumed with the idea of escaping.\u201d In October, she flew to Tulum and has been renting homes around Mexico for as little as $20 (R288) a night.<\/p>\n \u201cThis trip has benefitted me financially, socially, and emotionally,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Before the pandemic, Quinn was working with such major clients as Louis Vuitton and Modelo.<\/p>\n That business has disappeared, but she\u2019s met artisans and small company owners through her travels who have helped rebuild her company; several have hired her to consult on social media strategy and marketing, she says.<\/p>\n Shawn Garvey, a 55-year-old chief executive officer of an energy innovation company in the Bay Area, has also seen productivity gains from his extended vacation in Mexico. He\u2019d been dragging himself into his empty office simply to stay productive.<\/p>\n \u201cI was lethargic and tired. My inspiration was declining,\u201d he says, adding that most of his days consisted of \u201crolling out of my bed and working from my laptop in my underwear.\u201d<\/p>\n His wife Kimberley Garvey owns a court reporting firm that she now runs remotely; their three children are grown.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first time in decades, we didn\u2019t have anything preventing us from leaving,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Now they\u2019re living at the Modern Elder Academy near Todos Santos, on Mexico\u2019s Pacific coast; it was named one of Bloomberg Pursuits\u2019s Best Places to Travel in 2021.<\/p>\n A monthlong stay for two, including meals, costs $7,500 (R108,000), which Garvey estimates is half of the couple\u2019s monthly living expenses back home.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve done more here in the last four weeks than I did all of last year,\u201d says Garvey, noting that he and his wife are essentially still sheltering in place.<\/p>\n The access to the great outdoors has reinvigorated his creativity, he says\u2014when whales breech or jump during his Zoom calls, he tells his coworkers they\u2019ve earned Mother Nature\u2019s applause. It\u2019s been such a positive experience, he\u2019s now building a home in Todos Santos.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a professional perspective I\u2019m not interested in returning until the offices are open again,\u201d Garvey says. \u201cFrankly, I think clients and collaborators react very positively to the idea that I am here in Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n At Your Service<\/strong><\/p>\n Then there are the benefits of full-service at a resort that you simply can\u2019t get at home.<\/p>\n Jeff Assaf, the 62-year-old chief investment officer at financial firm ICG Advisors in L.A., escaped to Hawaii, where strict travel rules made it feel even safer than being at home.<\/p>\n In July, he and his wife rented a townhouse at Timbers Kauai, where they have 450 acres as a backyard\u2014and an entire staff to help with office needs as they arise.<\/p>\n \u201cI needed a printer, and the staff installed one in my home. The gym didn\u2019t have a rower, which is what I do for cardio, and without missing a beat, they delivered one to my house,\u201d Assaf says.<\/p>\n He\u2019s not alone. Mike Cuthbertson, area general manager for Destination Hotels, which manages the Lodge at Kukui\u2019ula on Kauai, says that since October 2019, the number of resort guests from California has increased from 29% to 45%, and their average length of stay has more than doubled.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople aren\u2019t seeing this as a typical vacation,\u201d he says. \u201cThey want to live their urban life in a different setting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy office is closed. I\u2019m not meeting money managers in person, or flying to New York, so why does it matter where I take my Zoom board meeting,\u201d asks Mr. Assaf, who is contemplating buying a second home at Timbers.<\/p>\n He says the couple doesn\u2019t plan to return to L.A. until the number of Covid cases is much lower or the couple has been able to get vaccinated in Hawaii or get an appointment to be vaccinated back home.<\/p>\n In the meantime, he says the only challenge is early wake-ups due to time zone differences\u2014but on the flip side, he gets to see that sweet Hawaiian sunrise.<\/p>\n
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