According to travel experts, early spring is the perfect time to start planning your summer vacation. Some of the most anxious among us (OK, me) could even push this to the pre-resource, as at the end of February or early March, if only to provide a headlight of hope during the darkest months of the year.
Lord knows that we could all use a headlight of hope at the moment. I fear that the summer holidays may no longer be. President Trump and the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, seems determined to make vacation plans to come as difficult, expensive and potentially dangerous as possible.
In a quest to purge the federal government of what the two men said they had considered unnecessary spending, Trump appointed the musk chief of the new government ministry. Since then, the businessman behind X, Tesla and Space X has pulled around 300,000 people, stripping and effectively eliminating entire departments and agencies. If these layoffs stand (many are in the course of a judicial review), they would constitute the greatest reduction in jobs in American history.
And, although this is not the main point of concern, the end of the summer vacation as we know it.
Considering a trip to a national park? Be informed that the dismissal of more than 1,000 National parks employees Will will inevitably lead to difficulties in accessing some of the most appreciated and emblematic parties of this country – the lines of the Grand Canyon and the headaches of the camping of Yosemite will be sure to spice up.
Trump administration Recently returned The dismissal of thousands of seasonal workers in parks after a wave of demonstrations against the prospect of dirty (or closed) bathrooms, container containers overflowing (which would attract bears and other wild animals), unwanted trails and a lack of emergency services.
Despite this, the loss of so many full -time employees does not fulfill confidence. I love national parks, but I am not about to venture into what can still be a fairly dangerous terrain without the reassuring presence of well -informed and highly qualified rangers. Not to mention my feelings on marauding bears.
National parks are of course not the only destination for potential travel. But Travel himself took several big shots since Trump came into office last month.
In the wake of several recent aircraft accidents and with mass fire at Federal Aviation Administration, overall confidence in plane trips decreased. New rates on aluminum and steel threaten to raise Already high prices for ticketsAnd the cuts in the transporty administration transportation promise to increase the duration of the security lines (while potentially decreasing real safety).
Oh, and after years of delay, the requirement made that Trump signed the law during his first administration is Due to taking effect on May 7. Those who do not have a driver's license or identity card issued by the State which meets federal standards will have to either transport their passport while traveling to the United States or risking not being able to fly. So also prepare for these heists.
Musk clearly indicated that its definition of “efficiency” is “reduction in costs”, instead of moving the life of the average citizen faster and gently. Its time can be money, but yours can be wasted pending hours online.
If you think you can avoid all the disorder with a road trip, well, the prices in Canada and Mexico should Increase gas prices (already rushed in California) and Musk and his servants have not spared the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of their mass discounts. Nor the railroad and other transit security agencies.
Safety seems to be effective. (Off subject, but consider this to be an important reminder that if you are pregnant and that you are traveling, know that in many states, hospitals deny care for women in crisis due to new antibort laws.)
Meanwhile, hotels and Restaurants are faced with staff shortages caused by Trump's new immigration policies, and we know what it means: more closings and higher prices. Airbnb, already in the grip of criticism of its draconian rules, its hidden costs and its effects on the local real estate markets, is now Facing a boycottIncluding by hosts leaving the site to protest the role of its co-founder in Musk's Doge.
In other words, travel almost anywhere in the United States become more expensiveAnd much less effective than it is already. Your taxes at work!
International trips have also become instantly more intimidating, and not only because of the safety problems of airlines, fuel prices, increasing anxiety among holders of green cards or because many transgender Americans have seen their gender designations switched to that attributed to birth.
Americans abroad have often been faced with a certain amount of snobbery – we can be noisy, monolingual and too in love with flip flops – but with a president and a vice -president who have Already antagonized most of continental EuropeGreenland, Panama, Mexico, India and Canada (Canada!), Dedain can be a little more open. Especially in places (including Spain, Italy and Greece) which are already prey and openly protest, overchurism.
Musk was of course spotted from time to time to party on a yacht in Greece, but he said that he does not think strongly of a vacation (or a week of 40 -hour work.) Without a doubt, the prospect of millions of Americans is worried about where they can afford to go safely for a summer vacation that does not bother him at all. But Trump has hotels, for the sky. During his first 28 days in power, he spent 12 nights at his home in Mar-A-Lago, and several of these days golf.
Americans work harder – longer hours, with fewer daily breaks – than any other rich country including Japan. Our full -time employees are eligible for, on average, half as many days of remunerated vacation as their European counterparts and, according to the Pew Research Center, 46% of them do not use the whole PTO during a given year.
It is therefore not “effective” to put yourself in danger, or to make more difficult and costly, the summer holidays relatively rare and short that Americans take. It's heartless. And downright non -American.
