BETTENDORF, Iowa — The urge to get out of town is growing for Quad Cities residents as Spring is finally within sight. Gulliver's Travel agent and owner Teresa Gonzalez has been in the business for 32 years. She's seeing people finally warm up to the idea of traveling in a way we haven't seen since before COVID-19 hit.
"Everybody wants to go find a beach and get warm," says Gonzalez.
Still, she sees the nerves of those hopping on a plane or busy form of public transportation.
"A lot of people tend to be pretty nervous because they haven't traveled in a while," says Gonzalez, "I just want people to know that what they have in place right now is incredibly impressive to make people feel comfortable when they're flying. If you want to go you really should go. It's wonderful to travel right now, really is especially to get away and get warm."
Steven Miller just got back from a trip to Punta Cana with his wife. For him it was just a matter of being cautious while still enjoying himself.
"It was amazing, seven days," says Miller, "We are just cautious on what we would book but it's amazing how careful everybody is. Things obviously are a lot cleaner and kept tidy all the time."
He and his wife are already planning their next trip with Gonzalez.
"Rocky Mountain train trip this fall, it's supposed to be the trip of a lifetime," says Miller.
Like many others, the Miller's travel slowed during the beginning of the pandemic. But they're full steam ahead now, having gone on four trips in the past year.
"We'll definitely be doing more traveling now," says Miller.
The International Air Transport Association is predicting demand in air travel to reach 93% of pre-crisis levels in 2022. It's a statistic already being reflected in Gonzalez's current bookings.
"This weekend, we have almost 900 people going on vacation. So it's just incredible. It's kind of like it was," says Gonzalez, "Pre-pandemic we'd probably have twice as many as that. We're still working our way back but that's solid numbers for where we are."
Add in the rising cost of gas, and Gonzalez says her clients are looking for flights even more so even in just the past week.
"People were taking a lot of road trips. Now, they're like, I think I'm just gonna fly. There's Amtrak too, which is kind of interesting. I hadn't heard about Amtrak for a while now," says Gonzalez, "Then a client told me I'm going to Amtrak to California. But yes flights, flights, flights."
