When Jordan Prince and her family decided to start making plans for Christmas break, they soon realized how different this holiday would be from their previous ones.

With both their spring break and fall break being pretty much canceled due to Covid-19, the Princes had no idea what to expect for the upcoming holiday break. Considering the family usually travels out of the country during this time, changing their plans for Jordan, a sophomore; her sister, Taylor, a senior; and her brother, Colin, a sophomore at University of Arizona, because of the pandemic has been challenging.

Jordan and her family regularly leave the country over the Christmas break. “My family travels over the holidays because it’s the longest period of time we have available in the year,” says Jordan. Her family has traveled to places like New York City, Australia, and Dubai, over past Christmas breaks. “My favorite place I’ve been to is Dubai. It is nothing like the United States and it is so much more advanced, cleaner, and safer than it is portrayed in the news,” said Jordan.

However, because of Covid-19, her family’s plans changed. “My family decided not to travel out of the country because it’s not safe right now, and we would have a much different experience than past years,” said Jordan. “We have been very cautious with everything we have done while traveling to stay safe.” While they have gone on trips within the United States to visit family, the Princes have not done any more traveling beyond that.

Jordan’s tentative Christmas plans were to visit her cousins in California. Jordan says that Covid-19 has changed their usual Christmas plans by her being “not able to see my grandparents and spending Christmas with only my cousins.”

There’s no doubt that other students will have to alter their plans similarly due to this pandemic, and many probably won’t be able to see their high-risk family members, like Jordan, due to rising cases across the country. This hasn’t been the only thing that has been altered by Covid-19 for the Princes, as their travel plans would’ve looked different as well if there had not been a pandemic. She said, “We enjoy traveling outside of the United States. We’re just able to see so many new parts and cultures of the world and experience how they do things differently than the U.S.”

Since the Prince’s traveling plans have been altered so much, they have decided not to plan on anything yet for any other upcoming breaks. “My family does not have current plans for other school breaks because everything changes really quickly so we don’t know what spring break will look like and other breaks,” said Jordan. She continued, “We were supposed to go to California and Lake Powell, Arizona for spring break, and for fall break, we were supposed to go to Martha’s Vineyard.”

Both of these trips were canceled because of the pandemic. Currently, they don’t have these trips rescheduled but are considering making them up in the summer if Covid-19 conditions improve.

Covid-19 has brought unprecedented times upon many. The Princes are just one example. With holidays just around the corner and subjects like quarantine, CDC guidelines and lockdowns still up in the air, Christmas travel remains in flux. While many will be able to visit their friends and family over the break, some may be limited like Jordan or will not be able to at all.