Many people travel for the holidays every year. However, not many people can say that they travel to another country for Christmas and New Year’s. Junior Evan Becker and his family are traveling to Chile for Christmas and New Year’s. His mother recently married and his step father is from Chile, so they’re going to visit him before he moves to the United States. Plane tickets are cheaper than usual at the moment, due to COVID-19 and Chile’s border just being reopened.

“The house is on the beachside, and we are visiting my step dad’s family,” Becker said. “We’ll be wearing masks and making sure we don’t take coronavirus to Chile is a top priority because they are very strict and pretty safe.”

Becker is looking forward to breaking the normal Christmas traditions that are often celebrated here in the United States. He usually celebrates Christmas Eve with his mother and grandparents and then celebrates Christmas Day with his father, so this year will be different. In Chile, people throw pool parties around Christmas time because Chile has such a warm climate.

“It’s usually 80 degrees around Christmas time, so it’ll be different,” Becker said.

Becker’s family trip was actually last minute, due to the borders of Chile just opening up again. In fact, plane tickets were discounted due to the fact that not many people are traveling around this year because of the pandemic. His step father’s home is only five minutes from the beach, which is convenient, since some homes in Chile do not have an air conditioner.

“I am excited to go because I have never been out of the country,” Becker said. “I’ve never had a passport book. It might sound weird, but I enjoy documents like that. I think it’s very cool. I honestly have no idea what I am in for: only my mom has been before.”