Traveling During Covid
Lockdown
Early during the lockdown, I remember looking into the sky and not seeing a single airplane for weeks. The pandemic, travel bans and lockdowns seemed to cause the world to stand still. Our flights to Hawaii, Mexico, Japan and Morocco were all canceled. With the spare time, we started Afar Atlas as a way to remember and relive out past travels.
Eventually as lockdowns eased, we managed to take a couple regional trips to view wedding venues and get away during the winter. Though it wasn’t advisable to travel, we wanted to share the precautions we took and the considerations we made.
Travel Precautions & Considerations
Keep up to date with entry requirements. Many states have mandatory quarantines as well as ways to test out. Before traveling, we have gotten PCR covid tests with in 72 hours of traveling, had to fill out contract tracing forms and have quarantined from 3 to 14 days depending on the location.
Keep up to date with local lockdowns. Knowing what to expect before traveling and planning how to safely follow local mandates is key to enjoying your trip. Requirements change almost daily and differ from place to place. Some we encountered are mask mandates, occupancy limits, social distancing, contact tracing surveys, stay at home orders, curfews, alcohol bans and business closures. Follow the rules put in place in order to keep yourself and others safe.
Read up on airport procedures. Many airports limit terminal seating, ask travelers to distance themselves in lines and have control points set up on arrival by the National Guard to verify if you’ve been tested or not. Some airports also offer onsite rapid and PCR testing.
Read up on airline procedures.
Most airlines have HEPA filters installed inside their airplanes and re-circulate filtered air every 3-5minutes. Many have also adapted advanced cleaning methods, fogging the airplane with disinfectant after passengers deplane and before boarding. Many also offer wipes to clean your seat, window and tray table.
We flew Delta, which spaced out every other seat. We also flew Jet Blue, which did not. At the time Jet Blue did have free cancelations and re-bookings with no questions asked.
Our Daily Precautions
Whenever in transit, we wore KN-95 masks and sanitized our hands frequently. Bring extra masks and sanitizer.
We tracked our temperature, monitored for symptoms and checked our blood oxygen level with a pulse oximeter each morning and night.
We only dined outdoors at restaurants with social distanced and open air seating.
We walked whenever possible or had the windows open/cracked whenever in a taxi, even when it was cold or raining.
Because requirements differ so much from place to place, we would often defer to stricter guidelines and follow CDC advice. The main advice we followed and strongly encourage are wearing a mask, social distancing, sanitizing and getting tested.
Alternatives to Traveling
There are plenty of alternatives to traveling that we’ve engaged in over the past year. These are our 5 favorite:
Airbnb Virtual Experiences. Airbnb rolled out virtual experiences for people to connect with other cultures around the world. We’ve taken multiple cooking classes to experience the food and culture in other countries.
Balinese Cooking Class. We cooked Gado-Gado, vegetables with peanut sauce and Nasi Goreng, Balinese fried rice then toured the home of our hosts.
Okonomiyaki Cooking Class. We cooked Okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake with a home cook in Osaka, Japan
Paella Cooking Class. We cooked paella and made sangria with a chef at a cooking school in Sevilla, Spain.
Experiences go further than cooking classes to local tours of neighborhoods, dance classes, drag shows and history lessons.
Start a Travel Blog. We had been wanting to start a travel blog for years. The spare time and loss of being able to freely travel gave us the perfect opportunity to start Afar Atlas. Pick out a Squarespace template and start blogging!
Plan Future Trips. Think about the first place you want to travel to after the pandemic ends and start researching the destination!
Go Near. Explore your own backyard, walk down the road less traveled, go on urban hikes or visit nearby nature sights & parks. It’s fun to reacquaint yourself with your local surroundings.
Travel on Google Maps. Choose a random location on the map and tour the streets of a foreign city or countryside, popping into places with photo sphere views. Start here and explore St. Helena.
Post Covid Travel
Until the pandemic officially ends, be smart and safe about how you travel and why. Though there’s still a ways to go, we look forward to society beating this pandemic, being able to travel to far out places, experience different cultures and interact with other travelers.
