The global pandemic has obviously brought much of our ordinary sense of what’s normal grinding to a halt. When almost the whole world was in lockdown, for a while there it seemed impossible and absurd that you could ever do something like travel ever again. However, things are shifting and there have been some changes, and travel is now a real possibility, with many people starting to do it again.
With all that in mind, how can you make sure that you are travelling safely during the covid pandemic? In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the most important tips and tricks for travelling right now, so you can ensure that you are still managing to do it, no matter how challenging it might get.
CHECK YOUR DESTINATION
Probably the most important thing you need to do is to check your destination before you travel. You are checking a few essential things here to ensure that it is safe to go there, and that you are able to do it at all. That’s the first thing you need to check: whether the destination in question is actually open to travellers at all. There are often different rules depending on where you are coming from, so you need to make sure you are on the list of acceptable countries to arrive from too.
As well as that, you need to check that the government in your own country is allowing you to travel to that destination and – importantly – that they are allowing you to return! If not, you obviously shouldn’t go, and you won’t be able to in many cases anyway. It might be that you are allowed to go, but you have to quarantine or self-isolate when you return, in which case it is a matter of deciding for yourself whether it is necessary or not. Generally, you will have to self-isolate for 21 days, so you need to consider whether this will affect your life in any particularly dramatic way, such as causing trouble with your employer.
But that’s not all you need to check about the destination before you travel. You should also make sure that you are checking the destination for its covid cases. You don’t want to put yourself or your family at risk, so it’s best to be aware of what kind of level of cases they have in that country before you go. Then it’s a case of deciding whether you are going to feel safe going there or not.
CONSIDER YOUR SITUATION
As well as checking the destination itself, it’s wise to check on your own situation before you do any travelling. You should look at your home turf to determine whether it seems safe to travel at this moment in time. Even if the official advice is saying it’s fine, you need to ensure that you feel okay going somewhere if there are a lot of cases in your area, for instance. All of this needs to be carefully considered before you travel.
You should also take great care in checking on your own health. If you have any of the symptoms of the covid-19 virus, you should not travel, and this might mean that you end up having to call off your travels just before you are due to go. That is a shame, but it’s necessary in order to help stop the spread of the virus. Be sure to keep a close eye on your health and do the right thing if you are feeling ill at all, or have any of the symptoms – these include a high fever, a continuous cough and loss of taste or smell.
If you live with someone who is at an increased risk of getting ill from the virus, you should consider not travelling, as you might bring it back to them. You need to be considerate to others above all, and ensure that you are doing everything in your power to look after their health and your own. Only when you feel it is right and it’s safe should you think about travelling anywhere, and even then only with great care.
LAST MINUTE TRAVEL
If you are keen to travel during the pandemic, a lot of the time it might be possible to do so as a last-minute venture. That’s because, as we have seen, things can change dramatically right up to the last moment, so it might make sense to try and book a holiday at the last-minute. If you are worried about costs, you need not be. With the right travel apps and websites, you can often find a great last-minute deal which is not going to put too much of a strain on your bank balance, so that’s something to bear in mind.
Plus, last-minute travel can actually be very exciting, and it is definitely something that you should think about if you are keen to try and shake things up a bit, and get some nice experiences in before the end of what has been a very difficult year for us all.
TRAVELLING SAFELY
Once you have decided that it is safe to travel, and you have booked it all in, you then need to know how to ensure that you are travelling safely while you are actually on holiday. There are a lot of things that you should consider here, and it’s a good idea to make sure that you have thought about them all in detail. Let’s take a look at some of the major concerns that you might want to bear in mind as you travel the world during the pandemic.
First of all, take great care in following all local rules and laws wherever you happen to be travelling. In order to make sure that you are doing this right, you should research the rules before you go. You should also pay attention to any authority figures asking you to follow certain rules which you might not otherwise have been aware of, if possible.
In general, make sure you are doing all of those normal covid-friendly things we are all so used to doing now: keeping a distance of two metres from other people wherever possible, wearing a face covering or mask in public and busy places, and washing your hands thoroughly for 20 seconds as frequently as you can. These simple measures will ensure that you are much less likely to put others or yourself at risk. Of course, you could consider choosing somewhere very open to travel to, so that you can reduce the risk even further.
At the same time, you might also want to think carefully about your mode of travel, to ensure that you are not putting yourself at increased risk. If it is possible to travel without too many other people, you should aim to do that, and try to avoid trains wherever possible, and planes too. Of course, that will limit your options quite dramatically.
TRAVEL LOCALLY
One of the best ways to travel at the moment is to simply go somewhere local. With so many restrictions being in place all over the world, you are going to want to consider the possibility of travelling in your local area. There are many benefits to this, the most important being that you obviously won’t be putting anyone at too great a risk, including yourself and your family. You will also be helping your local economy, and putting the environment under much less strain compared to flying around the world, both of which are important at all times, and especially now.
AIR-TRAVEL – IS IT SAFE?
One of the strange things about air travel is that it is actually not too dangerous in terms of spreading the virus. In fact, because of the way that air is circulated and filtered in airplanes, viruses don’t tend to spread that easily inside them. But with social distancing being hard to maintain on a plane, there is still some risk here which you should be aware of. And of course, being in the airports and terminals is going to be risky too.
It’s all about deciding for yourself what you think is best. You should think carefully about this before you travel, so you can make sure that you are happy with your decision, and that you feel it is ethical.
STAY VIGILANT
No matter what you decide to do, or where you decide to go, you should make sure that you are staying vigilant at all times. As long as you do that, you will be less likely to spread the virus and get it yourself, and you will be able to enjoy your travels almost as if no global pandemic existed. That’s really the best of both worlds. Remember that the priority at all times should be keeping everyone safe, and trying to avoid spreading the virus – and remember that you can be carrying it asymptomatically without even knowing it. So take care and have fun!