Traveling During A Pandemic, How to Prepare

Hello! Welcome, everyone! Today we are going to talk about traveling. I, personally have done quite a bit of traveling throughout the pandemic. I’ll add some links for that later, but I also have a friend that traveled out of the country to the Dominican Republic in early November. She was amazing enough to document some things for me and allow me to use them here. This pandemic has been hard on everyone. Many questions have been raised about traveling during the pandemic. I am here to give you all the information I can on traveling to help anyone with questions. Details from 2 different people and a few different travel experiences.

As you already know, many people are saying that you should not be traveling at this time. Personally, I think that there are responsible ways to travel. There are also many people that have no choice but to travel. Some people may have a trip that has been planned for a while that they can’t or don’t want to miss. Some people travel for work. Anyway, let’s talk about the things you should know about traveling, precautions you may want to take, and how to handle being in public. Just in case you forgot what it’s like out there in the world haha, just kidding, kind of.

Be aware of the rules and regulations, of your state and your work location.

First things first, in the state of Pennsylvania, we are required to quarantine for 2 weeks if traveling out of state or have a negative test result. Though I’m sure there are many ways around that. Tiff (my friend) works from home, so that didn’t really affect her too much. She did have to take a test when she came home anyway. For most people though, 2 additional weeks off work just to quarantine is too much time off work.

So, all in all, before you plan a trip anywhere I would advise you check your regulations, and also check with your job. Maybe you work by yourself, or you have additional vacation you need to take, or your area doesn’t require anything. It is definitely something to know before you plan anything.

Be fully prepared to mask up, and have extra.

Once you decide to travel, I would recommend purchasing a few masks for your trip. Traveling right now can still be fun, but it is very different. Masks are basically worn everywhere you go. If you have a bunch of masks, wash them and make sure they are fresh and clean. I like to think that wearing a clean mask daily is helpful. I can’t imagine the amount of germs that build up in those things after wearing one all day. Ew.

You may have to wear a mask for long hours at a time.

Airports are a strict mask up from the time you walk in, to the time you exit the airport in your destination. Tiff did say that once she arrived at her resort, being as it was mostly outside they did not have to wear their masks all the time. Tiff said, “Masks were not enforced unless leaving the resort”. In my experience, while in Disney an announcement stating to, “wear your masks properly or you will be asked to leave” was made on a regular basis, the entire time on the property.

Social distancing also plays a part in that. Tiff also did say that there weren’t very many people at the resort either, so everyone was easily kept at 6 or more feet distance from each other. While I was visiting Disney, that was a little more difficult. Though Disney did their best with 6-foot tape markers all over the ground, it wasn’t always that simple. It depends on where you go, truthfully.

Be super sanitary.

It isn’t necessarily a rule to be extra sanitary, but it’s recommended. I personally packed sanitizer everywhere. I attached it to every bag or purse I had. This was a very simple thing for me since I have always carried a bunch of sanitizer with me. Especially after working at Disney. Tiff was also very cautious. She also packed a bunch of extra sanitary items. You can’t really go wrong by being extra cautious, so why not. Safety first. Wash ya hands ya filthy animals.

Prepare yourself for temperature checks, especially when traveling through airports.

Temperature checks are everywhere, so keep that in mind. If you are flying you will likely come across one at some point in your trip. On the other hand, if you decide to visit Disney, they are literally everywhere. At every entrance to every park you will have your temperature checked.

Know Your Risks

No matter what happens, always keep in mind that traveling is taking a risk. You will be risking possibly getting sick. You can be as safe and sanitary as possible and still it may not be enough. Just make sure you weigh out your risks when you decide to travel. Also, once you come home just make sure to cautious, and keep an eye on your health. If you do get sick while traveling, you could bring it home to your family, your work, and your friends, but you can also do that by just by going to the grocery store. Just put the time in to think about it.

Try Traveling A Different Way

If you are worried about doing any major traveling, but really need to get out of the house, think about a road trip. You can road trip to a very rural area where there isn’t a lot of people. For instance, although earlier in the year I flew to Tucson Arizona, once there we road tripped to the Grand Canyon. While we were there is wasn’t very busy at all. Honestly there were times where we were the only ones on the hikes. You can always find a place to drive, and spend some time outside hiking, kayaking, bicycling or other physical outdoor activities. And I have also done so many day trips this year as well. Which are both good for your soul, and good for your health. And it allows you to vacation a little without having to worry about flying, or being in busy areas.

All in all, neither of us came home with the virus. We both managed to travel during the pandemic safely and soundly. Tiff even had a negative test result in order to get back into the country. Also, keep in mind this is all information traveling out from Pennsylvania. It seems as if we are one of the states with the strictest rules so hopefully this will help you out. Again, this pandemic has been hard on so many people. Stay strong, keep your heads up, be positive, we will get through this.

P.S. If you wanted to read about my some of my trips click here for Disney World most recently. Click here for Arizona in August. And check out the for the soul section of the blog for little day trips and stuff. Also, if you want to read about the guidelines and rules of traveling to Disney during the pandemic click here.