What Is It Like Travelling During COVID-19
You’ve been stuck in your home country all year potentially at this point, and/or your strong stance of not going on holiday until Corona season is over is slowly melting away. Am I right?
I decided to take a walk back into the wild side and resume my catching flights and feelings behaviour last month, August 2020. I don’t want to inflate myself but I think I could be called a COVID travelling expert. I travelled around South-East Asia all February and returned to England, just when they were slowly realising that the Coronavirus was going to be a real issue. Imagine me strolling into Heathrow airport February/March 2020 to zero safety procedures put in place by England… no temperature check, COVID test… honestly nadaa.
The thing is throughout my travels in Asia, before I was even allowed to join the queue to receive a boarding pass temperature checks were done, and masks were compulsory in all airports. Every plane I got off, be it a domestic flight or international, there were people waiting with thermometers. They were seriously not playing. A major contrast to England.
Ok fast forward to August 2020, and I pulled up to Heathrow airport again to catch my flight. England’s 2M rule was clearly ignored when people and their suitcases were running past me on the escalators. But the airport seemed a lot more prepared. Before I even entered the airport there were staff checking that people had a mask on and there were cleaning stations just outside the departure entrance. The cleaning stations featured hand sanitiser, antibacterial wipes to wipe down luggage handles, and fresh masks.
Departure lounges and boarding gates had signed some seats as unavailable to space out passengers. And there were sign markings all over the floor reminding people to maintain their distance and everyone followed these until boarding happened.
I’m a ranter I know but… getting on an aeroplane isn’t like boarding a bus. Yooo, you’ve already paid for your seat, you are actually guaranteed your spot so why are people rushing and breathing near me? The airline I flew with, Alitalia who I recommend big time, called people to queue in batches of seat numbers but social distancing vanished at that point. If stupidity like this stressed you out, I recommend boarding the plane last.
On the plane, all of the middle seats had been blanked out, which I loved. However, the usual trolley and food opportunities on the planes no longer happened. It felt really weird. I basically had minimal interaction with the air stewards, and my throat felt dry. I’m talking in regards to short-haul flights, 3 hours and below.
I will say though if you fly business class like moi. *This was my first time, but boy I’m addicted* On my way back from my getaway I flew business class and I was given a real hearty breakfast. To the point that I couldn’t finish it all. And business class came with its own lounge. The lounge had a bar, food and real comfy classy chairs. I definitely felt more special… and COVID safer when I entered the business level.
Before you re-enter England there is a form that you are expected to fill in. The form states where you’ve visited, quarantine period etc. The queue to come back to England was long and had a backlog of people who didn’t realise they had to fill in the form and were trying to multitask whilst making the queue longer. That, I would say was the only inconvenience I faced. And this imaginary form, really hadn’t been well advertised!
In a nutshell, travelling during COVID is do-able. Considering, I went away in August, during the summer holidays which is usually busy travel period, Heathrow airport was pretty much like a ghost town. My thing is from when you leave your house you are at risk from catching Corona. Wear the mask, don’t rub your face, regularly wash your hands and be conscious not to be squished up next to people. Things like if the transfer bus looks full, waiting for the next one.
Will you be travelling this year?
