Coronavirus Travel Resources – Covid-19 Travel
I can’t help but talking about the Covid-19 since it had a massive impact on traveling in 2020. It’s fair to say that all of us, travelers or not, had their plans impacted by the coronavirus.
Whether you are planning to travel or not during a pandemic I’ll just leave the decision to you, I have no doubt you’ve heard plenty about this.
The point of this article is to inform and share travel resources related to the Coronavirus in order for you to make a responsible decision about whether you want to travel or not.
Travel increases your chances of getting and spreading COVID-19. Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.
Coronavirus Travel Resources
This video is part of the “How to Travel Around the World on a Budget” course.
Table of Contents
What is the current travel situation?
The situation is rapidly evolving, and the situation of today might be completly different in a month. Many countries, if not all, have seen travel restrictions at some point this year. These restrictions are evolving depending on the current state in and outside the country. For instance, many European countries had reopened during the summer after the first wave, only to promptly close again in late October.
Many countries are currently closed and not issuing tourists visa, therefore you need to verify the country’s current status, and what you need to do to enter.
What are some examples of requirements?
- Some countries require a PCR negative test made in the last 96, 72, 48 or 24 hours (different duration depending on the country)
- Others require a quarantine on arrival, lasting usually between 7 and 15 days.
- Various countries made it mandatory to purchase a travel insurance and show the proof.
- You might be required to download a specific tracing app on your phone
Many countries will have different requirements depending on the passport you hold, the country you’re currently residing in and even the countries you’ve visited recently.
Which countries are open and where can you go?
There are several frequently updated websites to inform travelers. My favorite is Flattenthecurve.global
You can easily see which countries are open or not. There is also another option to see the amount of cases.
When clicking on a specific country, you will get additional information and details about traveling, such as the requirements you need in order to enter this country.
Another useful website is Covidentrycheck.com. You’ll find less information than on the previous Flattenthecurve website, but it can be an easy and fast way to check if you can go from one country to another.
Just enter your departure and destination point, and then you’ll get additional information such as whether you have to do a quarantine or if the road is closed.
What should I do before embarking on a trip?
Check my home country's travel recommendation
It’s important to inform yourself about your home country’s travel recommendation before embarking on a trip. You might have to do a quarantine when you return to your home country and you’d probably like to be informed of that before traveling.
Check how active the virus is at my destination
Yes, some countries are open, but before booking your flight you might want to check how active the virus currently is.
In order to check that, I’ll recommend two websites:
Check the current rules of the country I am visiting
Inform yourself on the current rules in the country you’re planning to go to, and be ready to follow these rules. They have certainly created a page specifically related to tourism and the Coronavirus.
To give you an example, this is the Coronavirus travel page concerning France.
Where can I find Official Travel Recommendations?
What can I do to limit the risks?
I’m pretty sure you must familiar by now with the common guidelines such as wearing a mask, washing your hands frequently and putting distance between you and other people, so there’s no point to insist.
What I want to talk about in this part is ways to reduce the risk of catching and spreading the virus specifically while traveling.
Favor outdoor activities
The only trip we took this year was in Switzerland. Even though most museums and other indoor tourist activities had reopened, we decided to always favor outdoor activities, such as hiking or going to parks.
According to the World Health Organization, the risk is lower of contamination while outdoor.
Travel Slower (Volunteering?)
Before embarking on our trip in Switzerland we decided to sign up on HelpX, a popular volunteering platform. We had volunteered frequently before the birth of our first son, but it was our first time volunteering abroad since we became parents!
Our goal was simple, limiting the amount of people we meet everyday, thus potentially reducing the risk of spreading the virus.
To be honest, I was personally utterly more concerned about spreading the virus rather than catching it. As we do love to stay at people’s home while traveling and having many interactions with locals, we aimed at reducing the potentiality of being one of the super-spreaders.
So, instead of moving from one place to another every other day, we had 3 different volunteering experiences during our 2-month-stay in Switzerland.
Go Further
Conclusion
After years of traveling around the world, we decided to rent an appartment in France for the very first time of our life. It seems likely that there won’t be much travel for us in 2021. With two young kids in tow, it’s probably the most sensible option.
I believe that it’s best to avoid international travel these days, as the possibility of being stranded or hospitalized in a foreign country is surely not appealing.
I can understand that the situation has been burdensome for many, and the urge of traveling is understandable, but always remember to be mindful of your actions and travel responsibly.
Feel free to let us know if these coronavirus travel resources where useful and hit us up if you have any question, we’ll see if we can help!
