Travelling during a global pandemic

 

Last month, I was luckily, or selfishly, able to travel abroad to Greece. It was a trip that I'd had booked for a year and had already had to postpone once due to the global pandemic. In the weeks leading up to the trip, I kept a keen eye on the cases in my country and the country I was going to and made a pros and cons list as to whether I should go or not.

PROS:

• 2020 was going to be my 'travel year'... I had 2 definite trips booked and others in the pipe-line. Needless to say the others were all cancelled apart from the Greece one. It seemed like it would be the only trip that would happen before a potential second wave of the virus in the winter.
• Greece had recorded far fewer cases than other European countries and was probably safer than my own.
• I had pretty much self-isolated and stayed at home for the 3 weeks prior to the trip. I work from home so wasn't meeting people at work and hadn't really seen people outside of my household. I figured the chances I may have anything Covid related was slim. 
• I was travelling solo at the airport and on the flight so could keep myself to myself where necessary.
• I was joining a group tour which had laid out specific guidelines to keep us safe. The measures seemed pretty good and well thought out.
• By going, I was able to support the travel industry and the Greek tourist industry; both of which have been hit hard by the pandemic. 

CONS:

• This trip is not essential travel. All but essential travel is not recommended.

The trip went ahead so I decided to go. The thing I was most unsure of was the flight- having to wear a mask and the difficulty of socially distancing from others. Overall it was very well set out. The airport wasn't too busy and most people were adhering to the rules of wearing masks. 

Boarding on the plane was done logically by seat rows from the back and departing was again done in sections from the front. 

During the trip, the measures set out in Greece were fantastic- and much more well thought out than in England. Every table in a taverna had it's own hand sanitiser and all waiters wore masks. 

The worst thing was hearing how hard hit the Greeks had been by the pandemic. Many of them were emotional over how much they relied on tourism and were not sure how they would make it through the season if tourism had not been allowed. 

So, travelling during a pandemic may not be recommended and will not be something I will make an unnecessary habit out of, however there are the perspectives of others to consider.