Wear your goddamn mask!
Ok, let us be real, travelling in a pandemic is not the wisest decision. It surely is way more expensive than a “normal” travel and there were a lot of requirements to meet. However, some things didn’t change at all, like the greed of Egypt and the smile and hospitality in Thailand. You will learn a lot about the countries and how good they are in handling this extreme situation and you can estimate how safe it is to travel to certain countries.
In general, Rob and I tried to avoid the crowds by walking around the masses and visiting places that were similar to what we wanted to see, but were less famous. Also, we chose certain day times to visit the famous places. For Europe and Thailand, it worked perfect, for Mexico and Egypt not at all. They don’t know a personal bubble. They walk right through you, if they could. In Egypt the requirements of a mask were ignored completely. Same goes for the Russian groups that we met, hardly any masks and no personal bubble. Especially in the narrow tombs of the valley of the kings we were afraid.
It took us about 50% more time in planning and booking this travel than it would have in a “normal” situation. We had not only to check, which countries were open for tourists, but also what requirements there were to enter the country. The PCR-test is the minimum requirement to almost every country. After that just followed more like a quarantine or even additional insurances for a Covid-19 treatment. In our insurance this treatment was already included. For Sri Lanka, for example, we would have to get a quarantine and this new insurance. It might sound stupid, but Thailand was the cheapest in Asia in terms of entering with the quarantine. We paid around 1300 $ for both of us for 14 days.
Another country that we checked was Tanzania, because it was open and has beautiful beaches, but as we heard, that there were no recordings of Covid-19 and no requirements to wear a mask, we stayed away. A few weeks ago, the president of Tanzania died of Covid-19. To enter Ethiopia it was similar, no test, no mask and sure too dangerous. On the other hand, Namibia and Botswana not only wanted a test and quarantine, but also a booking from a travel company. We checked the tours they offered and the prices, but it was too expensive and had less freedom than we anticipated.
We are lucky to be able to visit a lot of countries without a visa. Still, we felt a little bit like the Torreto family looking for countries without extradition treaty as we checked our opportunities. We spent a lot of time on google to check a lot of countries and the requirements. It wasn’t easy to plan everything, not going to lie, but what in life is easy? However, all this planning is part of the travel if you are doing everything by yourself and to see how the idea forms to a certainty is part of the journey. The reward is to arrive in the country you aimed for and have a good time there.
Sanitize your hands. Let them check your temperature. The part of the sanitizing might have saved me form the infection, because I touch my face very often. I am trying to avoid it, but I have sensitive skin and often itchy spots around my eyes or on my eyelids. The check of the temperature not only helps them, but also yourself, because you can check for fever if you might feel a little bit unwell. We often had problems with our stomach and it was a good way to see, if it was just our nervous guts messing with us or something serious.
The communication level went up as well. In Chiang Mai, I talked a lot with our receptionist, because of cleaning the rooms and to go to the pool. Officially, the pool was closed due to restrictions of the government, but as long as we were alone in the hotel we could use the pool.
In general, a lot of things were closed, because of the lockdown. Museums, shops, restaurants, animal sanctuaries, markets, spas, even temples and churches, all had to close and I guess, a lot of them didn’t make it through the pandemic. To save some of them, we tried to do as much as we could and were met with open arms and a smile. Except Egypt, where we were met with greedy hands and curses if we refused.
You will be way more often in laboratories and hospitals than you might anticipate, but it is required for the PCR-test. In terms of the test you will get to know gentle people and people who are just ruthless. I know, they are just doing the jobs, but still, I don’t want to throw up in your lap.
In the end, we spent way more money than we wanted, most of the time because of the tests and surely the quarantine made its own impact. On the other hand, some places were much cheaper than before. Thailand made us feel like rich people, whereas Mexico made us feel cheap. And in Egypt we were like those animals – used until we were too sick to be of interest.
This travel taught us a lot and sometimes reassured us of certain prejudices. Still, I didn’t want to miss it.
-Toni
TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF 