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8 Pandemic Travel Tips

Love traveling but want to stay safe during the pandemic? This guide provides tips for staying safe and traveling in new ways during the Covid-19 pandemic!

Mount Galbraith, Golden, Colorado
Mount Galbraith, Golden, Colorado

1. Embrace road trips

First and foremost, we have not gotten on a plane in the last year. We don't plan to get on a plane until we're vaccinated. People will cite studies of how safe it is to be on a plane. From crowded airports to sitting very close to people on the plane to people taking off their masks to eat the whole flight, nothing about being on an airplane during a pandemic makes me feel comfortable.

Oleta River State Park, North Miami Beach, Florida
Oleta River State Park, North Miami Beach, Florida

With that in mind, find places to travel to that are within driving distance. We took one long road trip out west in an RV which involved several days of only driving. We've also taken a few other shorter trips that we could drive to within a day. This limits the destinations a bit, but it has also given us the chance to explore a lot of closer places that we haven't taken the time to explore until now.

Bodie Island Lighthouse, Outer Banks, North Carolina
Bodie Island Lighthouse, Outer Banks, North Carolina

2. Avoid group lodging

Hotels aren't a place we're comfortable staying right now. There's a lot of people to come into contact with and a shared ventilation system that doesn't make us feel great. Our first trip was in an RV. This was nice because we had a single place to stay for an entire month and we could move around.

RV Road Trip
RV Road Trip

For our subsequent trips, we've opted for Airbnbs instead. We find properties that are stand alone houses so that we aren't coming into contact with other people. We also make sure self check-in is available. We wait to check in until a few hours after it's available to make sure that someone wasn't inside the house just before we arrive.

Swanannoa Airbnb
Swanannoa Airbnb

3. Plan outdoor activities

Similar to when we're at home, when we travel, we only do outdoor activities. This works well for us since that was mostly our travel style pre-pandemic too. We find places to hike, kayak, or parks/beaches to enjoy. We've done some self-guided neighborhood walking tours too. Being outside has shown to be the safest way to avoid spreading the virus, so that's where we spend our time.

Kayaking, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina
Kayaking, Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina

4. Be prepared for bad weather

Related to the tip above, with outdoor activities comes bad weather (at least for us). We come prepared for rain/snow with waterproof gear and lots of layers. We aren't ones to just hang out at the Airbnb all day, but that's an option too.

Deep Creek, Bryson City, North Carolina
Deep Creek, Bryson City, North Carolina

5. Get takeout

We love experiencing a place through its food and that's still possible in a pandemic. Sure we'd rather eat in a restaurant, but for now we get takeout wherever we go. I recommend keeping a folding table in the trunk of the car and finding a nearby park to enjoy takeout at so that the food is as fresh as possible.

Pizzeria Veritas, Cary, North Carolina
Pizzeria Veritas, Cary, North Carolina

6. Wear a mask

This one should be obvious and is not specific to traveling. We always have a mask on us. We wear a mask whenever we have to be inside around other people (which we try to limit to running into a restaurant quickly to pickup our takeout order). We also wear a mask if we're near other people outside.

Mask Collection
Mask Collection

7. Avoid crowds

Another general pandemic tip is to avoid other people, especially large groups of people. Our favorite way to do this is to get places early or go to places at off hours. We usually try to start hiking around 7am which means we see very few people on the trails. We also get takeout in the middle of the afternoon when restaurants aren't busy.

Early Morning Hike at John Rock, Brevard, North Carolina
Early Morning Hike at John Rock, Brevard, North Carolina

8. Travel solo

While it's good to avoid strangers, it's also good not to travel with a group of people. For the same reason that we don't see people while at home, we also don't travel with people. We did travel with my parents once and we both made sure to avoid being around anyone before that.

Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, Hillsborough, North Carolina
Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, Hillsborough, North Carolina