Benefits of Travel in the COVID19 Era

There is a silver lining to every cloud. Speaking of bold-faced lies, “money grows on trees,” is a good one as well.

While I don’t subscribe to the silver-lining foolishness, I do think there are some positive aspects to traveling in the COVID19 era. Ironically, this past year I have actually taken more flights, trains, metros, and buses than I normally do. We actually started off the year in China and have been on the run around the world since then, trying to fulfill governmental requirements for visas. The discussion of whether one should travel in the COVID19 era is not the topic of this post. I will leave those opinions to the uniformed and erratic proclamations of our world leaders. But if you do find yourself having to travel here are some benefits you can expect:

– Quiet airports

– Waved changed fees

– Extra leg room

– No pushing and shoving in lines, or ramming your ankles with oversized luggage

– People aren’t so rushed. It is almost as though the masses have understood that travelers can’t come screaming in ten minutes before their departure and expect to jump in line.

– The planes and airports are the cleanest I have ever seen them. This was very important given the amount of transcontinental flights we took with our one year old who prefers to explore the world through his tastebuds.

– Fewer lines

– Easier security checks. It seems like people are much more concerned about the virus than terrorists.

There are some things you want to keep in mind:

– Destination visas and COVID requirements. Use the app SkyScanner to get an overview.

– There are many different requirements for what masks are legitimate

– Expect armed guards to critique your mask wearing techniques (thank you Germany)

– Change in operations in every terminal. You can’t expect that how it was last week is how it will be this week.

– Limited dining options prior to and during flights

I don’t want our world to continue on like this, but I will be sad to see the extra leg room disappear!