Travelling Tips post COVID -19 Lockdown – 2020

2020- The year of COVID-19

The year 2020 will be etched in history especially for the travel and tourism industry. Travel, hospitality, events and tourism came to a standstill. But ‘Once a traveller always a traveller’ and no one can stop a traveller from travelling. They will start slow but will start surely. As I mentioned in my previous article http://tanhadil.in/travel-trends-post-covid-19/ the expected travel trends after the opening of Lockdown or at least when people will have a little confidence that they can travel to a safe zone. Listing below my travelling tips to make your first travel post-COIVD-19 lockdown a safe one. 

Like all others I was also itching to travel, travel somewhere to unwind myself after four months of total lockdown. The big question was where?? Outbound travel will be a big NO for quite some time. Domestic travel looks possible only when one travels by their vehicle as moving around in public transport can cause some issues regarding safety and hygiene. Following are the few steps what I considered for my first travel:

1. Choose your destination: Since outbound travel is out of the question for some time, we need to choose our domestic destination very wisely. For me, safety and precautions against Corona were on top priority. I chose a destination which was just 2-3 hours drive from home so that I could come back on the same day. Avoiding crowded touristy places and well-known sightseeings I chose to go to countryside places near villages. So a heritage temple visit which is just 2 hours drive from Bangalore was an ideal choice. This way I could come back on the same day.
2. Mode of Travel – It is very clear that we have to avoid public transport as far as possible, so the only mode left is self-driven vehicles or Caravan. Since it was my first trip after lockdown and not much has been updated on Caravans I preferred driving.
3. Duration of Travel- I was very clear that I am not going to stay outside for the time being. Hence the choice left to us was a Day Trip. Day trips after such a long time are so much fun.
4. Food- Again with so many speculations about whether we should eat outside food or not was worrying us. We packed our food cooked at home, carried RO drinking water from home and even the snacks prepared at home. We just didn’t want to take any chance. However, we can also choose to eat from local/village vendors who prepare fresh homemade food. This will bring in confidence in them and would welcome tourists from the city. 
5. Precautions- Now onwards the travel kit should have  Arogya Setu App on your phone, sanitizers, face masks, gloves, hand wash soaps/liquids, biodegradable tissues, Oxy Meters( if possible) and thermometer apart from your basic medicines. We did take all the necessary precautions by not touching anything anywhere, did not perform any puja and quickly visited the temple and came back.

The tourism industry has suffered a lot and has to revive back slowly and steadily. If we take the necessary precautions and travel sensibly, tourism will definitely see a comeback. We need to be careful not just for our safety but the safety of others too.