What it's really like to travel during the pandemic

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

My partner and I have been wanting to travel for a while. And when I say 'travel' I don't mean a two-week vacation; I mean leaving our flat, giving the cats to the parents, and hitting the road for god knows how long, while working/studying online.

I'm sure it's a dream for a lot of people. We were lucky enough to be able to consider it seriously.

But then covid happened. Plans cancelled, dreams shattered... well, not quite.

Despite the global situation and the anguished reactions of our families and friends, we decided that if we didn't do this now, we would never do it. Sometimes that's all it takes to take the leap.

For four months we planned our departure from our London flat (and the UK). It went relatively smoothly, and after two days of driving through France with a van full of our dearest earthly possessions, my partner's parents, and our two howling kitties, we reached Switzerland on the 21st of September 2020. That's where my partner is from, in case you were wondering.

The plan was to start our adventure in October 2020... we ended up leaving in January 2021. But that's okay, what matters is that we left in the end.

So what is it like, travelling - nomad-style - during the pandemic?

Well, I'm going to give you a classic pros and cons comparison, so that you may decide for yourself if that's something you want to do!

The pros

1. There are more available accomodations. This will depend on where you go, but generally we have found accomodations (on Airbnb, which is our favourite way to find long-term accomodation) that would have been booked in normal circumstances. We even made last-minute bookings for 4-week stays!

2. The prices of said accomodations might be cheaper. Because the price of Airbnb accomodations varies depending on the number of people who check them out online, and because people aren't going away as much as usual, hence don't check out accomodations much; the prices are generally lower than usual. Add to that the massive discounts you get when booking for a full month (we've had up to 75% off!), and it becomes very interesting to travel right now.

3. Iconic places aren't crowded. This is by far my favourite pro. Since there are fewer tourists (most of the time we are the only ones), we get to visit places that would usually be absolutely crammed! The most obvious example was the village of Locronan, in Brittany, which was basically empty when we visited it, whereas it's usually bursting with hundreds of people. We'd never have been able to see it in such favorable conditions outside of the pandemic.

4. Travelling during the pandemic means you're not stuck at home. This one is obvious, but I still wanted to include it. Going through a pandemic (and a lockdown) isn't easy. Going through it while being stuck at home is even less fun. So why not take that opportunity to see the world?

The cons

1. Most places are closed. Most places aren't crowded, that's true, but the downside is that most of them are closed, too. Because of this there were some exciting spots we couldn't check out, such as l'Abbaye Notre-Dame de Langonnet or la tapisserie de Bayeux, which we would have been able to see normally.

2. There's still a risk of catching the virus. Although the risk isn't necessarily greater than if you stayed at home (depending on your lifestyle), travelling doesn't take away the risk of getting contaminated with the virus. That's kind of obvious, but worth mentioning. For us, it's actually a little less risky to be travelling right now, simply because if we'd stayed at home we would be in contact with my in-laws, who work in social and medical fields where there has been a high rate of contamination.

3. It's not as easy to socialise. That's something I'm sure at least 99% of the world is struggling with right now. As someone who suffers from social anxiety, it's both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it pleases my anxiety daemon, who wants to isolate me from the rest of the world; and a curse because the social butterfly in me wants to make new friends (which hasn't happened in years). Because places like cafés and cinemas are closed, and social events are not happening, it can be tough to meet new people. The solutions we've found have been to interact with the people we are in contact with during our trip (Airbnb hosts, local shop owners...) but also to try and socialise online. Think platforms like Meetup, or even online RPGs for geeks like meself :)

4. There's a lack of basic amenities. This touches on the most practical side of things: peeing and feeding. These activities have obviously been made more difficult by the pandemic. We have had to plan ahead of a day trip, because we never know if we'll be able to find a toilet or somewhere to buy food on the go. In most places you can forget about sitting down at a nice restaurant or café and taking a break before resuming your explorations. Thankfully, we've been pretty lucky so far and have always found public toilets and places that sell food and drinks, even for vegetarians like us. Again it will depend on where you go.

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I guess it's a tie then... personally, I'm very happy to be travelling right now. I wouldn't change it; covid or no covid.

Of course at some point we might have to take a test and leave France (which is where I'm originally from) to explore the rest of the world, and if that happens I'll be sure to keep you posted on here, Instagram and Youtube :)

I hope this article gave you some practical information about what it's like to be travelling right now, and that it will help you make an informed decision!