Hey, y’all! I hope y’all are doing well and staying safe. Today, I want to share a few tips for safe traveling during pandemic. We all know the COVID-19 is still alive and around. I know some people still think that it’s a hoax or “just like the flu” when it is not. We definitely need to take it very seriously and not turn a blind eye to it. So many lives have been lost this year from this (my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones or are suffering from this) so we must take it very seriously. With so many places and travel destinations opening back up, I’ve seen so many people traveling and etc. Although we need to stay home so we can flatten the curve again, this is not to say you shouldn’t travel or go anywhere AS LONG AS YOU’RE BEING SAFE! And not only being safe for the sake of your health but others around you as well. That is why I want to share a few tips with you all in case you’re planning to travel this summer or throughout 2020.
I remember right before COVID got really bad, it was almost time for my kids’ Spring Break and the plan was for them spending the week with their Grandparents in Maryland. The plan was to fly them up and then I would spend a couple of days with my family in Connecticut while they enjoyed time away from mommy. Those days leading up to this trip, I was watching the news a lot, I mean MORE than I ever had before. For someone who wanted to be a news reporter, the news gives me anxiety and causes stress. But I had to stay in the know of this situation because it was more serious than we thought. I literally was going back and forth on whether or not to go through with it. So I prayed super hard and trusted God to keep us safe and protected. I actually did a blog post HERE about safety measures I put into place to make sure we were safe and protected. At the time, masks weren’t mandated but that is something I wish we would’ve had a lot of. We made it safe, everyone had a good time and everyone was safe and healthy thank the Lord.
Fast forward to now, our original plan was to go to Walt Disney World for family vacation. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but every year, my little family and I go on three family vacations, 1 with my husband’s family (which is usually in late July/August), 1 with my family (Africa was up in the air for this year but COVID darn it) and just us four. Although Disney World has safety measures in place, with so many people that go to the theme park, it wasn’t worth the risk and canceled, unfortunately. So my in-loves did some thorough research to find a safer alternative for the trip since this was the only time that worked for everyone’s schedule. They ended up finding a house for us on the Southwestern part of Florida that is pretty secluded, quiet and the COVID cases weren’t as high compared to other places in Florida. I know Texas and Florida had high numbers of cases so the way my anxiety is set up, I knew I had to overprepare and find ways for us to stay safe and protect ourselves while traveling. So here are a few tips that helped me prepare for this and hopefully will help you if planning to travel this year as well.
- Have plenty of masks and make sure it has plenty of filtering inside! So this was a big one for me because first of all, a lot of places, flights and etc. have mandated that you wear a mask. And since we were going to be around people, we made sure that we had plenty of masks for us. To make sure that had EXTRA protection, I decided to make masks for us with extra filtering inside. The material I used was soft and thick (but still breathable) and I sewed some material from the N95 inside for extra protection. I love the N95 masks but those darn straps are omg lol! I found a tutorial on YouTube and Pinterest that you can check out HERE and HERE if you’re interested in making your own. I know a lot of companies make masks with just cloth material or whatever. Well, I wanted to be on the safe side so that really helped and came in handy!
- Drive if you can. BUT If you’re planning to fly, book seats/ask to be seated in an area that is distant from other passengers. I know that all airlines have their own procedures so ask to find out so you can adjust accordingly. With American Airlines, I was pissed that they were allowing full planes. When I looked at our seating arrangements, we were seated in an area that was surrounded by people. With me having little kids, I was like NOPE that’s not happening. I guess no one wanted to pay for the good seats so everybody and their mamas wanted to be in the back. On the day of our travels, I went up to the customer service lady and express my concerns about it. By God’s grace, she was nice enough to change our seating arrangement so we were seated in the front near First Class. No one was in the row in front of us or beside us. There was one lady behind us and it was perfect. God bless her so much! So I suggest asking and see if they can work something out for you just to be on the safe side. Update: I did the same on our flight coming back and we were able to get the last row on the and no one was directing across from us thank God!
- Have plenty of wipes, sanitizer, cleaning supplies and etc on deck. This should go without explaining. We had plenty of Clorox Wipes With Bleach, WetOnes, full bottles of sanitizer, and etc. We wiped down every seat, table, everything y’all! LOL, we weren’t playing around. It’s crazy how we were doing this before but now we realize how OCD we really are, which is not a bad thing. When you have kids, it hits a little differently, and cleaning up is a must. But this COVID situation has really opened my eyes to how lowkey OCD we are.
- Keep your kids safe and away from strangers. For some reason, people love touching or petting my kids on their head and it makes me cringe. I don’t know where their hands were before and it makes me low-key mad. With COVID in full effect, if someone dares try to touch my kids, whew I might just lose it. I don’t want anyone coughing, sneezing, or anything near my kids so I try to keep them as close to us as possible. They don’t run around or anything. So I suggest you do the same by having devices around, if your kids are under 3, keep them in their stroller or one of the harness bags like this one HERE. Just keep them close to you so they aren’t exposed to others.
- Please distance yourself and wear your dang mask! We shouldn’t have to tell grown people this but unfortunately, we have to. It’s not you being mean or anything, you’re protecting yourself and others the best way that you can. I don’t understand how strangers are still walking or standing so close to other strangers during all of this. It doesn’t make sense but we have to do better. If there is a sign that says stand here, 6 ft apart, then stand there. Don’t crowd someone else’s space or be all on top of them. Even when the virus is gone, you should keep your distance as well lol. We need to do our part and just follow directions.
A bonus that I suggest is to go with a rental home or Airbnb rather than a hotel until things calm down. I know hotels have safety measures in place as well. But with the number of people who are staying at hotels right now and are walking around without masks, it’s definitely a risk. But that is just a suggestion especially if you’re going to the beach or some type of vacation spot.
So those are a few tips that I have so I hope they were helpful. This is not to say go out and start booking a bunch of flights and traveling all over again. A lot of places have banned US Citizens from entering and leaving their countries so that should tell you something lol. I don’t mind people traveling or going places. I mean do as you please and go wherever. Just make sure you are staying safe, keeping you and your loved ones protected, and doing what you have to do to ensure safe traveling. Let me know if you have any travels coming up and how you’re planning for safe travels! š