Hey Owlets,
A while ago I wrote a post about my tentative travel plans for 2021, mentioning that I was considering starting again around March - yes, we can all have a laugh about it now. That has gotten me thinking though, is travel actually going to be possible this year? There’s a lot of conflicting information flying around on the internet at the moment and I don’t think weighing in with my best guess would actually help, but I wanted to talk about my personal feelings and whether I’m starting to plan. I’m hoping that it might help you if you’re also conflicted, and if not maybe you can give me a little extra confidence in my decisions.
So to start with, let me be totally transparent. At the start of this year I actually had several domestic and international press trips in the works - I cancelled all of these until the end of summer and have yet to formally confirm anything for later in the year. I think it’s important to tell you this because I know as a travel blogger a lot of people assume I would take risks to get back to work sooner, but that’s entirely not the case. With that out the way let’s take a look at my main areas of interest for travel.
International Travel
The last time I left the country was December 2019 - I had a few trips booked for early 2020 but these were cancelled as a precaution. Between lockdowns last year I noticed a few bloggers travelling abroad, and this post isn’t intended to throw shade at them - I saw them wearing masks even when not legally required, they followed all regulations and didn’t get sick so fair play to them. I’ll admit that I considered joining them when I saw a cheap flight to Greece but I decided it just wasn’t for me yet. The thought of travelling at a time when a new virus with very little information on how to treat was circulating offered more risk than I was willing to take. Fast-forward a year and we have a vaccine (I personally have already received the first dose), a bit more of an idea of how to treat the symptoms, the numbers are dropping and there are more safety regulations in place. You’d think that would make it fine to travel now, right? Well, yes and no.
Obviously a big issue is variants - I don’t think we’re ever going to get rid of the virus, but at least if we all do our part now it’ll give chance for scientists to learn more and give more people a chance to be vaccinated. While we’re on the subject, let’s talk about vaccines. Currently we have a vaccine that has shown reduces severe effects in studies, but we don’t know how long the vaccine lasts for and if it’s effective on all variants. I know this is going to be an issue for a long time to come, but I personally want to hold back to see if and how those questions are answered first. Even if these questions aren’t answered in the way that we would hope it wouldn’t stop me travelling because COVID is going to be a fact of life now, but for me it’s all about giving medical practitioners time to figure out how to better treat people.
In all honesty I would hope to revisit (travel pun intended) the idea of international travel later this year (around September maybe), but I would only go when I feel totally safe and the pessimist in me is saying 2022.
Cruises
This is a bit of a hot topic at the moment- just about every line you can think of has announced UK cruises this summer. I understand it, I support it and I definitely want to get back on board as soon as possible but I have my reservations. One thing that really annoyed me at the start of the pandemic was mass-market media producing poorly researched articles that equated cruise ships to plague carriers with no real basis for this. In truth cruise ships are some of the cleanest and most hygienic travel experiences I’ve had. Outbreaks of Norovirus are a fact of life on cruise ships so you’ve been expected to sanitise your hands when entering and exiting public areas for a long time before the rest of the world started doing this. If a ship does suffer an outbreak, it’s usually caused by a few ignorant guests that choose not to sanitise their hands.
With that in mind I have no doubt that cruise ships would be safe, particularly with the upgrades to air circulation systems that have been made and the enhanced protocols. Cruise lines have proved that they’re excellent at containing Norovirus (there was an outbreak when we were on board Columbus in 2019 and only 11 people were infected), although of course it needs to be mentioned that COVID is more lethal and has other transmission vectors so it’s not an exact comparison. My reservations here are more to do with pricing and cabin grades. I am usually the kind of person that would book the cheapest cabin in order to be able to afford more cruises. That means potentially having an inside cabin for 2 cruises instead of a balcony cabin for one. I am somebody who very much needs to get outside each day, so if the ship had to go into quarantine I would struggle if I was stuck with no access to sunlight or fresh air. This means that for me personally to feel comfortable I would have to book a balcony grade cabin which in a lot of cases is prohibitively expensive.
I will say that it’s quite exciting to see all of these new cruise lines trying UK cruises - I hope that while it’s their only option for now it would encourage them to consider it on a longer term basis if it goes well. If you can afford to book a balcony cabin or aren’t worried about being stuck inside in the event of quarantine then I would say go for it. The cautious side of me would recommend waiting it out and seeing how the first cruises get on, but it’s probably one of your safer travel options.
Finally, let’s come to my third area of interest and the only one where I’ve actually booked anything. As it stands, in the UK you’re allowed to travel to self-contained holiday accommodation and t
he gridlock motorways prove that people have been taking advantage of this. To be honest if Jack wasn’t so busy at work I probably would be too!
I think because we are all used to the laws in the UK it feels safer. I don’t feel qualified to say if it is and I think it depends on how you travel, but it’s probably going to be one of the only options for now. So far I’ve booked to go to Southampton in August plus a few potential UK press trips. I would love to go away for my birthday but I’m not actually sure if that will be possible - my birthday is 18th May and a lot of self-catering accommodation won’t let you book for just a few nights which is all we could realistically do at the moment.
I think the main reason the government are letting people travel domestically is because it doesn’t expose the country to the risk of bringing back international variants en masse. Travelling within the UK doesn’t mean you won’t get sick but just be sensible. Wear a mask when you go into shops, wash your hands, drive instead of taking public transport if you can.
Personally, domestic travel is my way forward at the moment. I need to get back to travelling for my mental health and I know a lot of you feel the same way. Things are so up in the air at the moment that you can’t really rely on what anybody is saying about where you can go and what you can do, so it’s just a case of doing what you’re comfortable with, what’s legal and what’s going to make you feel safe. But I really can’t wait for the day I can bring you my next cruise ship review!!
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