Prior to setting off, we took our own\u00a0COVID travel advice. Our goal: to make sure the places we wanted to visit weren\u2019t identified as COVID-19 hotspots and that we wouldn\u2019t be required to quarantine upon arrival or encounter problems upon our return home to Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is in addition to all the usual travel logistics and destination planning we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m with Dwight Eisenhower on this one. \u201c\u2026[plans] are of no particular value, but [planning] is indispensable.\u201d Eisenhower was quoting a military officer speaking about managing peace after World War II, but the premise applies also to the winds of change of travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plan, yet remain flexible. Accept that you may be forced to change plans or cancel at any moment, either while planning or on the road. Adapt your expectations and decisions to the discovery of new information. Preparation opens the mind to possible outcomes; the resulting flexibility helps maximize satisfaction. The less surprised you are as scenarios arise, the more equipped you will be to respond. And the more resilient you’ll become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you happen to be a fan of the saying, \u201cIt\u2019s all about the journey, not the destination,\u201d this ought to resonate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve always been fans of traveling in the shoulder and off-seasons not only because of fewer crowds, but also because it benefits local businesses by helping to extend their season. Prices and availability of accommodation and transport tend to be better, too. With social distancing and crowd avoidance concerns, this approach makes even more sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the sake of joy, sanity and time management, we cut off our attention from most news during the trip. After a few days, however, we realized our disengagement and wondered whether we’d miss a news item which might affect our trip. We asked a friend in Berlin to alert us of developments like border restrictions or closures that might impact our trip or return home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Had such information arrived at the start of our trip, we may have opted to cut the trip short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you travel, you are essentially a guest in someone’s else home. Accept that you\u2019ll be expected to comply with the requirements of the destinations you visit. That\u2019s as true now with COVID as it’s ever been, only the stakes are higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you aren\u2019t willing to comply with local laws and requirements -\u2013 either as they are, or how they may develop in response to circumstances \u2014 don\u2019t go. This also applies to any possible quarantine and testing rules back home. Otherwise, you’ll make yourself and others miserable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1. Do your COVID-19 & travel restriction research Prior to setting off, we took our own\u00a0COVID travel advice. Our goal: to make sure the places we wanted to visit weren\u2019t identified as COVID-19 hotspots and that we wouldn\u2019t be required to quarantine upon arrival or encounter problems upon our return home to Germany. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/93"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwijjha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}