5 key points to keep in mind for travel in the midst of coronavirus:
1. Consider your personal situation before you travel anywhere: Your age, your physical condition, and medical history. If you’re young and fit, the majority of the world is still very much open to you. If you are old and have asthma, or are otherwise already compromised, maybe don’t go to Iran or Italy. Use your common sense.
2. Practice good hygiene at home and abroad. It’s as much about keeping others safe as it is keeping yourself safe. Even if you contract coronavirus, you can still prevent it spreading by following the advice. Again, common sense.
3. If you have something booked but are genuinely feeling anxious about it, you can try and reschedule the trip for later in the year, or next year, when things may have settled. Chances are you’d be fine, but if you think you’ll be worrying too much to enjoy your trip, it’ll be a waste of money, more than anything. Rebooking, instead of canceling, means the businesses you’re using know that you’ll be coming back, and can plan for it.
4. Check with your airlines and travel and insurance companies for their latest advice before making a decision. Weigh it all up yourself, and make a decision that you, first and foremost, feel comfortable with.
5. Get all of your information from the relevant government/official channels, and know that eventually, this whole thing will pass.
Even if you haven’t been directly affected by coronavirus (as most of us haven’t), no one would blame you for feeling exhausted and anxious in the midst of all this.
Our 24-hour news cycle, the sheer accessibility of it, and the media’s clicks-at-all-costs mentality mean we don’t just carry the world’s problems in our pockets—we feel the burden of those problems more profoundly, too.
Please be kind to yourselves during this strange time. Limit your exposure to screens and 24-hour news cycles, spend time with the people and things that make you feel good.
Now is a time for unity, community and togetherness, not fearmongering and sensationalism.
Go outside, please.
Useful links: www.smartraveller.gov.au www.who.int
