Does anyone else feel like they are in the middle of a really bad movie? The plot drags on, the death toll continues to rise, you don’t know exactly what’s coming next…but you know it’s not good. The world is changing, not by the day, but by the minute and Covid 19 is affecting all of our lives in ways none of us could have imagined. School is canceled, we can’t visit our Moms, you have to think twice before even going out to grab a cup of coffee. ( I haven’t had take-out in 8 weeks!) For a travel blogger, someone who lives and breaths travel, our world has also been rocked. Boarders are shut down. Trips cancelled, and the way we make our living has come to a grinding halt. So now what? Recently I was contacted to answer some burning questions on the mind of travel lovers and travel lovers. Please find this article below – a guest post from the Psychology of Travel on the Impact of Covid-19 on Travel.
Travel Experts Share Their Top Travel Tips
Let’s go straight to the travel experts when it comes to the impact of Covid-19 on travel. I asked some of the top travel bloggers in the industry to share their best travel tips and advice during Covid-19. My sincere thanks to all who provided responses from all over the world to these important questions. From all the replies, I picked the top responses to include here. Here are their responses to the following questions:
1.) What is your best piece of travel advice for readers during Covid-19?
2.) What is one thing you have learned about travel or travel blogging during this Covid-19 quarantine?
3.) What is the link to your blog site for readers to see more information from you?
Best Travel Tips
What is your best piece of travel advice for readers during Covid-19?
When you start thinking about future travels, research locations in your own country. Some travel restrictions are likely to remain in place, especially for overseas travel, so the best option for the time being is shorter trips within shorter distances. Look at this as an opportunity to explore your backyard, see places that have been put on the backburner. –Pola; Jetting Around
Keep your travel dreams alive, don’t cancel your dreams or your plans – just postpone. –Stephanie; How to Survive Life in the Suburbs
Enjoy remembering past travels and plan for the future. Think about what is important to you and incorporate it into your plans. For instance, do you want to travel more sustainably? Or is it time to take trips that reflect your own interests rather than choosing fashionable destinations? –Karen; WorldWideWriter
“Don’t cancel your dreams or your plans – just postpone.”
-Stephanie
How to Survive Life in the Suburbs
As my father would say, “Blessed are the flexible”. And that statement is never more true that the current global situation. We had almost a dozen flights for 2020 cancelled and our plans were thrown out the window. So we have learned a newfound gratefulness for flexibility. The current suffering and loss of life is nothing short of tragic, but every time humanity has faced major pandemics, it has always bounced back. Sometimes it took months, others years. And in the worse ones, decades. I’m quite sure we will eventually get back to the pre-COVID-19 travel patterns. So we should start preliminary planning and getting inspired now. Then when the planes hit the skies again and borders open, we’ll be ready to take advantage of the super cheap prices as desperate business try to lure back travellers. –Josh; Forever Break As the quarantine seems to move in slow motion and plans have evaporated, breath in and remember this too will change. Having to cancel yet another summer plan (Glacier National Park), I am learning patience. Take long walks and have different plans for when you can start booking that next trip. –Julie; The Places Where We Go“Blessed are the flexible”
-Josh
Forever Break
My best piece of travel advice is to adhere to every social distancing measure that’s required of us. There are places in Europe starting to open back up, and same here in the States, but that doesn’t mean life is “normal” again. I think that it’s okay to go somewhere as long as you’re showing tremendous caution and respecting the laws in place for everyone to stay healthy. –The Foster Family; Foster Family Travels
I believe the act of travel is constant, not fleeting. It consists of a deep love of travel, frequent exploration of places and education, planning and fantasy of some future travels. We are fortunate to live in the 21st century and that we can virtually explore many places especially with VR headsets. Reading books, travel blogs and watching documentaries is a great way to identify ourselves and at least find ourselves somewhere else for a moment. If you don’t have strict bans like we have in Catalonia, take a stroll down a new path in the place where you live. And it’s a kind of journey, new and unexplored. Don’t be desperate, this will pass too. Everything passes eventually. Enjoy in the moment. Enjoy in “now”. –Valentina; KooklyLovestoTravel
I think the best travel advice I can give during this crazy time is to not get discouraged. Use travel videos, blogs, and research to inspire you for your next adventures post-quarantine. I also believe there will be a big rise in road trips to maintain social distancing. So mapping out future road trips and things you want to see can be a great way to stay optimistic. –Monica; Monica Goes Travel Show
Of course, abide by the regulations and guidance in your local area. Don’t get too disappointed if premade plans during this shutdown time alter plans you made before this all started. We’ve had options to do some local hiking where trails have been open, so we are shifting our attention to local opportunities. While it’s not the same as road tripping, just getting out and walking the neighborhood or an occasional hike have provided needed changes of pace from the views of our walls. We’re also using some of our time to catch up on travel podcasts and Youtube blogs. Our current YouTube binge is Long Long Honeymoon. –Art; The Places Where We Go
Lessons Learned
What is one thing you have learned about travel or travel blogging during this Covid-19 quarantine?
During this time of self isolation and self reflection I’ve learned it’s okay to take time off. Time off from blogging, time off from travel and time off from worry. If Travel Blogging is how you make your living, it’s also okay to pivot your writing in a way that still supports your readers and gives you the outlet you need during this unprecedented time.
–Stephanie; How to Survive Life in the Suburbs
“The importance of travel: for local economies, for global understanding, and for individual growth.”
-Karen
WorldWideWriter
I know a lot of travel bloggers were hit very hard in late 2019 by an unfavourable Google algorithm change. So this pandemic is kicking them while they’re down. I’ve kept a positive and upbeat attitude, as I see this crisis as a major opportunity. While other businesses are pulling back and retreating, I’m putting more focus and resources into growing our website – creating new content, getting new writers on board, and increasing organic search presence. Then when the travel industry bounces back, we’ll be in a better position than if we “hunkered down” awaiting the apocalypse. In saying that, it certainly is smart to have a few months of savings up your sleeve to make it easier to ride out these kinds of storms for businesses – unfortunately this advice is too late once the storm arrives, but it’s certainly a lesson to remember for next time. We are also minimizing our expenses as much as possible which is just common sense when revenue falls. But the mindset it was really matters – how will you choose to see this?
–Josh; Forever Break
I’ve learned two, seemingly contradictory, things. The first is the importance of travel: for local economies, for global understanding, and for individual growth. But the second is to be more sustainable, not to over-tax resources and communities. I hope we’ll all be able to travel more consciously in the future.
– Karen; WorldWideWriter
“Try to bring up great memories and remind them more is to come.”
-Julie
The Places Where We Go
What I’ve learned about travel blogging is that it doesn’t have to stop just because we can’t travel! We’ve been doing a daily blog post that has served as a bucket list for places we want to go when we’re able to, either after the restrictions are loosened or sometime further down the road. If anything, this has allowed us more time to think about places we hadn’t thought about before, and to spend time building our social media accounts to start to get some recognition. –The Foster Family; Foster Family TravelsListen closely to all sides of the conversation helps in decisions on what should be spoken or written about when so many are hurting. Try to bring up great memories and remind them more is to come.“Look at this as an opportunity to explore your backyard, see places that have been put on the backburner.”
-Pola
Jetting Around
I definitely realized how quickly things can go away. I had multiple trips and conferences I was supposed to speak at get cancelled or postponed. I will absolutely be appreciating every moment I get to travel a bit more after this pandemic. It’s also given me a chance to work on the business side of things for Monica Goes; updating the website to make it more user friendly, going through old footage to use for stock footage, and practicing my drone skills. –Monica; Monica Goes Travel Show
The Covid-19 crisis, which is likely to be followed by a recession, serves as a reminder that financial stability and planning are extremely important, especially for bloggers or freelancers. I used to freelance full-time and I’m glad that I decided to make it a part-time activity. My day job is remote-first, which means I still have a lot of freedom, but with a steady revenue stream.
–Pola; Jetting Around
“I will absolutely be appreciating every moment I get to travel a bit more after this pandemic.”
-Monica
Monica Goes Travel Show
Nothing lasts forever and nothing is constant. The only constant thing is a change. –Valentina; KookyLovestoTravel
Being able to stay flexible and be ok with things not going as planned is an important personal characteristic. Even in normal times, your most anticipated plans can be disrupted by any number of life circumstances. We’re just in a time that a circumstance is affecting, well, nearly everyone. One additional travel related thing we’ve been doing as a way to reconnect with past travels, is going through past meals we’ve eaten during our travel and recreating those meals with our own recipes. Those are among the current travel related things we’re posting on our blog that we can continue to enjoy in our home and share with others. –Art; The Places Where We Go
The Final Word
Here’s a breakdown of the general themes presented by the expert travel bloggers:
- Plan ahead, and enjoy the process of planning!
- Don’t get discouraged. I’ll re-frame that theme into a more positive-sounding “be encouraged”. This too shall pass!
- Reflect on your travel dreams. What does this say about your or what you want in your travel experiences?
- Consider checking out more local destinations, even in your own neighborhood.
- For travel bloggers, stay flexible and dedicate your time to other pursuits or refining your blog.
- For perspective, remember that your fellow travelers are in the same boat (not literally…that wouldn’t be social distancing!)
Links to Guest Blog Sites
Thanks again to all the travel writers and bloggers from all over the world that offered your best travel recommendations. Special thanks to my fellow bloggers Stephanie, Karen, Josh, Art, Julie, Pola, Monica, the Foster Family, and Valentina for their excellent insights featured here.
- Click for Stephanie’s blog How To Survive Life In The Suburbs and twitter @SassyModernMom.
- Check out Karen’s site WorldWideWriter and twitter @WorldWideWriter.
- See the latest travel adventures and insight from the Foster Family blog and twitter @FosterFamTravel.
- Go see Josh’s excellent travel site Forever Break and twitter @foreverbrk.
- Share Valentina’s love for travel at KookyLovestoTravel and twitter @Kookyloves2.
- Visit Art & Julie at The Places Where We Go and twitter @theplaceswhere1.
- Explore the globe with Pola at Jetting Around and twitter @jettingaround.
- Watch Monica’s show and see her blog at Monica Goes and twitter @monicagoesshow.
It’s amazing how much we take for granted and equally amazing what you can find in your own backyard. Love this post.
Almost every single person I know had pre-paid travel plans for this spring/summer/fall, including myself. Yes it is super disappointing this pandemic has happened but we will travel again one day, and we are all in this together.
It will make getting back out there all the sweeter. Ironically, 2020 was suppose to be our ‘year of travel’ – LOL.
“Blessed are the flexible” is awesome advice to remember
Interesting read, it has me day dreaming more about future travels!
Excellent tips! Thanks for renewing my faith that thee dream trip will take place, just likely not this year. Time to re-read all those travel guides.
This was a great read. Hope we can all get travelling the world again, safely, soon.