Fodor's Guide to Safe and Healthy Travel: Practical Tips and Information for the Age of COVID-19 and Other Pandemics
By Fodor's Travel Guides and WebMD
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About this ebook
How do we confidently return to traveling after the COVID-19 pandemic? In this travel safety guide, the medical experts at WebMD and travel experts from Fodor’s Travel have teamed up to share tips and recommendations on how to travel safely as we look towards getting back on the road again.
There is no question that COVID-19 and future potential pandemics will change the way we live and travel. We all miss being able to travel freely, whether it’s for business, to see friends and family, or for leisure. In this age of pandemics, the WebMD and Fodor’s experts will explore the prospect of future travel and health/travel issues you should consider. We will review what you should know about COVID-19 from a traveler’s perspective, discuss practical aspects of traveling now (Should we be traveling at all? Who should be traveling?), and most importantly, how you can safely prepare yourself and your family as you start to get back out there.
This how-to safety guide will delve into the following areas:
- Know Before You Go - Including: Where to Go, What to Pack, Traveling with Kids, Medical Concerns, Travel Insurance, and Other Considerations
- Getting There and Around - Including: Tips and Guidance on Car/Taxi Travel, Air Travel, Cruise Travel, and Train Travel
- On your Trip - Including: Accommodations, Dining Out, Tourist Attractions, Hospitals and Emergencies
- Back Home - Including: Unpacking your Bags, Quarantine Considerations, and Planning Your Next Trip
- Travel and Health Resources - Including: Where to find the best resources for the most up-to-date information
By the end of this e-book, you will have a better understanding of COVID-19 and the implications of future pandemics on travel, and how you and your family can stay safe on your trips.
ABOUT FODOR’S TRAVEL AND WEBMD
For over 80 years, Fodor’s Travel has been one of the most trusted sources in America for travel advice and travel safety tips. WebMD is one of the most trusted health information brands in the U.S. We are committed to keeping our readers safe, whether at home or on the road. In the age of COVID-19, we were inspired to collaborate to bring you this e-book, so that when we are once again able to travel, we can all do so more safely.
Fodor's Travel Guides
For over 80 years, Fodor's Travel has been a trusted resource offering expert travel advice for every stage of a traveler's trip. We hire local writers who know their destinations better than anyone else, allowing us to provide the best travel recommendations for all tastes and budgets in over 7,500 worldwide destinations. Our books make it possible for every trip to be a trip of a lifetime.
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Fodor's Guide to Safe and Healthy Travel - Fodor's Travel Guides
Travel is often for fun and relaxation, but it goes beyond that. It’s a way of challenging our preconceived ideas, it pushes us beyond limits we thought we had, it helps us learn about other cultures, and it brings the world together.
Travel and tourism are also important for the world’s economy: one in every 10 jobs around the world is related to travel and the industry generates 10.3% of global GDP. Travel has been severely affected by COVID-19, it played a role in spreading the disease, and it will be a part of the economic recovery. We miss being able to travel freely—whether it’s a weekend road trip or a dream vacation to an island paradise—and look forward to travel returning to normal. Protecting the health of everyone involved in travel is important, and, at least for a while, travel is going to be very different.
At Fodor’s, we’ve always relayed health information to our readers. Our digital site, w fodors.com, regularly explores health in the travel context, and we’ve published numerous COVID-19 stories to keep you informed and help your travel dreaming and planning. In our guidebooks, we always include a comprehensive Travel Smart chapter to provide practical advice and tips on both personal safety and health-related safety. We’ve covered everything from the Zika virus in places like the Caribbean to the norovirus (which, while often associated with cruises, is found in many places, though few have the same reporting requirements as cruise ships). As an extension of the coverage we’ve always provided, we’ve created this special e-book with our colleagues at WebMD on how to travel safely in this age of pandemics.
COVID-19 brought travel almost to a standstill in the spring of 2020 but by June travel was very slowly starting again. It’s mostly domestic travel for now and, even as lockdown and self-isolation restrictions are lifted, many are concerned that it’s still too early. Second waves of infection are appearing and some countries are reinstating restrictions. The situation changes almost daily. We need to take precautions to protect ourselves, our families, our communities, and the world. Travel won’t be safe from COVID-19 until a vaccine is developed and readily available to everyone on the planet. Going forward, we now have a better understanding of the seriousness of pandemics and how to be prepared for the next one.
When deciding when and where to travel, there are several factors to consider. First, governments provide advice and warnings. The CDC is still advising against nonessential travel within the United States and released guidance for reopening of states on May 14. For international travel, the CDC has a Level 3 Travel Health Notice recommending against nonessential travel to all global destinations, and the State Department has a Global Level 4 Health Advisory to avoid all international travel. Travelers who have been in certain parts of the world are also subject to additional measures upon arriving in the United States. Every national government decides who is allowed within its borders and can set conditions for entry like testing and mandatory quarantine.
Second, once governments give the green (or, more likely, amber) light to travel, you’ll need to consider the risks particular to you and your family. If you or someone you have regular contact with is at elevated risk for COVID-19, travel might not be a wise choice right now. You’ll also need to consider the feasibility of a 14-day posttrip self-isolation or quarantine, either if you show any respiratory symptoms or because of rules that require it.
Travel under COVID conditions is stressful. You might have anxiety about contracting and spreading the illness or about last-minute cancellations. Remember that key ways to stay safe are in your control: keep 6 feet from others, don’t touch your face unless your hands are well cleaned, and wear a face mask in public. If the stress of pandemic travel would make your trip unenjoyable, it’s likely better to postpone it (certainly for a vacation, but even for work or to visit family). Government restrictions, border closures, and transportation cancellations could all change your plans at the last minute. To help you anticipate changes, monitor government sites and local news before and during your trip.
You’ll also want to minimize your chance spreading the virus, whether to areas not yet hard hit or by contributing to a second wave of infection. A high priority should be minimizing any additional burden on hospitals, which means avoiding places that have not yet flattened the curve.
Keep in mind that testing is different in every jurisdiction. Reported case numbers might be very different from actual case numbers, and we may never know the number of asymptomatic—but still contagious—cases.
For both domestic and international travel, travelers will need to carefully weigh the good they can bring by spending money in local economies against the risk of spreading COVID-19, particularly to destinations without robust public health care systems.
Whether it’s to see family, take a vacation, or for business, travel deemed nonessential
is first opening up to areas within driving distance of home. Check out our comprehensive Road Trip guide for U.S. road trips on w fodors.com. Domestic travel, including by air, will then become more widespread.
Internationally, there are restrictions at almost every country’s borders. Travel bubbles
and corona corridors
are opening up between select countries. For example, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians can travel within their combined borders as of May 15 and Greece, Cyprus, and Israel are talking about travel between their three countries without the need for quarantine. Regional travel, such as within the EU’s Schengen countries, will likely follow. Widespread international travel, especially without the need for quarantine, will be the last to return to a new normal.
The travel situation will continue to change rapidly as COVID infections wax and wane, scientists identify new concerns and new solutions, and