WHAT IT’S LIKE TO TRAVEL DURING COVID IN 2020
By: Carolene Méli
Tags: Travel Tips, Covidtravel, Digital Nomads, Small Business, Greece

Naxos

Next was the island of Naxos. My plan was to stay somewhere remote for a week and get creative — I wanted to write poems and blog posts and meditate and swim. I took the ferry across which was a 5 hour journey. Face masks were mandatory and passengers, for the most part, were respectful in using their own logic to practice social distancing. Again, I never had the feeling that I was at risk in any way.

I spent the first couple of hours on the island in the main town (Chora), ate an incredibly delicious meal and walked around the streets. It was crazy to think that it was the beginning of July and things were so quiet. As much as I loved the tranquility, my heart hurt for the restaurants and shop owners and tour guides desperately awaiting their tourists.

Up to my Airbnb I went with both my taxi driver and I wearing masks. Upon our arrival, my airbnb host met me, donning the same attire (as well as gloves). My room was quite remote and peaceful and was exceptionally clean. The view of the sea was just exquisite. Worry after worry just melted away in an instant.

For my first five days there I was pretty much by myself, but slowly more people started to arrive. Just like the feeling I had in Chora, as much as I did love the solo, hermit vibes I was happy to see business picking up.

There was a local restaurant under my room and I ate there most days. It was a family run business and they were just wonderful to me — always bringing me a little something extra and usually straight for their garden.

My Airbnb host was equally as lovely, periodically checking in (via message) to make sure I was ok. I loved this place so much that I decided to stay for an extra week. Originally I had planned to check out another island, but I found it hard to tear myself away from this tranquil oasis.

THE DEPARTURE

I left Naxos by small plane, spent half a day in Athens on an outing organised by Grecian Lux and then flew to Poland that evening. Why Poland? Well, the only way to fly from Greece to Montenegro was with Air Serbia, flying through Serbia’s capital Belgrade. A few days before my departure, Montenegro closed its border to Serbia and as a result my flights were cancelled. So I spent half a day trying to figure out how to get there in one piece.

Traveller tip: If your flights are cancelled due to border closures, jump on the airport website (of the city you are trying to get to). Study their live arrivals to see which flights are successfully landing and from where. Then replan your itinerary flying through one of those cities!

That is what I did and why I randomly spent a night in Warsaw. I stayed at the Hampton by Hilton Warsaw Airport Hotel and was really impressed by their well thought out COVID procedures. The next morning I effortlessly flew into Podgorica, Montenegro and was extremely happy and relieved about the whole thing. Success!

Side note: I wanted to give a shout out to Aegean Airlines! I was flying with them from Naxos to Athens and had to reschedule my flight twice as my subsequent itinerary kept changing. Each change took around 5 minutes to carry out and was completely free. Honestly, I was not expecting it to be that easy and as a result, this was one of my highlights of my whole adventure. I will now forever be a loyal Aegean Air customer. Ευχαριστώ πολύ!

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you are a traveller…

Be kind. Everyone that you interact with on your trip is doing their best during a really uncertain, stressful time. Having you there is most likely playing a huge role in helping them pay the bills and keep their staff on payroll. They also had to implement a lot of health and safety procedures that were probably not cheap and on top of that you most likely received one hell of a deal!

So…lead with empathy, be grateful, be patient. If your budget is tight and you cannot purchase anything additional or even tip them, learn how you can support them in other ways (sharing on social media, writing reviews etc). The goal right now for a lot of these businesses is to increase exposure and show potential travellers that their experiences are up and running and are safe. Even something as simple as a share on social media will go a long way. Above all, remember, be kind!

If you are a tourism business…

Focus on impact. Your guests will be dying for this opportunity to get out of their city and have a memorable experience after months of lockdown. You may be operating on a smaller scale than usual, but focusing all your efforts on a personal touch will create impact. Attention to detail is the key here.

I recently did an instagram poll asking ‘have you ever gone on a travel experience and thought to yourself — man that would’ve been so much better if they had thought about all those little details?’. The response was 85% saying YES! So show up for your guest in small, thoughtful ways and the connection you build with them will do wonders for your brand.