How I Survived The Storms of 2020 as a Full-Time Traveler
By: Jack Krier
Tags: Life Lessons, Travel, Remote Work, Digital Nomads, Freelancing

On the road again

I started digital nomadism 2.0 in Germany and Austria as they were among the first reopen.

The measures were stringent, but most travel attractions were open. Bars had to close early, there were no events, and you had to wear masks everywhere. For me, it was just another set of restrictions. I will never use the hideous term “new normal.”

In June, I continued to Slovenia and Croatia. It was on the Austro-Slovenian border that I got my first taste of the chaos that would characterize 2020 travel.

On the bus, the Slovenian border police asked for my passport. In normal times, there are no border controls between Austria and Slovenia as both countries are members of the Schengen Treaty.

You are not allowed into Slovenia. Your country is on the red list. You need to turn back to Austria.

Are you kidding me? I thought I had checked all the entry requirements.

I took out my phone and showed them the list of “green” European countries — the ones that were allowed to visit Slovenia. Luxembourg and Austria were on the list.

The officers took my passport and called their superiors. As it turned out, Luxembourg had been added to the list a few days before. They weren’t aware of that. One week later, after I had left Slovenia for Croatia, my country was off the list again. A window of opportunity, I suppose.

My brief Slovenian border episode became a small drop in an ocean of travel bureaucracy and incomprehensible entry regulations.

The European Commission published some guidelines throughout 2020, but as always, countries went their own ways. For young Europeans — who are used to crossing borders on a whim without even taking their passport — it was a nightmare.

Nevertheless, travel was possible, and there were also lots of advantages.

It was my fourth time in Croatia, and the experience was incomparable to most summers — when millions of tourists flock to the alluring Balkan nation. The cities were empty, the beach resorts were half-empty, and I had the Plitvice Lakes National Park — one of the most stunning natural sights in all of Europe — to myself.

The same applied to Italy. I managed to finish off the last two Italian regions that I hadn’t visited before — Sicily and Calabria — and spent six weeks traveling around the rest of the country.

Having been to Italy almost every year, I can safely say that there has never been a better time to visit the Colosseum, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper, or Apulia’s beach resorts. It was marvelous.

After that, I headed to Portugal, where I spent two months improving my Portuguese and working on new projects. Much like Italy and Croatia, the lack of crowds was unprecedented, and the tourism-loving country welcomed foreigners with open arms.

Italy and Portugal had barely any restrictions, and for a short period, I forgot that COVID even existed. Yes, you had to wear a mask in supermarkets and on trains, but other than that, nothing had changed.

At the end of September, I headed to my next nomad base: Athens, Greece.

My arrival in Greece coincided with COVID spikes all over Europe. Upon arriving at Athens Airport, an unfriendly airport official barked out orders at the passengers. Straight toward the testing center!

Everyone got tested at the airport. Passengers didn’t have a choice. On the official website, it said that they would randomly select passengers for testing. In my case, the random selection included an entire plane of 200 travelers.

It was my fifth test and came back negative, like the previous four. I had taken three in Luxembourg and one in Portugal, but this one was different.

A positive result would have meant two weeks in a Greek quarantine facility. There was no information about the facilities online.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t have a problem with the test itself. After all, I was entering Greece, and I needed to play by their rules. However, the supposedly random selection and the lack of information about subsequent procedures made it a bit sketchy.

The testing in Greece was just one of the many aspects that made traveling in 2020 an uncertain affair.

I nonetheless had a brilliant time in Greece and left just before they entered their second full-scale lockdown.