Travelling Overseas During a Global Pandemic
Tags: Traveling, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Life Lessons, Safety

Sunrise at Helsinki, Finland — 30,000 ft. in the sky

The holiday season this year is no less peculiar than the rest of 2020. With the second wave of Covid-19 gaining momentum, the world is facing yet another lockdown. However to stop functioning all together is never an efficient stratgey even in a global pandemic. So we adapt and we co-exist with the virus. Especially in the holiday season when most of us are planning to visit home, travelling comes with a big responsibility to not become a carrier of the virus.So how do you prevent becoming a carrier? I share with you in this blog my personal experience of travelling from Europe to Asia in a twenty five hour air travel journey. So that if you are planning to air travel soon, you can be well prepared and gain knowledge from this experience.

Prior to travelling I researched on the modes of transmission of Covid-19 and according to World Health Organization (WHO) this is what we know so far. Transmission of virus though respiratory droplets (sneeze and cough) can occur through exposed mouth, nose and eyes when in close contact (in the range of 1m) with an infected person. Transmission can also take place in contact with surfaces infected by a Covid-19 and airborne transmission can occur even in distances longer than 1 meter. Having read this the rules were simple enough for travelling, I purchased a pack of masks and a hand sanitiser with a mental note to not touch my eyes, ears and regularly sanitise my hands.

During the phase of security checks, passport control and boarding I had limited contact with surfaces and people so wearing a mask and sanitising my hand after every interaction worked out well. But as I boarded the flight from Helsinki to Doha, and then later from Doha to Lahore I realised that it was operating at maximum capacity and there was no social distancing which was alarming.

Now almost everyone on the plane had a negative Covid-19 test prior to boarding and we were given face shields , gloves and sanitisers. But if even one of the passengers was exposed to the virus and had become a carrier the probability of getting the virus was high. The only way to mitigate this probability is to wear the mask, gloves and face shield during the entire flight. So use the protective kit given to passengers on the flight while travelling. What I noticed at this point was that I did not have any disinfecting surface wipes for the tray, seat, overhead cabin and arm rests. So if you want to be really careful keep a pack of disinfecting wipes with you on the plane. I wore gloves during the flight and discarded the mask and gloves in garbage as soon as I left the plane.

During the layover the exposure and probability of social interactions is maximum as passengers from all over are waiting for their next flights in a centralised area. In my opinion the areas with high probability of exposure are the food court and public restrooms, both of which during long layovers are unavoidable. I had a fresh pair of gloves and mask on for the transit security check at Doha, I discarded the gloves soon after the security check and sanitised my hands. The airports have sanitisers at every checkpoint so fear not if you run out of your own.

The masks however need to be changed after every five to six hours as their ability to filter diminishes with use and exposure. While changing masks make sure to sanitise your hands before and after touching the mask. As for the foodcourt and restroom, wash your hands frequently. I had the same mask on during the entire layover but changed it before boarding the final flight to Lahore.

The airlines are following a social distancing protocol during boarding and exiting the flights. The best way to avoid transmission is remain in your seat until the passengers in the front row have moved.

Overall travelling long distances during Covid-19 is a pain but absolutely do able with caution. All you need is presence of mind, the discipline to sanitise frequently and face masks. During the travel time I came across passengers that were taking Covid-19 very casually , they were not only irresponsible with their masks but also not maintaing social distance. I understand wearing a mask and using sanitiser and disinfecting wipes is not cool. But risking others life and yours is also not cool. So travel safe and travel responsibly.