Tips for Travel during the COVID Pandemic

by Celeste & Terry Lipford

We have utilized the following tips while we have been traveling, and feel that they are good ideas and useful tips.

• Bring several masks and have them accessible wherever you go. They are always required on airplanes (and other public transportation) and can be required in indoor spaces and are frequently required in hotels, museums, stores, etc. As an example, you are required to wear a mask on the San Francisco Cable Car System.
• Make sure you have comfortable masks. Wearing them on the plane for a long time can be hard on your ears so either bring different types or make sure you can wear your mask comfortably for many hours.
• Check to see if the place you are visiting requires reservations. We went to Yosemite and it required reservations well in advance. We visited the aquarium in Monterey and that required us to go online and get reservations for a certain time as well. And also check the mask requirements, as they will generally be required while inside. Just as an example, the Muir Woods Park Store required masks to enter, but outside masks were not required.
• We found that some things were less crowded than they would have been pre-covid. It’s probably not something you can count on but it was startling to see how empty things were in downtown San Francisco for example.
• Bring your COVID vaccination record. We were asked at the San Francisco Ghirardelli store for our vaccination cards before we were allowed entry into the store. It was the only time we were asked but we were happy that we brought our records with us.
• Keep sterilizing your hands. When you are out you touch things constantly without realizing it. Be diligent to avoid issues. There are public hand sanitation machines just about everywhere you look and they are all free.
• Wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer with 60% or more alcohol. Bring your own hand sanitizer to protect yourself even if there are no public hand sanitation machines.
• Clean the airplane seat & tray with sanitizing wipes.
• Wear a mask, even when not required, especially while on the airplane or in the Airport Terminal, it is going to protect you.