How to Stay Safe on Your Next Road Trip

Air travel is a risky proposition these days, but with many still looking to get away road trips offer what seems like a safe alternative. But road trips aren’t without their own dangers, and in the age of Covid-19 you can never be too careful. So here are a few tips to help keep you safe on your next road trip, we hope they’ll be of use!

Select a safe destination. Before loading up the car do a bit of research and make sure you’re traveling to a destination with a relatively low infection rate. Be mindful of the locals, of course, as they likely want to keep their town safe and not everyone may be keen on visitors, especially those from high risk areas.

Try to minimize your stops. We all need a bathroom break every now and again, but extra stops mean extra risk, so it may be best to keep that in mind before buying that Big Gulp at the gas station. Likewise, try to pack all the snacks and supplies you may need to avoid any extra trips to stores.

Pack plenty of masks, hand sanitizer, and gloves. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so be sure to pack plenty of PPE and don’t be shy to use it even if you think it looks silly.

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Will Space Tourism Really Take Off?

In this day and age it seems like you can’t really go anywhere in the world anymore due to the pandemic, so why not make your next trip out of this world, so to speak? Virgin Galactic has high hopes for space tourism in the coming years, as does Blue Origin, thei Jeff Bezos owned competitor. But just how big is the market for space tourism?

“Globally we think around 2 million people can experience this over the coming years at this price point. Over time we’ll be able to reduce that price point and at that point the market just explodes, it’s 10 times as many at 40 million people,” said George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic’s CEO.

2 million people may seem like an ambitious number, but Virgin Galactic’s leadership, which includes Richard Branson, thinks that demand will far outweigh supply.

“Ultimately we think this is going to be a capacity constrained market – more people are going to want to go to space than either of us can bring in terms of service,” Whitesides told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan on “Squawk on the Street.”

What will come of these bold predictions is yet to be seen, but between Branson, Bezos, and Elon Musk there’s little doubt that space tourism will likely be a reality in the very near future. Perhaps even sooner than global travel’s full recovery.

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Is it Safer to Travel by Air or by Car

Back in June, Rene Knott, a morning anchor for the news outlet 5 On Your Side in St. Louis, threw a question out to his Twitter followers:

“If you had 2 weeks of vacation, do you fly? Or do you drive? Personally I’m a road trip type of guy.”

Knott has some upcoming time off over the summer, you see, and like many other Americans he’s wondering where to go, and how to get there safely. “As we start to talk about trying to get back out again, I had this fear of being out on an airplane, a fear of being in groups,” he said. “The debate now is: What do people think is the safest journey right now? Is it by car or is it by plane?”

The responses he received were fairly predictable, with most opting for shorter road trips over long haul flights. But some health experts question whether road trips are in fact the safer bet, given the rest, food, and gas stops they often require. Unfortunately, with a global infection count that’s well over 13 million, right now “there’s really no such thing as safe travel,” at least according to Allison Walker, a senior epidemiologist in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Travelers’ Health Branch.

No matter how people travel, they should do so while respecting physical distancing guidelines, wearing masks where appropriate, and frequently washing their hands. Stay safe out there!

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The Future of Tourism In Venice

Once one of the most visited travel destinations on the planet, the streets of Venice have been quiet lately. So quiet, in fact, that local residents are finally able to enjoy them for the first time in decades. Long before the tourism boom, residents of Venice were once able to lazily meander about the city streets, occasionally bumping into friends and neighbors and stopping for the odd coffee or glass of wine. With much of the city’s residents working in the travel and tourism industry, the slowdown in work and the near complete lack of tourists have meant that this nearly lost ritual is possible once more. But for cafes and restaurants, the promise of the occasional stop from a resident isn’t quite enough to keep the lights on, and so Venice now finds itself in the unenviable position of not only having to make up for a primary industry that’s no longer bringing in revenue, but figuring out how to make that industry sustainable for the future.

The high number of tourists passing through Venice on a daily basis took a heavy toll on the city’s infrastructure, not to mention on its residents. Additionally, the city’s two Universities were overshadowed by it’s desire to attract tourist dollars, and the high cost of real estate strongly discouraged industrial investment. The near-total shutdown of Venice’s once out of control tourism industry has brought about a once in a lifetime opportunity: A chance to reshape and reset the city. Travel and tourism will always be a part of the Venitian economy, to be sure, but Venice now has the chance to make that industry, and the city itself, a lot more sustainable.

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When Can You Finally Get Your Cross Border Shopping Done?

The US-Canada Land border has been closed since March 21st, and while the measure was only supposed to be temporary, it’s been extended time and time again, most recently until July 31st. The measure was put in place to help limit the spread of Covod-19, which has ravaged many parts of the US. Canada, while still having its hotspots, has fared far better, but health officials there warn that the danger is far from passed, and a second wave could strike in the fall or even summer.

While essential workers and in some cases travelers with immediate family on the other side have been able to cross the border, the closure has put a halt to daytrippers who often crossed the border for little more than to go shopping. The practice is one embraced by both sides, with many Americans crossing into Canada to take advantage of the weaker dollar, and many Canadians crossing for bargains that still seem worthwhile despite that very same exchange rate.

So when will we see that border open up and cross-border shopping resume? It’s anyone’s guess, at this point. While the border remains closed to non-essential travel until the end of July, there’s no guarantee that timeline won’t be extended again. Even when the border does open up, odds are crossings will be limited or restricted to higher priority travel, like elective medical procedures or visits with extended families. For now, much like with a lot of aspects of pre-pandemic life, it’s a waiting game until we see a return to some semblance of normal.

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Air Travel Might Look Very Different in the Near Future

Odds are that like the rest of the world, you’ve found yourself with some delayed or possibly cancelled travel plans this year thanks to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Those plans may have even included air travel, one of the most efficient ways of crossing long distances, but definitely not one of the most pleasant thanks to cramped airplane seating, often excessive security screenings, and an overall dehumanizing process that many fear for days before their departure. And thanks to Covid-19, things might get worse.

Just how much worse could they get? Well, let’s start with screenings. Whereas body scanners were quickly becoming the norm in many major airports, they may now be accompanied by temperature checks, throat or nasal swabs, potentially even blood tests. All the while, you’ll be asked to wear a mask, of course. As for seating, while some airlines initially suggested they’d leave middle seats open in order to ensure physical distancing, this hasn’t always been the case, and many may scrap the idea all together opting instead for plastic dividers between seats. And of course, since many of these measures will be costly to put into place, consumers can expect to see airlines passing that extra cost onto the price of their fares. Keep these factors in mind when you resume your travel plans post-Covid, it may just be worth taking a road trip instead!

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When Will We Feel Safe Boarding an Airplane?

If there’s one certainty about life returning back to normal post Covid-19, it’s that we’ll have to redefine what normal is. This is especially true of air travel. Perhaps one of the hardest hit industries amidst the global pandemic, airlines have found themselves struggling to cover costs while revenues have dropped down to a tiny fraction of what they once were. In fact, according to CNBC, air travel has seen a 95% decline since April 2019. Smaller airlines aren’t expected to survive, and the major players in the industry will have to adopt new practices, such as requiring passengers and staff to wear masks while traveling, screening passengers before boarding, and leaving middle seats open to allow for social distancing. But will these measures be enough to make people feel safe? Possibly not.

“Many people are not going to feel safe going back to crowded airplanes … until they see that the number of new deaths from the virus has gone down to almost none in their region, or until there is a vaccine or much better ways of tracing and isolating who has it,” said Robert Reich, the former U.S. Labor secretary and a professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

While some travelers are already hunting for travel bargains amidst news of the economy re-opening, most have opted to curb or even cancel their travel plans for the coming months, with industry experts predicting up to two years before demand for air travel reaches 2019 levels. Clearly, we don’t feel safe boarding an airplane just yet.

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What Will “The New Normal” Look Like for Airline Travel?

As parts of the world ease social distancing restrictions and businesses begin to re-open, the question on the minds of many, especially those who work in travel and tourism, is “what will travel look like post Covid-19?” It’s a tough question to answer, of course, as few in the industry saw the pandemic coming, and nobody could prepare for the economic devastation that came with it. CNBC recently reported that air travel has dropped by more than 95% since last year, a truly staggering figure that’s meant heavy losses for the travel industry as a whole, but particularly for airlines. So what can we expect in the coming months and years?

While nobody can predict the future, industry experts expect it to be another 18-24 months before demand for travel returns to last year’s levels. This, of course, assuming we don’t get hit with a significant second wave. While major airlines and chain hotels and restaurants can likely survive, it seems doubtful that smaller, lower cost airlines will make it through to the end, same goes for independent hotels and restaurants. Local travel is expected to dominate for a time, as passengers will likely feel uneasy about crossing borders for many months to come.

As for your airport experience? You can expect additional checks and screenings for health and safety, and likely some extra requirements such as masks and possibly gloves. This could mean coming to the airport earlier, and a whole lot more planning ahead.

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What Will Travel Look Like Post Covid-19?

There’s no doubt that the challenges presented to the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic will drastically reshape a number of industries, but few will likely be as hard hit as travel and tourism. With airlines grounding their fleets and hotels sitting empty, it’s hard to imagine how smaller companies will survive without government support, especially if travel restrictions continue well into the future.

But life will resume one day. Perhaps not exactly as we knew it, but some semblance of it, at the very least. People will still want to travel, especially after prolonged periods of social distancing.

A new survey conducted by LuggageHero suggests that travel will recover as many are still looking forward to, and indeed planning their upcoming trips post-pandemic. Of the people surveyed, more than half of Americans (58%) are planning to travel between May and September 2020, so long as their destinations aren’t in quarantine and there are no restrictions set in place. That said, a quarter of participants will exercise caution by trying to avoid big cities and public transportation, and 21% will choose domestic travel, this according to the same survey.

“Demand will come back stronger than ever once the situation is over,” says Jannik Lawaetz, LuggageHero’s CEO.

As to the specifics of how people will travel? Only time will tell, really, although we suspect many will opt for shorter trips as their finances recover, with many likely opting to stay close to home.

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The Ultimate Packing Hack

Having trouble figuring out what to pack for your next trip? You’re not alone. In fact, packing for your trip can often be one of the most stressful aspects of your trip, but it doesn’t have to be. The secret? Making sure every piece of clothing you pack coordinates one with the other. This according to Wendy Mak, creator of the capsule wardrobe and author of the book The Capsule Wardrobe: 1,000 Outfits From 30 Pieces. Wendy’s wardrobe mentality applies to packing too, here’s what she told Afar:

“The great thing about a travel capsule wardrobe is that you can make it as large or as compact as you wish. The formula is simple: Multiply the number of tops with the number of bottoms you plan to bring and that’s the number of outfits you’ll be able to create, as long as every top coordinates with every bottom . That’s the key.

“As an example, you could literally travel with nothing more than six tops and four bottoms and that will give you 24 great outfits, as long as all 10 pieces work together. If you add two or three jackets that you can layer on top, you’ll be able to create even more options.

While you’ll still need to work out a few logistics like how many outfits you’ll need and what kind of weather to pack for, Wendy’s tips can certainly go a long way towards taking some of the stress out of packing so you can enjoy the great vacation ahead!

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