The state of the world is uncertain and all of our lives have been upended as we fight this invisible devil, the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Since nearly all of us are stuck inside of our homes, dreaming of traveling somewhere other than the refrigerator, it makes us wonder what travel is going to look like after the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel after coronavirus is going to resemble traveling after 9/11. Some of you reading this may not be old enough to remember what the world was like (yikes I feel old) but it changed the future of travel forever. That’s what travel after COVID-19 is going to look like for us.
Obviously I can’t see into the future, which is a shame, so I can’t say that all of these things are surefire to happen. But we are certainly going to be more aware of these things going forward.
Better Sanitization
WHY have so many people not been practicing decent hygiene until NOW?? I’m shocked at how many people don’t even sanitize their hands after touching nasty metro handrails… Even though it’s sad that it literally took a global pandemic for people to realize that washing hands is a good thing, at least they’re finally realizing it.
All jokes aside, I think airlines, transportation, lodging, and tourist sites are going to FINALLY start sanitizing things the way that they should’ve been all along. I’m not saying that I’ll be eating off of the floor of a theme park restaurant, but I might think that the food trays they use only have 1/2 the germs they once had. If travel after coronavirus
We’ll Have a Better Sense of Global Community
Even though there are still some racists out there who think everyone from Asia is spreading the virus, I think this virus will ultimately bring nations together. This is a crisis that transcends all nations and all borders and it can’t be any one country for itself. Except North Korea. But we don’t really count them anyways.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus, there have been numerous videos and pictures shared on social media of people around the world coming together to cope with this. Videos of Italians singing on their balconies and New Yorkers clapping in the streets are inspirational messages of hope. And the international reaction has been incredibly positive. It is reminding us that we are all human and at the end of the day, we all have the same basic human desires.
People Will Use Their Vacation Days
Americans… this one is for you especially! It’s common knowledge that Americans are leaps and bounds behind other countries in terms of vacation time given. I’d like for companies to give their employees more vacation time in the States, but who knows if that will ever happen. What likely WILL happen is that Americans will use all of their vacation days. Every. Single. One.
It already blows my mind that as of last year, Americans didn’t use 768 MILLION days of paid time off. It’s literally paid!! That is such a high number of days to simply go unused. American companies screw over their workers (sorry it’s true) so the employees need to take advantage of their paid days off and go and travel!
More People Will Work Remotely
Nearly every school in California has gone to online remote teaching and many other states are following suit. Additionally, millions of workers who were told they “can’t work from home” are now, in fact, working from home. It has been a hassle getting it going but it shows that remote work can be done. I’ve seen an increasing number of posts of people who are able to work from home and are getting to spend time with their families. Big companies were forced to let their employees work from home and I personally don’t think it’s all bad. Hopefully, in the future, more employees will be able to spend more time working outside the office. And hopefully they can use that toward getting more opportunities for vacation. It doesn’t mean that everyone can immediately travel after coronavirus but it may make it a lot easier.
Travel Will Be Cheaper
I am in no way, shape, or form suggesting that you go out and travel right now. For the love of God and all that is holy, STAY HOME! But once we reach the light at the end of this tunnel of darkness and can travel again, I anticipate that it will be cheap to do so. Humans are going to be apprehensive about traveling and being around people which will keep the costs low.
As of right now, flights are extremely cheap. So if you are looking to travel in the (far) future, maybe booking them now wouldn’t be the worst thing. On top of that, airlines and hotels are being extremely flexible with booking changes and cancellations. So you might as well take advantage of that since as we know, we’ve been selling our souls to the airlines in the past.
We Will Live Like It’s Our Last Day
One of my favorite songs is Tim McGraw’s Live Like You Were Dying. It tells the story of a man who learns that he is dying and decided to do everything that he had always wanted to do. I’ve been trying to live like that for years, but it’s easy to get caught up in everyday tasks. Now that so many people’s “one days” have been cancelled or postponed, the frailty of tomorrow is obvious. Today is only semi-guaranteed. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed at all. It’s sad that it’s taken a global pandemic for people to realize this, but hopefully it will push people to live their dreams.
Do you know where you’re going once this passes and we can travel freely again? I’m trying to get back to Europe ASAP!
