Older Bolder Life

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travel

To Travel or Not to Travel: July 2020 Update

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Many of the questions that seems to be popping up with consistency from clients, friends, and family these days are related to traveling during these most interesting days, days that some in the media are now labeling as the “summer of COVID-19”.

My lovely wife and I happen to be soon to embark on a trip back home to Montana to see family and tend a couple of business issues, a trip that we actually have now rescheduled twice due to travel restrictions that were in place earlier this year.

Friends and readers that have been following along with us might remember that I had to take an unexpected trip to the Pacific Northwest back in mid-May; I wrote about my somewhat unusual travel experiences on that little jaunt here.

Things (related to travel restrictions) have changed quite a bit since mid-May on the ground in most states, though as always there are a few common sense guiding principles to consider before venturing out of the house for an adventure these days.

Of course it goes without saying if you’ve had a recent exposure to a proven COVID-19 case or are ill with typical symptoms yourself (confirmed per testing or not), you shouldn’t be venturing out of the house until an appropriate interval of time has passed and / or you’ve recovered and are feeling well. (Typically I’d leave this to our collective common sense, though I’ve had two people – one client, one family member – argue this past weekend that they shouldn’t be restricted in public despite test-confirmed, minimally symptomatic infections.)

That said, the evidence available clearly suggests that, with appropriate precautions duly noted, interstate travel doesn’t pose undue risks as of today, with several precautionary points noted below. My lovely wife and I have weighed the data, reviewed the pros and cons, and are soon to be on the road this week.

Once again, it goes without saying that it’s worth considering if your plans might potentially expose you to very high risk areas, such as Florida today, or the Texas counties along the border with Mexico (though that is a hornet’s nest of problems for a host of reasons). Your planned activities in a particular location have a tremendous bearing on your risks; consider the difference between traveling to Miami today for a week on the beach versus caring for an elderly parent in their Miami condo for the week. I’d still go to Miami to care for Mom, not for the nightlife on South Beach this week.

Your lowest risk mode of travel at this point in time remains your private vehicle; once again common sense comes to bear here, given your control of those with whom you’re sequestered in tight spaces for prolonged periods of time. The CDC and mass media have recently raised concerns about air travel in particular; see the most recent CDC commentary on air travel here, and here’s a nice summary from the WSJ on the 4th of July covering travel issues.

We’re comfortable enough with flying to consider flying ourselves on this upcoming trip, though have business related stops in Utah and Wyoming scheduled, and couldn’t make flights work, so we’re driving.

When I traveled back in May there were reports of limited fueling opportunities in some parts of the Northern Rockies, though I didn’t find that to be an issue then, and certainly there are not reports of any consistent issues even now during the traditionally peak summer travel window.

As we’ve shared before, we’re preferentially in nutritional ketosis as much as not, and are very comfortable with intermittent fasting, particularly on the road. We’ll be bringing along our favorite road travel foods (here and here), plenty of cold brewed coffee in the cooler, and do plan to dine out with family and friends at restaurants we know and trust to practice all reasonable precautions along the way, though will also plan to cook at homes we’re visiting a bit more than a typical trip as well.

The other challenge to solve on the road is to do everything possible to minimize your risk in over night lodging; it’s fairly easy to search out whether or not your favorite hotelier is using a comprehensive and current set of precautions these days, and don’t be shy about calling and asking questions. The CDC has a set of guidelines published here which are useful, and we will again disinfect all room surfaces we’re likely to touch repeatedly ourselves when in hotels this next week.

Get out there and have some fun this summer, get some sun and breathe the fresh air, all the while respecting the paradigm we find ourselves in (for a while longer). This too shall pass.

A Few Quick Thoughts From the Road

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Pushed by a bizarre set of circumstances I’ve been on the road for the past five days; these are very strange days in which to travel, and I thought it’d be worthwhile to share a couple of quick observations.

The full story is immaterial, but to provide a bit of background, last week it became clear that I needed to procure some documents in storage in the suburb of a large city in the Pacific Northwest. Reflexly I attempted to arrange a direct flight out of DFW, and was thwarted on essentially every attempt with regard to local regulations imposed by the destination regional airport options and the communities in which they were based. The only viable option evolved to driving, which would / has involved basically traversing half the country in a mater of days by car.

My personal status of having recovered quite successfully from a dalliance with COVID-19 made me a bit more comfortable with travel-related exposures, though the decision was one my lovely wife and I pondered carefully.

Three quick observations (and I do mean anecdotal, personal observations) of note, and it goes without saying that conditions, risks, and restrictions vary MARKEDLY from state to state.

Food on the Road. In states more tightly locked down, food options in terms of accessing prepared, restaurant foods travelers are accustomed to seeking out largely don’t exist. I noted even fast-food type establishments that primarily serve drive-through menus were not consistently open, and when available (Laramie, WY for example) restaurant seating and service was able but limited.

My circumstances were a bit unique, in that in the few weeks prior I’d pre-planned a push into a 3-month run of fairly tight nutritional ketosis, therefore I packed 90% or more of my food into our trusty cooler and have thrived on a one meal per day approach, with excellent energy, endurance, and mental acuity/clarity.

I’ve outlined some of our favorite road trip foods here and here.

Fuel on the Road. Despite some reports to the contrary from friends, there’s been no difficulty whatsoever finding fuel along major travel routes, at what – from a historical perspective – are damned inexpensive prices.

Interestingly, only one fuel system (Costco) appears committed to cleaning pumps between users (and not consistently from store to store), therefore personally I took the highest level precautions (gloves, meticulous sanitation after) whenever stopping to refuel.

Lodging on the road. Relative risk to a traveler seeking lodging is all over the map when it comes to lodging; after some research I chose to seek out a chain with at least the highest level standards of cleaning and resting rooms (do your homework) as per their articulated plans, and found rooms spotless every time. It’s also incredibly easy to carry sanitizing wipes in and wipe down every surface you will touch, a likely unnecessary precaution but one I chose to exercise every time.

Overall, I’ve noted via observed traffic and lodging demands that travel remains, pending the region, MARKEDLY reduced.

Caveat emptor as you get out and about.

Images: Entering the Columbia River Gorge above and New Mexico vista below.