Travelling in a Pandemic

Contrary to how it sometimes may have felt, the world has not been entirely closed for the past year or more. Whilst the pandemic has certainly made travelling more difficult it has never been forbidden. So long as one respected the rules and restrictions, the possibility was always there.

I personally set off on what would eventually turn out to be a nine month trip in July 2020, with the pandemic at a lower ebb and restrictions relatively minimised. Initially spending a couple of months working in Poland, I then spent a month and a half travelling through central-Europe. In mid-October, with the pandemic worsening, I departed for Amsterdam where I would live and work for the following five months. After this, one final month was spent in Poland with my girlfriend before finally returning to the UK.

In total I spent roughly nine months in mainland Europe in which I spent time in eight different countries. Across these I visited countless cities, towns and villages, and travelled by car, bus, train and plane. I varyingly experienced the relative freedom of the summer months, as well as the strict lockdowns and curfews of the winter.

This was by no means always a smooth ride. The constant threat of borders closures and potentially being left trapped in a country always loomed. There was never any sense of certainty over what would happen next and for people who suffer from travel anxiety at the best of times it would have been a nightmare come true. Even as someone who rarely travels with a set plan and frequently leaves making plans to the last minute, there were times when I felt uncomfortably exposed to the constantly changing circumstances I found myself in.

I appreciate that travel in lockdown is a rarity, especially to the extent of my personal journey, and as such would like to share my thoughts. I neither intend to recommend or suggest against travel with the continued restrictions; nor do I desire to debate the rights and wrongs of the varying policies across Europe in reaction to the pandemic. This is simply an unorganised collection of thoughts in relation to what was a relatively unique experience.

The biggest, most unavoidable difference between travel during the pandemic and the same in more normal circumstances is quite simply how fewer people there are. From large cities to small mountain towns, tourists were at a premium. There were times I stood at major tourist attractions, normally over-crowded with people - often annoyingly so -  and found myself almost alone.

So often I have travelled to a place and my experience has failed to come close to matching my expectations. Often, with thousands of others fighting to get to the prime location for the perfect photo, it becomes difficult to appreciate the actual attraction. At sights like the Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower I have frequently felt there are many who never actually looked at the attraction, instead solely focusing their gaze on their phone screen in order to take the perfect photo.

Consequently, visiting some of these normally touristic locations did have its advantages. Visiting the famously overcrowded Prague, I felt like I had a far more authentic experience and could more comfortably soak in the atmosphere when strolling around the streets that felt busy with local lives rather than those of outsiders. Similarly, Amsterdam - a city I have visited many times over the years - felt like an entirely different city; with no tourists, bars or coffee shops it was beginning to reclaim it’s Dutch identity from the clutches of touristic enterprise.

However, in a lot of these places I came to realise that something was missing. Attractions that should have needed no further appeal beyond their aesthetic magnificence, were missing something. There was an energy missing that left an atmospheric void; without the annoying crowds there was a sense of emptiness. To use Prague as an example once more, whilst the allure of the city in general was maintained; major attractions, such as Charles Bridge, without the endless stream of tourists, became little more than a moderately attractive bridge.

Whilst travelling I have always been more strongly drawn to sites of natural beauty than architectural masterpieces. I would always prefer to spend time hiking in the mountains and exploring national parks than moving from museum to museum in a city (despite my passion for and degree in history). Over this trip this attitude only became increasingly prevailing; with the cities lacking energy and atmosphere, the natural allure of the coast and mountains only grew. Consequently, a lot of time was spent in the Tatras mountains of Slovakia, Triglav National Park in Slovenia, and on the coast of Croatia.

The wonderful atmosphere of hostels and the potential to meet new people there is something I will continue to preach about on this blog. Their function as social hubs for meeting like-minded people often makes them a highlight of traveling. With the pandemic they sadly became empty shells, losing the atmosphere and character that makes them so special, as with so many attractions.

Common areas and hostel bars that were normally a cauldron of energy and conversation became desolate and barren. One would be lucky to find even a couple of other travellers to talk to, nevermind an atmosphere approaching anything more than tepid. In Split, I spent an entire week in a large hostel and saw two other guests the entire time. Speaking to the owner he told me the same story as every other hostel employee had in the previous months, that this had become the new normal and it likely wouldn’t be long before they had to close.

I was fortunate that I was seldom alone on my trip. I worked during my time in Poland and Amsterdam, and having visited before had local friends there I could meet. Whilst road-tripping I was thankfully travelling with someone for the first time in a long time, as we often went long periods without meeting other travellers. On the occasions when we did find signs of social life, we certainly appreciated it.

With little opportunity to interact with neither locals nor fellow travelers, traveling loses a lot of its meaning and pleasure. Even solo-travel is rarely an individual activity, without the many people met along the way it risks becoming a series of empty and meaningless photographs.

Posted: 26/04/2021

Written by: Tom Taylor (@tomtayloor)

Note: For an eloquently written piece on the same topic I recomend this blog post by Elliott Whittaker. He better expresses a lot of the same feelings from this post, and indeed our paths crossed on this trip both in Poland and in Amsterdam.