Will travel ever be the same? Post covid travel predictions

Writing about travel in the age of Covid-19 is pretty weird. It’s almost impossible to make any real travel guides, most tips are quite useless, and no one is actually looking to travel. So, the question comes to mind: Will travel ever be the same?

It’s a hard question. And the answer will probably be something like yeah, but…

Some people will claim it will never be the same. Others will say it will be all the same again in a couple of months.

I can only predict how it will change my traveling, which might be the truth for more people than just me.

What will be the same for me

The fact is that I will travel. That won’t change at all to me. Whenever I can, I will go wherever I feel like going. Given my budget and time, of course.

I feel like my destinations won’t change too much either. There is a lot to explore: both in cities and nature. The pandemic did not change my mind about that at all.

Nor will my visits to museums change, as to me those are super interesting.

So overall, in my way and “ideology” of traveling, nothing much will change.

I think, given the many complaints, this accounts for a lot of people in Belgium too. People will always travel.

So what will change?

To say that Covid19 won’t have any impact on our travel habits seems like either a lie or laziness to me.

Mode of transportation

The way I will use transportation will probably change. I feel less like flying. This is nothing new. With global warming in mind, I already felt like something had to change.

Covid-19 was just the last push to make me reduce this habit as much as possible. Obviously, flying is still a valid way to go places. But whenever possible, I will look for alternatives. Like train travel, for example.

Even without emissions, I feel air travel is just less comfortable and practical than many other types of travel.

Sure, you can go long distances in short amounts of time. But you have security to go through, waiting before boarding, boarding (urgh people), take-offs, landings (which I mind less), and baggage claim.

As you might have noticed, that’s almost the entire process of flying somewhere.

Hygiene in travel after Covid-19

I was already fairly hygienic before this whole pandemic. Yet, I will do a lot of extra things like carrying hand gel with me at all times.

Washing my hands was already an essential after using the toilet or, considerably dirtier, public transport.

As my girlfriend already made me aware before the pandemic, there are a lot more dirty objects we touch without even thinking:

• Restaurant menu’s
• Those traffic light buttons
• Railings on stairs in the streets
• The pen at the check-in desk
• ATM’s and pay-terminals
• The self-order screens in McDonald’s
• Anything public really

Yet we touch all those things and then use the same hands to put food in our mouths.

More but shorter trips

I’ll probably still do the same quantity of travel as I did before the pandemic. The trips will be shorter and closer to home. The odd trip to Southern Africa or Japan will still happen, of course. But the bulk will be European or even in the Benelux.

I started travel blogging to show how pretty the world immediately around you can be. If only you pay attention. I still believe that to be true, and the pandemic made me even more sure of it.

Also, I will be looking forward to those trips again. I have been spoiled in the past. Sometimes a trip felt more like work than relaxation. I bet this will change again once I get to go on a trip again. I am already excited about it, and I don’t even know where and when it will be!