Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve already rescheduled a vacation in May. I’m now considering whether to change a cruise in October. I booked a Princess cruise to Canada roundtrip from NYC. I’m not sure if a Princess cruise from NYC at the beginning of the next flu season is worth the risk at this point.
My personal travel risk tracker usually includes risks like:
Risk: Staying 1.7km from an active volcano could cause bodily harm or death.
Mitigation: Buy travel insurance and book the room with the best view.
Yes, I actually did this. On a trip to Costa Rica back in 2010, a group of friends and I stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge. The view was spectacular of the active volcano; now dormant. And no one was injured during our stay. Were we lucky or was this a well mitigated risk?
Risk: Traveling to countries with infectious diseases like typhoid or malaria.
Mitigation: Visit my travel doctor for recommended immunization shots and/or pills.
Prior to a work related trip to Malaysia, my travel doctor explicitly told me to avoid caves so I won’t be bitten by a bat which can carry rabies.
Don’t be ridiculous, I thought. This is a work trip to a modern manufacturing facility. I’m not going into any caves. Then while researching the trip I discovered Batu Caves was one of the “Things To Do” when visiting Kuala Lumpur which coincidentally was where a colleague and I planned to visit for sightseeing the first weekend of our work trip. It wasn’t until after we visited the caves looking through the hundreds of photos taken that I remembered the doctor’s advice. Oops!
Risk: Traveling in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mitigation: Stay at home.
Yes, I’ve taken some, many actually, risks in my past travels. But they were only risks to my personal wellbeing. Today and in the next several months, I am staying home and listening to the advice of the CDC and World Health Organization. I am not just concerned for my own personal safety, but for everyone globally. It’s not just about me getting sick, but what if I have already contracted Covid-19 and am not showing symptoms yet. Who could I be spreading it to? This is why I’m staying home and social distancing myself. I will keep monitoring this one very closely before deciding whether a trip in October is safe for me, my family, and the rest of the world.