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!
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.