The silver lining to traveling after coronavirus

by Tony Baker @TouringTony
Travel Columnist

This Corona (COVID-19) virus has taken us all by surprise. It’s so fluid, and things change several times a day. I wrote a different travel article for this issue a week ago. In that article, I spoke about still traveling but being cautious. This situation is changing so fast. I now recommend that you don’t travel until this is cleared up.

Things remembered: This whole horrible ordeal has caused us to do things we should have been doing all along, like being clean and courteous when we travel. It has also reminded and spurred the airlines and hotels to be a lot cleaner as well. This is all a good thing and should have been done all along. We get very lax and too comfortable sometimes, and then something like this happens, and we are all reminded of things we knew all along.

People are now washing hands much more and using hand sanitizer more often if they can find it. People are also covering their coughs and sneezes with their elbow and not sneezing into the air.

Like I mentioned before, travel companies, such as airlines and hotels, are being extra clean and careful (in flights still flying and hotels still open). These are all things that should have never gone away.

I notice people coughing and sneezing in the air all the time. I also see people leaving the bathroom without washing their hands. What’s worse is when I get on airplanes, sometimes even in first class, the plane is filthy. In the time of airlines making record profits, this is unacceptable.

It is good that the current situation is getting us back into the practice of being clean, civilized and courteous people again.

We’re all in this together: The best thing I see in these turbulent times with the virus and politics is the fact that people are all banding together. Not only here, but all over the world.

Yes, there are still those that will always want to cause problems, but people see, in real life, they are not alone in this world, that we have to fight this together, and together we will beat it! 

It warms my heart to see some bipartisan legislation in Washington and to see Italians flying flags out their windows and singing to each other. It gives me hope, as I hope it does you.

Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a horrible disaster like this to remind us to be more civil and to hit the reset button. The last few years have been a rollercoaster of division and negativity, and I just hope after all this is said and done, we will all be kinder to each other. Perhaps we can get past the feeling of “it’s us against them,” like it has been! I know this is wishful thinking, but I genuinely hope it turns out that way!

Stay safe; everyone, and take care of yourself and others. We will get through this, and we’ll be even better and stronger than before.

Thanks for reading, and please travel more! (After this virus is a thing of the past, of course)

Copyright The Gayly. 5/2/2020 @ 2:13 p.m. CST.