What I’ve Learned Traveling During COVID

Lessons from visiting 9 countries in the last 12 months

Somehow, someway I found myself traveling more over the last 12 months than ever before in my life. Not that I haven’t traveled before and in fact, I’ve traveled quite a bit.

I’ve studied abroad in Florence during high school, the Czech Republic during college (lived there for a year after college) and have tried to get a good trip about once a year for the last ten years or so.

But as fate would have it, right before the pandemic hit I went through a bit of a crossroads in my life. A full stop that actually prepared me very well for the pandemic that would take place just a few months later.

With the pandemic and a newfound outlook on life, purpose, and time management, I found myself with the opportunity to travel extensively.

At the start of the pandemic, I actually bought about six plane tickets for a self-guided month-long around the world trip that I thought would take place in the fall of 2020, the minor worldwide pandemic just had to get under control.

By the early summer of 2020, I realized that trip was in serious jeopardy and started gathering vouchers and refunds. But in my mind, the money had already been allocated and I saw some opportunities out there where I could still travel within the guidelines of both the CDC and most importantly the places I would like to visit.