INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL 2020
My first international flight of 2020 was from the States to Belarus. Pandemic, COVID, Belarussian revolution, borders were never this difficult before, you wouldn't imagine better conditions!
I chose Polish airlines for my trip even though they were changing their policies very often and at the moment of the ticket purchase I found it not being a very stable choice of airline.
Preparation for the flight:
- Embassy website
- COVID test
- Airline
- travel credit cards only!
- Mask and extra mask
- Sanitizer
- Double-check the luggage policy
- Emergency form
Embassy Website
First of all, check the embassy website of a country you are flying to and the country of your transfer. Some countries don’t accept certain airlines of flights from particular countries or with a transfer at the specific list of places.
COVID test
For some destinations, also depending on your documents and status in a destination place you might need to get tested prior to traveling. I know that some airports do free tests on-site like Germany, but most of them only measure temperature. Check on temperature is the responsibility of an airline and usually marked on top of your boarding pass.
Airlines
Choose airlines you feel most comfortable traveling with. Catch up on news on different ways airlines established the Covid-safe environment for travelers. Some airlines decided to limit the number off people on board creating a space between seat when other re-engineered the airflow in the cabins. You also might want to pay a bit extra to choose your seats. Several airplanes blocked middle seats only in certain sections of the plane which you can choose while making a purchase for your flight.
Travel Credit Cards
How many stories I’ve heard of people who, unfortunately, lost their money trying to fight with airlines over lost tickets during the pandemic. However, thus airlines were going broke and couldn't afford to give out refunds, and only some of them agreed with giving the flight credits, banks stayed on top of the issue taking this from the customer's hands and handling themselves the financial side with companies, restoring spent money to the accounts of their customers. Don't forget that credit cards do not charge their interest for nothing. Together with the card, you get different perks including insurance that will support your unexpected changes of plans.
Masks
All airplanes and airports require to wear masks at all times other than while eating a meal, drinking water or at certain checkpoints. Make sure to have a mask and one extra with you since the majority of the stores inside the airports are closed and prices for masks are very high there.
Sanitizer
Due to COVID airports allow holding the sanitizer bottles of 12 once maximum. I prefer alcohol spray bottles because I can spray it on the seat and around the seat in the airplane. No specific guidelines on the bottles, type of sanitizer, or carry method.
Luggage policy
I noticed that airplanes have limited the amount of luggage allowed on the plane and many flights don’t include the check-in bag, also increasing charges for additional bags!
I did buy my flight ticket about 2 weeks prior to my flight removing some of my worries and I didn't have to stay on top of the embassy updates for a long time.
It is a challenging time for traveling, but not something that would stop us from keep exploring and this might be even more exciting some of us as it creates a forbidden experience. Spread your winds, but stay smart about your choices of destinations and ways you reach them.
#MONODfly
