Travelling during a pandemic
Although I wasn’t expecting to travel back home this summer, this month I had to return to Canada for a few weeks to renew my health insurance and some other documents. Since we are in the middle of a pandemic I had no idea what changes to expect, so here’s my recent experience for anyone who might also be travelling within the next few months.
Before leaving
There wasn’t much special preparation I had to do before leaving so everything was the same as if I would have been travelling pre-coronavirus. If you have to quarantine once you reach your destination, arrange for groceries and any other supplies to be brought there beforehand — I had to quarantine for two weeks after arriving in Canada and I also stocked up on two weeks’ worth of food in Estonia.
At the airport
The last time I was on an airplane was in January this year and a lot of things were different from what I was used to. What caught me off guard the most was how empty the international gates were — while obviously the reason they were empty isn’t a good thing, I found that this actually made the experience more relaxing since usually I feel rushed while going through security and getting on the plane.
I also really appreciated the efforts the airlines went to to make travelling easier — AirBaltic, for example, handed out masks and disinfectant wipes in case someone forgot to bring a mask with them or wanted to put on a fresh one. One thing to note is that the airline I flew with to Toronto (KLM) wasn’t providing special meals for passengers (I’m not sure if this extends to all airlines), so keep this in mind if you have dietary requirements.
The process of getting on the plane was also not as stressful as I had been anticipating — the only requirement was that I had to go through a health check which consisted of a temperature check and filling out a form confirming that I wasn’t experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19. Passengers were also automatically seated on planes so that they were socially distanced (there were only 1–2 people per row on every flight I took except for those who were travelling together), so there’s no need to worry about having to sit next to someone for several hours.
Coming back to Estonia
My experience leaving, as it was arriving, was extremely easy. There were no lines at security and I had a lot of free time to just sit and relax while I waited for my flight to start boarding. The only line I had to stand in at any point was the passport control line in Amsterdam. Make sure you are aware of any requirements for boarding beforehand — some airlines might send you a health form to fill out, for example.
If you want to bring back souvenirs you might want to purchase these beforehand or check with the airport you’ll be transiting through to confirm if stores there will be open or not (while in both Tallinn and Amsterdam, all or the majority of them were open, only a general duty-free store and two convenience stores were operating in Toronto).
For my fellow students who are returning to Estonia and have to take a test for COVID-19, I can say that this was also an easy process — I took mine at Synlab the morning after I arrived and got results in the evening. Make sure you are on the Estonian-language version of the site when you log in to check your results as I couldn’t see any way to log in from the English or Russian-language sites.
Overall, I found that not much had changed about travelling aside from the airports being emptier, and there was never any confusion about where I was supposed to be going or what was required of me (such as documents, time spent in quarantine, etc.) For anyone who is travelling soon, whether back to Tallinn or to somewhere else, I hope you have a safe trip!
