Travel

Update on the Americas

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PAHO provides weekly updates regarding COVID-19 in the Americas. This week, it seems that South America has decreasing trends, but anywhere north of that the trends are increasing. Read on for more detail!

Most airlines are dropping masking

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Of airlines flying to the US, only British Air and Virgin are still requiring masks sometimes, dependent on whether the destination requires it.

Safety Basics on a Budget: Private Bathrooms

As I'm traveling Costa Rica, many hotels are relatively safe even when they don't try: the reception is open air, the walk to my room is open air, restaurants have breezes, and I have windows so don't have to care about ventilation.

Covid Travel Advice

Aldea Food Court, Samara

I've spent quite a while at the Aldea food court in Samara — amazing healthy food here, plus a bar. There's no actual covid safety precautions being taken pretty much anywhere in Samara, but this is all outdoors, the staff in small structures and one food truck, and the tables are spaced pretty well.

Hotels: From Safety Theater to Focusing on What Matters

Today, you can find information on hotel search sites that looks like this:

Covid Safety Done Wrong in Samara

There is, as far as I can tell, exactly one hotel that is making demands of travelers, insisting they wear masks. In Samara, lots of places have signs for mask wearing, and everyone ignores the signs. Often this includes staff. To be a little pushy about our opinion: we find it unethical to impose greater risks on staff than they impose on you; if locals wear masks then not just safety but respect means honoring local decisions. We found one hotel that demands guests wear masks on the property. Frustratingly, it just advertises mask-wearing the same as everyone else.

Samara and Nosara, Costa Rica in January 2022: "Tools Era" of Covid

I'm traveling Costa Rica during the peak of Omicron back home. Costa Rica held off just a little longer: which means rates are quite high. Most tourists, not surprisingly, are doing their best to pretend Covid isn't happening. There is a big positive: very little of life on the beach happens indoors. I would have to go out of my way to eat indoors.

New tools offer peace of mind for pandemic travel

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Along with our site, other aggregators and map creators are putting together tools to help you travel. This article is from National Geographic:

Caribbean/Bermuda Update - January 7

A few days back I posted an update to the Caribbean area including Bermuda (a little to the north east), and parts of Central America. Remember how I said that we needed to watch the data closely due to Omicron? Well what a difference a few days make! The short story is that this area is getting more risky every day and that in places where the COVID numbers are low right now, the data may be sketchy, or there may be other travel advisories. Read below for more details.

Caribbean/Bermuda update - and - what makes for safe travel?

In this long read, we discuss how to interpret safe travel metrics and then apply them to the Caribbean (and Bermuda!). There's lots of detail so if you want the punchlines, skip to the end.

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