Travelling during Covid by Ella Squires

A significant impact on people has been the inability to travel as it is something that many people have to do and many more love to do. Visiting family and friends, sightseeing in new places and enjoying different cultures and environments can be very important for a person's wellbeing. However, due to many of the COVID travel restrictions we have not always been able to do this. In more recent months, the majority of us have been able to see family and friends in this country. What has it been like for people whose family live abroad? 

Since March 2020 there have been a huge number of ever-changing restrictions that people have needed to take into account when travelling abroad. For example, multiple covid tests prior to travel and/or self-isolating on arrival and return from countries being visited. These all have time and cost implications and add to the anxiety and stress of travel. This can mean that some people decide not to go abroad and experience significant periods of time not seeing close family and friends. 

I spoke to a couple of people to get a better understanding of what this meant for them. Seyoon, whose family live in South Korea, told me she had “not been back home in three and a half years and I really wanted to go back and see my family.” Her husband, John, observed that, for her, living in a foreign country can be difficult at the best of times but during the lockdowns when her family was so far away it was even more challenging. She told me that they try to go back to Korea once a year but the lockdowns have stopped that from happening. “It also really disrupted my being able to keep in contact with my family as they are on the other side of the world and the time zones are very different,” she said.  They were going to go in March 2020 but that was then cancelled due to the pandemic, meaning they had to wait another year and a half to go back.  However, she is now pleased to have been able to return to Korea saying, “Now restrictions have relaxed it has been amazing to see family once again.” 

Elsie, who has family living in Greece, told me that during the first lockdown, whilst she understood and was able to accept the situation, it was difficult coping with the anxiety of not knowing when she would see her family again.  For her, it felt unnerving and unfamiliar, though she was able to visit Greece to see her family in August 2020. She told me that when travelling, Gatwick airport was “eerie and half-empty which was very strange as it was the peak of the travel season to Greece.” At that time, there were a number of restrictions, such as wearing masks and scanning a QR code when using restaurants and leaving the terminal. However, she feels that there are more hurdles to overcome for her to get there currently.  

Even though Seyoon has managed to get to South Korea it is still quite a stressful time for her too. She reports that they have “to keep up to date with the government rules on restrictions to travel for both the U.K. and South Korea and they change so regularly.” She also has had to go through the process of getting an exemption to travel meaning that she did not then have to isolate when entering Korea as she was visiting a close family member. Once in Korea, Seyoon and John had to become accustomed to very different everyday regulations to those in the U.K. For example, in Korea there is a very strict track and trace system utilising the use of QR codes when entering restaurants as well as the requirement for people to wear masks everywhere, even outside.  

No one knows how long this pandemic will last, with its associated restrictions on everyday life. Everyone has experienced different levels of disruption and inconvenience. For those with family abroad it has been particularly challenging, which we all hope will be alleviated in the near future, to enable families and friends to once again gather together.