SO YOU LOVE TO TRAVEL!!!

You love to use your acquired mile points. You just love traveling and taking a short break in Spain, London or New York. You love taking photographs of scenic waterfalls and mountainous snow tops. If you've been hitching to travel since the easing of lockdown in some countries, you need to consider certain points very carefully.

Are there alternatives to your proposed journey? If you're going for a holiday, must you go at this time? Can you holiday in local spots around where you live or a few towns from where you live? If going for a meeting, can it be done virtually?

But what if it's a wedding? As long as you're neither the bride or groom, you can participate virtually. Some weddings have been conducted virtually although virtual weddings started before the pandemic.

You've finally decided to travel. Understandably, we're all germophobes at this point. But by my calculation, you have a fifty- fifty chance of catching the virus each time you go out. The odds of catching it increases the longer the time you spend outside. It increases further if you can't socially distant yourself like in a plane or in a bus. The longer the hours spent in a plane, the higher the chances of catching the virus. Think longer miles equals longer travel hours. You can always buy first class and buy the seats to your right, left, front and back if it's feasible for your pocket. Since you won't be using a private jet, you might as well prepare your mind mentally for the possibility of getting the virus. Even if you use a private jet, the risks are lower but still there.

If you're not traveling between two Schengen countries, then you'll likely be quarantined for two weeks. When coming back, on arrival you'll be quarantined for another two weeks. How much holiday would you have left? Well! Think about it. Will you board a plane if you saw minions of tiny spiky balls just waiting for an opportunity to attack? The quarantining of two weeks post arrival is being eased in some countries.

You can wear the N95 mask but are you not going to eat or drink throughout the journey?

You might think you're only flying locally. Think carefully of your options.

If you think taking a taxi is an option, then take precautions. Some taxi drivers are fitting plexi glasses into their cars to separate them from the passengers behind but not in every country. Well! If you must travel, you'll be exposing yourself more. Think of the air in an enclosed plane with several people with unknown health status. If you have a private jet, you can worry less.

You don't have to live in fear but you must consider the inconveniences it would cause your loved ones if you have to self- isolate or get quarantined or if one gets infected. Is this the end of air travel? Not at all. You're just being reasonable. You don't want to be amongst the first to jump on a plane. Life is full of risks so if you’re not in the elderly age group, you’re not below 18 years of age, and your immune system is top-notch, you can take the risk. You can always keep your 70 percent alcohol-based sanitizer gel with you. And take your daily temperature to monitor yourself when you travel. However, the only true test of one’s immune system is when one gets an infection with the novel coronavirus. Wait it out and see! It’s really up to you.