Why We Decided to Road Trip During Covid-19

The decision to travel during Covid-19 was a difficult one for us. We’ve had to cancel trip after trip, that was devastating, but still understandable, as we’ve been taking Covid-19 super seriously. Finally, after much deliberation, we decided to go ahead road trip during Covid-19. I wanted to be super transparent with you guys to let you know the thought that went into it.

We Spent Almost All of Our Time Outdoors

Matt and I wanted to get away, but knew also knew that the more distance we had from others, the safer we were. So, we decided on a hiking trip for our getaway. We chose a destination with 2 national parks nearby, as well as many other small trails and state parks that were even less populated. It wasn’t like this was a hardship for us, as we love the outdoors, but it made choosing a hiking trip much easier.

We Chose a Destination with an Active Mask Mandate

It was very important to us that the places we went all required masks. The city we both work in requires masks, but honestly, it isn’t well enforced which greatly frustrates us. Plus, where we live, voted down a mask mandate, which is even more frustrating. When I was researching Moab as our road trip destination, I watched social media of many of the businesses there and loved + respected just how dedicated they all seemed to stopping the spread of Covid-19. And it lived up to it! I watched many shop owners, cafe employees and food truck owners ask people to leave their establishments, ask people to create more space in lines and enforce people putting their masks on.

And, Of Course, We Wore Our Masks

Even on 93-degree days, we wore our masks walking down streets. We wore our masks on overlooks + on hikes anytime we were around others – only taking them off when we were on remote trails alone or quickly popping them off for a photo before putting it right back on. Again, only when there weren’t others around.

We Road Tripped

We will not be flying anytime soon. It’s just so hard to social distance on a plane, people are unmasked for snacks and drinks – again, while very close – and it just didn’t feel safe. This obviously breaks our hearts to be limited to domestic destinations because there are so many places around the world we want to visit. That said, we live in a massive country filled with amazing things to see and do, so road tripping allowed us to limit our exposure to others. We made very limited stops, ate meals in our car and chose less populated places to stop for restroom or stretch breaks.

We Chose A Destination with Very Few Cases

The whole of Grand County has had less than 100 cases total. When I read that, I was shocked and so happy + proud for them. Because we have been very careful, we felt comfortable going there and knew following their rules would be easy for us.

We Carried Out All of Our Meals

Again, like we’ve been doing at home, we didn’t eat inside any restaurants or even on their patios. We know when we eat we have to take our masks off and anytime we do that around others, we just automatically feel less comfortable. So, we still ate local and supported the local economy, but we did so via carry out and ate back in our accommodation. Speaking of which…

We Stayed in a Space That Was All Our Own

Instead of choosing accommodation that would’ve required us to be around a lot of other travelers, we rented a tiny house in the middle of Moab. This was perfect because it was a space all our own, and it was so easy to keep clean ourselves.

The Selfish Aspect of Wanting to Travel

Of course, any decision to travel during Covid-19 has an element of selfishness to it. Not only were we sad that we had canceled so many trips so far in 2020, but we have a little girl on the way in early 2021, which means that we know these are the last months to get to travel just the two of us for a very, very long time. Even if/when we do travel without her, she’ll be on our mind. Selfishly, we desperately wanted to get away together and we felt okay doing so in a destination that we felt was safe.

All-in-all, we had a wonderful experience in Moab despite there being a global pandemic. In fact, I felt safer on vacation in Moab than I do at home. In addition to being an amazing trip, it was inspiring to see how people are living life as a community that cares for one another. I’m glad that we were able to get away, but most of all, I’m glad that we were able to be safe.

Remember, this was our reasoning and these are our opinions on how we were able to travel safely, including a 10-day quarantine from our families + loved ones upon returning. The CDC still states that travel is a potential increase in your chances of getting/spreading Covid. All decisions to travel have to be made on a personal basis and our reasons are just that, ours. Definitely work through your own risk factors, your reasoning and your potential destination on your own before making the choice to travel during a pandemic.