Moving country in the middle of pandemic! 6 things you should know before traveling in time of COVID-19
Greetings from Romania!
If you don’t know, I am currently living in Romania and planning on staying here for next month, or two or three… Who knows!? The beauty of being your own boss and digital nomad 🙂
You must be wondering first of all who is that crazy to move countries in the middle of a pandemic and second of all why did I choose Romania out of all countries?
So let’s go step by step.
Me and my girl Ela wanted a change of scenery because we just felt too stuck in our hometown and we sensed that our creativity started to slip away, pressed down by the constant everyday routine of just existing in one place for so long. Our souls were yearning to taste the thrill of travel again but we also wanted to travel safely during all this to stay healthy and not to be in danger or source of danger for anybody else.
I am blessed with amazing friends all over the world and that resulted in our trip to Romania. I have a friend that lives there, who was more than happy about the possibility of us coming and disturbing their life. That was a logical and safe choice for us. To move away but still be in “near” proximity of home, just in case the world situation takes a turn for the worse and a location we could reach by car.
Our goal for this move was to create our personal business incubator. A place where creativity comes to flourish, our souls can run freely exploring new corners of the earth, where we can grow together and become better persons and professionals creatives.
Planning started in October and by December the level of complications we had on our plates made us ten years older in only two months. Still, we managed to get here safe and covid free.
The trip itself was such a crazy experience.
The trip plan was as follows: Makarska – Belgrade through Croatia via highway. We went through Serbia because Hungarian borders were closed at the moment of our trip. 1600 km-around 16 hours of driving. Two of us driving and taking shifts for it.
Car was completely filled with our stuff because we brought everything possible with us so that we can to work without lacking anything. It was fully packed in every sense of that word. If any police officers decided to take look at all of that, we would still be at the border somewhere.
We went on the road early in the morning. It was sunny and beautiful throughout the whole of Croatia when we crossed the border with Serbia it started to rain and that turn out into a major downpour and finally a snowstorm. We went on a smaller border with Romania just so we can cross it easier, because of the corona. Road to that border… It was a combination of horror about serial killers and alien abductions mixed together in one and spiced up with heavy rain, night, and occasional snow. Very fun indeed. We finally came to the Romanian border and were the only car there. The rest of it was all big trucks. They took our ID, info, and address where we will be staying in Romania. We needed to sign a paper that we will stay in isolation for 14 days. Romanians are very strict about it and I love that. This situation is not one that should be taken lightly and we were prepared for this already. We really took all the precautionary measures while traveling. We had our masks and pack of new ones with us, disinfecting tissues, gel for hands, and disinfection spray for our shoes. So we really were extremely cautious, avoiding people and all. We didn’t want to catch a disease or worse to spread it to another country.
So far it all went how it’s supposed to be. Our time frame was good and we were driving slowly through Romania to our city Ploiesti which is around 60 km from the capital Bucuresti. We were already in the car for about 12 hours when we entered Romania and were so ready for our trip to be over. We had three more hours left and we couldn’t wait for them to end, but nature had other plans. Part of the road goes across the mountain so we ended up in a snowy blizzard not being able to drive more than 30-40 km per hour maximum. The winter wonderland became our winter trap and we end up driving till 8 am, staying awake and in the car for 25 hours straight. When we entered the 23rd hour I started to see things along the road so it was a very good thing I wasn’t driving at the moment.
We finally arrived. It was cold, gloomy, we were extremely exhausted and my favorite moment was one when I finally touch the bed and got some sleep.
The rest of our first two weeks in isolation were pretty uneventful. We just took that time to adjust the apartment for all three of us. To create our working spaces and overall to settle in and to unwind. Very good thing about being here, in isolation, is that you can order everything to your door, so we spent the first week just ordering everything possible we needed from cleaning supplies, furniture to just coffee. That was one thing that really made our isolation so much easier.
All in all, I think I can give you some key points on how to travel safely in these times. 1. Check the regulations of the country you are going to 2. Check the regulations regarding traveling so you avoid any unpleasant surprises. 3. If you can go by car it is the safest way to avoid sharing your space and air with people you don’t know. 4. Stack your car with disinfection supplies as well as food and water so you don’t have to take stuff from the gas stations which are very frequented and you have a bigger chance of catching something 5. If you have to be isolated for two weeks check if the place you are going to has a good delivery system or if not find a way to arrange getting everything you need during isolation. And the last one: always bring your logic with you. Be smart about it, avoid big groups of people, and wear your mask wherever you go. Acting responsibly is the easiest thing you can do for yourself and for the overall situation. We can still live our lives just a little bit more cautiously than usual.
