Travelling During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Let’s go back a year and a half. It was January 2020. Just like every year, we were planning our holidays at the end of the new year. We had already chosen our accommodation and paid for the plane tickets... And then came the virus and brought the world to a halt. Travelling was practically impossible. We could cancel our accommodation (the hostels were sympathetic and understood the situation) and our plane tickets were finally refunded by Ryanair, after spending weeks and months writing to the airline, however, we got nothing from Wizzair. It was a bitter experience and money down the drain, but a lesson learned!

We’re more careful planning our holidays this year, and we don’t plan more than two weeks in advance, since the situation constantly changes. But this also means higher prices when it comes to certain things. And yet, we haven’t lost our wanderlust. Quite the opposite, actually. We could hardly wait to get on the plane and fly to Greece to enjoy our hard-earned holidays where we – following all the safety measures – felt safe and, most of all, forgot all about the nasty virus and the pandemic for a week.

What precautions are in order?

1. Face mask

If you’re planning on travelling, don’t forget your face mask. You can either use cotton or surgical face masks. Just don’t forget to take it with you. Face masks are mandatory at airports and on the plane. All staff wear a face mask, as do the workers on the runway who have no direct contact with passengers. On the plane, face masks are worn by stewards, and they have to be worn throughout the whole flight. The exception is when you eat and drink.

The face mask is also mandatory at the reception, in hallways and in restaurants in hotels and hostels. You also have to wear it in shops and on public transport. In Greece, it wasn’t mandatory in the city and in open public spaces. I recommend checking the rules for each country you’re visiting.

2. The PLF (Passenger Locator Form)

You need to fill out the PLF (Passenger Locator Form) before travelling. You can find it at https://app.euplf.eu/#/. Since we flew to Greece from an Italian airport, we were transit passengers in Italy and therefore had to fill out two forms – one for Italy and one for Greece. Filling out the form requires lots of information, so take your time. You should also check when you should fill out the forms. There were no deadlines for Italy, but we had to fill out the form for Greece at least 24 hours before entering the country.

3. Vaccination certificate

During the last days before travelling, we obtained the smsPASS mobile identity, so we could have an e-version of our vaccination certificate, apart from the one we printed out. The vaccination certificate, negative test result or recovery certificate are mandatory. After arriving at the airport, we had to show our medical documents at the bag drop. Only after our documents had been checked did we get a stamp and a signature on our plane tickets, which said we could travel, so we headed to the security check.

Despite having to fill out forms, print out papers and keep up to date with the situation and the COVID-19 measures in Greece and our home country, we had a whale of a time and would definitely go through it all again! We’re glad we were able to board the plane after such a long time, discover new places, explore a new culture and taste new food. I wish our trip had lasted as long as possible! Face masks, disinfection and filling out various forms seems to be our new reality, which we’ll have to get used to for a while. But happiness and enjoyment during travelling make it all worth it!