Coronavirus and Travel Plans – To Go or Not To Go…..?

Do you ever get that feeling that you should be more excited for your upcoming plans than you are?  And then something happens that suggests you were right not to be excited – you’re pshycic – you knew all along that this might happen (or not, as the case may be).  Ever been there?

Well, I suspect that we’re not the only people in this position currently.  Only perhaps we are slightly more fortunate in that we have nothing booked and we can just do what we want, when we want – to a certain degreee anyway.

What am I talking about?  Well our plans for our next trip were well underway – in sofaras we ever plan.  This time the plan was catch a ferry, possibly on 5th March (we haven’t booked it yet), pootle down through France, finally crossing the Millau Viaduct on the way; head into Italy and down to Rome via (hopefully – our plans don’t always materialise) Cinque Terre, and then on into Croatia & Slovenia.  Several other countries were (sorry, ARE) on the radar, but we’ll just take each day as it comes.

Of course CoronaVirus has been in the news for quite some time, but until a few days ago it wasn’t affecting us or our plans.  But now it is as it seems prudent to avoid Italy at the moment.  We’re not actually overly worried about catching the virus, but about being in lockdown in the van, unable to fetch supplies or empty the toilet….

We’re not 100% sure that we won’t go yet.  Let’s face it, it is an evolving situation and things might look very different in a week’s time.

So what have we decided?

• Are we going away?                            Of course we are!
• Where are we going?                          That we don’t know yet – but we didn’t manage to finish off the UK during our 2017 trip, so that is where we would probably start, up in Scotland and then perhaps North Wales
• When will we leave?                           Again, that’s dependant on the news over the next week or 2, but if things improve we’ll probably leave fairly close to our original planned date.  If not then we’ll give it a couple of weeks (we don’t like the cold…)
• What other options are there?          There are so many!
  • We can spend the whole time (4-5 months) touring the UK.
  • We could tour Scotland and then go over to Europe if the Virus is contained within a few weeks
  • We could tour Scotland and Wales and head over to France for a couple of months (as long as there hasn’t been a significant outbreak there of course)

The point is that although our plans may change, they aren’t actually ruined.  Yes, we’ll be gutted to not be visiting Croatia and Slovenia, but we’ll be over the moon to be visiting Scotland and North Wales.  There is such a wide variety of sites and landscapes to enjoy in our own country.

So whatever happens we will have 4-5 months away in the van just enjoying life – what more could you ask for? 🙂

Keep safe everyone and let me know what you would do!

Author: MandoraTheExplorer

Having given up full-time work we currently work a year to travel for 4-5 months, and we're hoping to continue this until we can retire properly! Currently living, and loving, life to the full :) View all posts by MandoraTheExplorer