Category Archives: Pandemic Travels

Pandemic travels: Vilnius, Lithuania; November 2021

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Originally my intention had been to visit Latvia and Lithuania in March 2020. I would fly into Riga, spend a few days there; followed by a bus tour to Vilnius which would stop at historic castles and parks en route. My journey would end in Vilnius for a few more days, before my flight home from the Lithuanian capital. Something happened however, meaning the trip was cancelled – the global pandemic. I postponed the holiday until October 2020, as obviously everything would be back to normal by then. Unfortunately that wasn’t possible. I subsequently switched my flights to March 2021. Pandemic said no. Finally I moved the dates to November. The Latvian leg of the trip was cancelled unfortunately, because of a fresh lockdown in that country. Vilnius remained open however. Being both vaxxed and recovered, I decided to take my chances. My trip to Vilnius might be brief but it had been a long time coming. It was time to hit the runway.

Gediminas Castle Tower

After checking in to my grim (but incredibly cheap) apartment I found my way randomly to Bernelių užeiga Vilniuje – a traditional restaurant in the city centre. The food was potato based and tasty. The lounge singer switched between Lithuanian folk music and easy-listening in English. ‘You’ by 10 Sharp was a highlight. I decided against the ballroom dancing when it began. I am not Billy Idol. There’d be no dancing with myself this holiday.

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Pandemic travels: Tuscany, October 2021

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The first time I visited Italy as a tourist was to Rome in February 2020, the month before the lockdowns began. I remember leaving Fiumcino Airport on my return home, thinking that the authorities were being a bit paranoid with their haz-mat space suits. Little did we know. I returned to Italy to Venice in October 2020 – an unforgettable experience as I saw the city without the company of the tens of thousands of travelers who would normally be present. For my third time during the time of Covid, I was once again setting down in the great country of Italy. My destination this time was Tuscany.

Thanks to Ryanair I had return flights in and out of Pisa for 100eur. Our itinerary for the trip started in Pisa for one night; followed by Siena for a night; Florence for four nights and then Pisa again to catch my 7.15am airplane home. People often complain about Ryanair for its lack of flexibility and its punitive response to any transgression from its arbitrary rules. I now know how they feel. I was taking an afternoon flight. I worked from home during the morning and had planned to check in. Work distracted me so it was only as I pulled into the airport that I took out my phone to do this essential task. Unfortunately it was now under two hours to take off. For the luxury of my boarding pass I had to pay an additional fee of 55eur. While it is exploitative it’s how that gurning gremlin Michael O’Leary operates. You can’t pretend to be surprised that Ryanair behaves this way. They pride themselves on it. I paid the charge without complaint. Why waste the oxygen?

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Pandemic travels – Oslo, Norway, October 2021

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The decision to travel to Norway was made in the early summer. It’s a country I had never visited, and knew very little about (Sue Townsend’s famed anti-hero Adrian Mole had once done a school project on the Norwegian leather industry so I was reasonably well versed on that facet of the country. I was also aware of legendary Norwegian pop and A-Ha). My friend R had previously visited, loved it and so we decided that to celebrate the possibility that life might be going back to normal, we booked a trip.

Our early October travel dates were deliberate. The days were still long and the bitter cold that Scandinavian winters are known for hadn’t arrived yet. The SAS flights cost only 120euro for a return trip.

Oslo airport was as clean and neat as you’d expect. What was not so expected was the chaos in the off-license at the duty-free. Norway is one of the world’s most expensive countries when it comes to booze, so the natives purchase as much as they can in the duty free upon arrival back in the homeland. We weren’t there for the duty free. We made our way to the station and the half hour trek to Oslo central station.

We were staying in different hotels both within a three minute stroll to the station – which became our meeting point.

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Pandemic travels: having recovered from Covid, I went to Gran Canaria. September 2021

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Catching Covid-19 while visiting London in August had given me quite a shock. My symptoms were very mild, and in fact if my friend had not tested positive for Covid-19, it would have been unlikely that I would even have gone for a test. Nevertheless it gave me pause for thought. Was I needlessly endangering other people’s health with my excursions? Then I remembered that I live on my own; work from home, and that my life is a socially distant exercise as a default setting. This trip to Gran Canaria would be my first excursion after emerging from the mandatory fourteen days quarantine. I decided that it would be low key, and that no pictures would be shared of this adventure. It wasn’t that I felt any guilt or shame about my decision. I just didn’t want to have to answer questions about my intentions.

The trip to Gran Canaria had only been booked a few weeks earlier. A friend from my Amsterdam days was now residing back in her home country of Finland. She was taking a trip in early September and wanted to know if I’d like to join her. To my surprise I managed to snag the last seat available there and back, on the dates she was visiting.

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Taberna el Picoteo
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Pandemic travels: Catching Covid in London – August 2021

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My flight was at 16.30. so leaving my house at 14.00 should leave me with sufficient time to check in, and have a coffee in the deeply unlovely Terminal 1 of Dublin Airport. However I hadn’t factored in how unreliable Dublin Bus can be.. The number 41(the airport bus) didn’t arrive at 14.15 as scheduled, nor 14.30. Instead I hopped on the 41C at 14.40. This chariot only takes you to the airport gate though. I ran the 20 minutes distance to the terminal building. The crowds were at pre-Covid levels. It was now 15.45. My gate was closing in 15 minutes. I’d never make it with that queue. The security guard pointed me in the direction of the Fast Track gate (who knew that such a thing existed?) which solved my dilemma. I sprinted to the gate for final call to London Stansted.

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Pandemic travels : Andalusia July 2021

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Non-essential travel from Ireland was re-permitted from the end of July. Having bought a flight to Malaga on the Costa Del Sol earlier that year, before the date when restriction were eased, for the day after said restrictions were finally lifted was perfect timing. This would be my first trip to Malaga – though I’d been to sister Andalusian city of Seville en route to Morocco some years earlier. My preconception was that Malaga was a gateway to Torremolinos and Fuengirola and those massive sun holiday resorts so beloved by the Irish and our northern European neighbours.

Alhambra from the Mirador de San Nicolas

What hit me first as I disembarked the plane at 8pm was how hot it was. I’d forgotten to take into account the sweltering heat of southern Spain in summer. I should have known – I’d been to Greece and Malta during high season on previous travels. My lack of foresight was my own fault. I wasn’t worried – I was on holidays. I would struggle through. More concerning was my lack of digital Covid vaccine certificate. Having been fully vaccinated since May I should have received this soon to be compulsory travel pass. No such luck. I had the cardboard HSE card detailing my status but was worried it might be looked at askance by the Spanish authorities. There was nothing I could do about that now. I wasn’t going to delay my trip for the sake of a QR code.

Gibralfaro Castle

My hotel was in the centre of the surprisingly large city. My research indicated that Malaga was Spain’s sixth largest city with a population of 600,000 people. Good news. This wasn’t just a beach resort.
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Pandemic travels: The Scottish Highlands and Hebrides, July 2021

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By July of this year, international travel out of Dublin Airport remained banned (in theory) for all but essential purposes. Obviously a hastily muttered ‘funeral’ to any inquiring policeman would see you waved through security. I am not a convincing liar however, so I performed my usual clever trick – I flew from Belfast for my upcoming trip. My destination was the Scottish Highlands. The plan was to visit the city of Inverness to where you could get a direct flight. I contacted a Glaswegian friend M, and asked her if she had any recommendations for Inverness and the surrounding area.

‘When are you going?’ came her reply. I told her early July. To my astonishment she told me that she and her partner D had bought a camper van and were planning a camping holiday in the Highlands at the same time I was visiting. An offer of a tent and a seat in the van was made. This was a welcome development. Solo travel is very enjoyable, and I have become a veteran of such excursions. Traveling with friends is preferable, however. Shared experiences take the edge when it comes to travel.

My EasyJet flight was early morning from Belfast International. The thought of rising at 5am to catch a bus from Dublin filled me with horror. I booked a room in a youth hostel close to the Europa bus station in Belfast that would allow me to emerge from my crypt at a more humane 8.30am and reach the airport on time for my flight. I ignored the fact that I was at least twenty years older than everyone staying in the hostel – I had paid for a private room so I could close my door on the world.

The flight the next day was uneventful, short, and almost empty. The bus to Inverness town from the airport departed once an hour. The next scheduled service was in twenty minutes. I asked the driver if he was going to town. He said that he’d be back in the airport in twenty minutes but if I wanted to board the bus now that was fine. The airport shuttle was a back-and-forth service. I may as well see some of the Highlands. I hopped on the bus and went on my way. The landscape around Inverness is very like West Cork – very beautiful.
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Pandemic Travels – London – May 2021

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As the second year of the pandemic draws to a close, I decided I would do a review of my year in foreign travel. Merely to record my traveling excursions during these strange times. I will do an account on a daily (or thereabouts) basis for yours (and my) amusement.

January to April this year were stationary of course. The lifting of lockdown last Christmas had a dreadful impact on Covid numbers, hospitalisations, and deaths, early in the year. Therefore, foreign travel was banned for all but essential purposes. These early months of the year also saw the rollout of the vaccination programme. As an individual in a high-risk category, I was fully vaccinated with both doses of the Moderna vaccine by May.

Travel was still not permitted though. From Dublin Airport I mean. Travel to Belfast from Dublin was fine. Travel from Belfast to London was also permitted. Being someone who willingly wears a mask, respects physical distancing; and maintains hand hygiene, I granted myself a pass. Not the wisest some might say. Selfish and self-centred others might declare, as they say to their partner / housemate sitting in their back garden. I had made the decision to ignore any lectures from people who didn’t live alone in a small apartment.

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Pandemic travel: Venice is calling. October 2020

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As this strangest of years draws to a close, I am putting finger to keypad one more time to describe my travels in the time of pandemic. My final jaunt of the year taken before the second lockdown was imposed was to Venice as September turned to October. I will preface this post with my usual disclaimer. While traveling to, and while in Venice, I observed all physical distancing, hand hygiene and mask-wearing guidelines. I observed the fourteen-day quarantine period upon my return to Ireland – which as I have previously mentioned is not that difficult when you live alone. I kept this excursion entirely to myself again, not wanting to hear people’s criticism or judgement of my decision to travel. The only person I was placing at risk by my choice was myself. For the sake of my sanity, I thought my decision was sound.

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Pandemic travel: Barcelona, September 2020

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It was November 2019. I was sitting at my desk in the Wastelands pondering opportunities for foreign travel in 2020. I wanted to visit places that I had never previously travelled. Destinations in Europe that fit such a description were becoming scarce. With the exceptions of the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania. I went online and booked a trip – flight into Riga on Thursday 9th March and then fly back from Vilnius on Tuesday. A two for one holiday. As March approached there were rumblings about coronavirus. It became very real in the middle of February flying back from Rome. The guards in haz-mat suits taking temperatures of people departing struck an ominous note. In early March I decided that the Plague made it unwise to travel. The air of the apocalypse hung heavy. It felt like Armageddon. I postponed my trip until late August.

If I survived then surely things would be back to normal by autumn. Little did I know. The August flights were not cancelled, and Covid related deaths and infections in Ireland had drastically reduced. I was willing to take the risk to make the trip. Unfortunately Latvia and Lithuania were not so lackadaisical. If I was I to travel I would be expected to self-isolate for fourteen days upon entry. Reluctantly I decided not to travel. Crossing the border between Latvia and Lithuania by bus might be tricky. I didn’t want to get into trouble with the Baltic authorities. Ryanair didn’t reimburse me. Of course they didn’t – it is Satan’s favourite airline. The flight was not cancelled therefore if I was going to be charged more than the flight originally cost if I were to postpone. With a heavy heart the Thursday of departure passed. I remained in Dublin.

The following week felt heavy. This pandemic seemed relentless and eternal. On Wednesday I was staring morosely out the window at the Luke Kelly statue, hissing at the emails from my work customer as they appeared in my inbox. I was idly entering destinations onto the ‘fare-finder’ section of the Ryanair website. This is the section that offers last minute deals. What was this – a Friday to Monday return flight to Barcelona cost 40 euros. I had no intention of going anywhere. Out of curiosity I opened booking.com. What was this – three nights in a pension in the Gothic Quarter for nineteen euros a night? In other words a three day trip to one of Europe’s most beautiful cities would cost under a hundred euros. Departure in thirty-six hours. As if in a daze I clicked on the ‘buy ticket’ button, giving a little yelp of terror as I did so.

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