The Decision to Travel During Covid

In November 2021, we came to the realization that the pandemic was probably going to be around for a while longer and we needed to start figuring out how we could live a life a little closer to old normal than we had allowed ourselves in the prior 20-months. We wanted to be as careful as possible but we felt like we HAD TO make some changes including going somewhere. So on December 4, 2021, 3 days after the first case of omnicon was diagnosed in the U.S., we made our 2nd visit to Isla Holbox.

We wanted a short trip that wouldn’t require a long flight or a lot of changes and being the winter wanted to go somewhere warm that would allow more options for outdoor activities as well as outdoor seating at restaurants.

As this report is being written, we have flight and hotel reservations for a 3+ weeks trip to Mexico for early February 2022. It is a trip we had originally planned to take in October 2021 that has been booked, cancelled and rescheduled more than once. In reworking that trip, one location that was in the original plan that is not a part of the February 2022 plan is the island of Holbox, a place we hadn’t visited for 15-years.

And Holbox fit the bill for the short trip we wanted to take. So on December 4, 2021, we took a less than 3-hour non-stop flight to Cancun. While in some other times, we probably would have taken a bus, on this occasion, we rented a car from Yes Rent A Car for the 2-hour drive north to the extreme northeast of the Yucatán (and the state of Quintana Roo) to the small village of Chiquilá, where we parked the car and took a 40-minute ferry ride on the Gulf of Mexico to the Island (Isla) of Holbox.

Editor’s Note: I feel obligated to comment on the Cancun airport. Upon arrival we were lead into a large hall jammed packed with tourists. Our travel date was 3-days after the first case of the omnicron variant was discovered in the U.S. and while everyone was wearing a mask, at this time, Mexico still does not require a negative covid test for entry. Incredibly, the Cancun airport is averaging between 500-600 flights arrivals per day (or an average of 25 per hour over the course a 24-hour day) and there was absolutely no way to maintain any sense of social distancing. Our experience on our return home was no better and we have since made the decision to change our itinerary for February in order to avoid flying into or out of the Cancun airport.
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