Wikivoyage:Tourist office/Archives/2022/January

Travelling abroad during covid-19

During covid, is it safe to travel abroad, like from Northern Ireland to England or the United States? Asked by: 86.27.66.60 01:36, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Neither travelling nor staying home is entirely safe in a pandemic. What's your specific question? Ikan Kekek (talk) 01:39, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello there, where you plan to travel overseas depends. As your IP seems to geolocate to Northern Ireland, for answers about England or the US, see the COVID box on England or the United States of America for answers on that. Have a safe travel overseas :-) SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 01:55, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

My specific question is, is it OK to go to the airport, get on a plane and go to another country? 86.27.66.60 06:21, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, as long as your aware of the risks and are willing to take them. Tai123.123 (talk) 06:22, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on which airport. I recently travelled to the United States from Sydney and there were a couple of extra covid checks along with vaccination certificates, along with having to wear a mask at all times (most masks are fine, but I wore an N95). Going on a plane wasn't a problem given I had a full row to myself and everyone had to wear a mask. So in all, it's completely fine to travel overseas as long as you're okay with some extra protocols and measures. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 06:26, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Any travel is a risk. I suppose there are people in the airport, which is a risk you cannot avoid if going by regular plane. How big it is depends on how the air conditioning is arranged, and whether you will be able to keep distances. You take similar risks every time you go to a supermarket, but the crowds may be bigger at the airport. Then you will probably meet people at your destination, which will not be those in your previous COVID-19 bubble, which is another risk. Whether strangers abroad are more risky than locally depends on the prevalence and how people handle the situation. A third risk while travelling is that you probably have less information on and control over your situation – and if strict measures are put in place or you get positive, handling the situation may be more difficult. –LPfi (talk) 09:27, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The crowds that was in both LAX or SYD were much lower than usual (both during peak hours), the amount you'd expect to find at a smaller airport, something like Oslo during early mornings, so crowds at an airport is generally not a problem. It is much lower than how much you'd find at a supermarket or a grocery store. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 09:33, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You're asking whether it's "safe" to be in an enclosed vehicle with recirculating air during a pandemic. No, it's never going to be 100% safe, but nothing is, so you need to decide what risks seem reasonable to you, what mitigating measures you will adopt, and how bad it would be likely to be if you nevertheless got sick. You can protect yourself by wearing a tight enough fitting mask that's an N95 or better that you hope doesn't have any leaks in it, never taking it off to eat or drink while you're in airports, planes or other enclosed spaces, and perhaps wearing goggles over your eyes. You also have to consider what risks you would have to or be willing to expose yourself to at the destination. Would you be able to restrict yourself to eating and drinking outside or in your hotel room (and how safe is your hotel room?), or do you want to risk eating indoors among people who might be carrying the virus? Etc., etc. And don't overlook the likelihood that you may be at more risk from the relatively small chance of an accident while you're taking surface transportation than from anything else, but then we don't know how many shots you've gotten or how serious your comorbities are. I had planned to travel to California this month and stopped planning when the omicron strain was reported, knowing it would come here. Instead, I've hunkered down, carefully shopping, cooking, and otherwise restricting myself to takeout and genuinely outdoor dining (none of those stupid "outdoor" cabins that are fully enclosed with closed doors), and hanging out indoors unmasked only with my girlfriend since the 2nd half of December. I also have temporarily stopped playing gigs as a musician. Now that the omicron wave is clearly on the downswing in New York, I will restart my music work soon, and I will go back to class to start the spring semester on Tuesday, with everyone wearing masks as a matter of enforced policy and required to have 3 shots except in unusual cases of exemptions. You have to make your own choices, but keep in mind the experience of a friend of mine who travels a lot, has gotten COVID-19 three times and last spoke with me from self-quarantine in her hotel room in Mexico City. Wherever you are, be careful and be well! Ikan Kekek (talk) 11:40, 23 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I live in Pomeroy, County Tyrone and I'd like to go from Belfast airport to London, California, New York or Philadelphia. 86.130.15.201 22:41, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

ok —The preceding comment was added by 94.138.255.244 (talk • contribs)

See COVID-19 pandemic and the country articles for your destinations for background. Those are not official or certain to be up-to-date, though, so you still have to check with government sources for each destination. Then check with the airline(s) you will use; they may have their own rules. Pashley (talk) 04:22, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

To the IP, your IP geolocates to Malta University. Is this a genuine question? You'd need to fly back home. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 04:38, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

IP addresses don't always correspond to geographical location. When I used to use a university VPN, my IP address would show up as the location of the university rather than my actual location. —Granger (talk · contribs) 18:54, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

In terms of travel restrictions, flying from Belfast to London should not be too difficult. When entering England from Northern Ireland, you don't need to take a test, fill out a passenger locator form, or quarantine. See here. For entering the US, our United States article has advice and links.

In terms of safety, it really depends on your own circumstances and level of risk tolerance. Both England and the US have high numbers of reported covid cases right now. —Granger (talk · contribs) 18:54, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

41.74.49.11 19:32, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Tykky condition right now

Tykky on spruces in Riisitunturi – so this is what we are talking about. The park is famous for it.

Early summer in UKK after a winter with heavy snow: most birches were bent by the load (many will recover), and many spruces had lost their tops, although not seen in this image. Note also how short the spruce branches are at this latitude, to minimise load.

We are planning to go to Riisitunturi National Park to photograph the Tykky, the snow crown trees. I hear there was high wind blowing all the snow from the trees already. I just want to know the situation of the Tykky in your area so we could decide whether we still go or not. Thank you for your attention.

Best!

-- Grace

Asked by: 70.180.187.58 05:22, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Grace. I'm not sure about whether you'll be able to see the tykky (I'm on the opposite end of the world ;-)) but you should probably check nationalparks.fi (Finnish link). Perhaps maybe some of our editors from Finland will know better. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 05:26, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Our article Riisitunturi National Park does have the contact info for the visitor centre, and the link to the nationalparks.fi site that SHB gave. The web site and the visitor centres are maintained by Metsähallitus, who also maintains the parks.

The best thing to do is to call the visitor centre. In this case there seems to be two of them, none locally, but they should have updated information on the situation, and they are happy to answer such questions – and any other you may have.

I think the kind of tykky they have up there is frozen to the twigs, and won't get off until it melts away. Storms will break some branches that cannot bear their load. But call and ask, as I might be mistaken.

–LPfi (talk) 16:33, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]