Traveling in a Pandemic

'Are you allowed to go?' The lady threading my overgrown, lockdown eyebrows asked the weekend before we left.

Plenty of people asked me this when I told them of our 5 week honeymoon plan (yep, I'm now a wife!). There has been a huge amount of talk of air travel, or the lack thereof in Ireland during the pandemic, but the advice of non essential air travel is just that, advice. Of course there is more complicated question of 'should' you travel. We're in the fortunate position of being able to pay for a PCR test on return and restrict our movements for adviced 5 days on our return. 

Mexico has plenty of covid cases but has more or less been open to tourist most of the year. In a country to little, to no social welfare system and regions with high reliance on tourism, they don't have the privilege of extended lockdown. Covid entry requirements are limited-- no test required, no quarantine and no travel insurance. The last one being most important, as we can't get cover given the governments non essential travel advice.

So Mexico it would be for 5 weeks of adventure, sunshine, and mine and Jonnys first Christmas together!

Finding flights was difficult, not just because there are so few flights out of Ireland at them moment but also, thanks to Trump, Europeans are not permitted entry into the US, even just to transit through an airport. We found flights with KLM through Amsterdam to Mexico city.

We said goodbye to a freezing dark Dublin at 4am and made our way to a very empty Dublin Airport. 

No queues, ours seemed to be the only flight that morning, but the flight was completely sold out, every seat taken. Because there are so few flights from Ireland the ones that happen tend to fill up fast. It did feel a little strange to be crammed into a plane of strangers close by but by the second flight we were already accustomed to it. Masks are manditory, of course, but they are removed for eating meals and drinking.

After a 6 hour layover in a much busier Schipol airport we boarded our second sold out flight to Mexico city. Other than the masks, flying is just the same as it always has been. The day we flew, the European Center of Disease Control announced air travel to be low risk, based on research into planes filtration systems and very very few global documented cases. 

Before entering Mexico we spent 45 mins queuing to get through immigration, first having our temperature checked and then given hand sanditisor (more than what happens in Dublin Airport). We'd filled out a health check form and tourist visa application which we presented to the officer, in our terrible Spanish. He stamped our passports with no hesitation and off we went. 

We were jetlagged but excited for our first adventure in Mexico City!