We tried a trip to Dubai during a pandemic so that you don’t have to. It was great. And it turned out very sad.
Jan liked to say that Taste of Prague was not part of „tourism“. It was part of the food industry. Well, the pandemic proved him very, very, very wrong. We were indeed part of the tourism industry, as manifested by the fact that just like most of our colleagues, we have had exactly zero business for the past year or so. You think restaurants are hurting? Look at the tourism businesses. Turns out you can’t sell a tour or a hotel stay out of a take-out window.
This is just to say that we are deeply invested in tourism, both financially and emotionally. And that is why we may be more open than most to the idea of travelling even when the care-free travel we used to know. If you lost your job and have been living off your savings for the past year or so, you want to believe that travel is still an option. So as every year, we have decided to travel somewhere warm for a bit during the winter. We were worn out. Zuzi has a health issue where the symptoms get better in warm climates. And JJ hates the cold. So we went. Here’s the story of our trip (sorry, no Dubai tips this time around) and what we’ve learnt.
The requirements
Your travelling mileage will definitely vary based on your residence. We chose Dubai as our destination because of the convenience of a direct flight - we don’t like to stress or expose JJ to the risks of disease with layovers. We booked the flights and hotel two weeks in advance, and as the date was approaching, our unease about the whole thing gradually grew: we actually called Emirates one day before the flight if we could still cancel on such a short notice. (Turned out we could: if there’s a silver lining to the decline of tourism during the pandemic, it’s how accommodating have all service providers in tourism become.)
Anyway, if you’re flew from the Czech Republic to Dubai and back in February 2021, you needed:
A PCR test not older than 72 hours when you landed in Dubai.
A second PCR test conducted at the Dubai airport.
Self-isolate in your hotel room or apartment until you received the results of the second test. (We got lucky - we got to our room at 2am and received the results some three hours after we woke up.)
Another PCR test not older than 72 hours when you boarded the return flight to Prague.
Self-isolate in the Czech Republic for five days after you landed.
Take another PCR test after the five-day quarantine.
If the last test is negative, that’s that.
Oh, the joys of travelling in a pandemic! Anyway, long story short - as we write this, all of the four tests have luckily been negative and we are back to our old life in Prague. (Yay?)
The experience
When we called Emirates about the cancellation policy, we also asked about possible upgrade to business class, and as it was within the price range we have set for ourselves, we have decided to upgrade, simply because we thought that social distancing was easier to maintain with extra legroom and shoulder space. We also thought we could get through the airport more quickly with a business class ticket. Which was definitely true in Dubai airport - the route for business class travellers is definitely shorter and more comfortable there.
Prague airport? When we arrived at Terminal 1, we saw they only had four flights that day. Friends we met in the airplane by total chance said that the flights on Terminal 2 were over that day by noon. So you don’t need to splash on a business class ticket just to zoom through the airport - there’s literally no one there. It’s actually kinda sad. The business class ticket did help when we boarded - the separate line was much shorter and quicker. These bottlenecks are definitely something that will have to be addressed if travel is to reach pre-pandemic levels: we didn’t like crowds before the pandemic, and we like them even less now.
The flight was completely fine: everybody had a face mask on, and we have all received some sanitary gels and gloves for our use. When we arrived in Dubai, they routed us for the PCR tests just before the passport control. It was relatively easy and took about five minutes to get the tests done.
We will not comment much on Dubai. Suffice to say that the service was excellent, the infrastructure for Covid was firmly in place, and the rules were strictly followed. They would check your temperature in most restaurants, every taxi had a bottle of sanitary gel ready (by the time we arrived, all the taxi and Uber drivers had to have had at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, otherwise they would not be permitted to drive), and everybody wore a mask. (The only people we saw without a mask were three younger tourists from Germany with whom we had the pleasure of sharing a van that took us to the desert.)
The hotel we stayed in had a nurse that performed PCR tests, so getting tested for our return was easy. We had to register with the health authorities in the Czech Republic, which was just a matter of filling an online form. Flying back was sadly a preview of things to come: none of the members of the Czech family of seven that shared the small business class section with us had their masks on. We had to get assertive and ask them to comply repeatedly. It was slightly distressing. When we arrived, we drove to our summer house in the countryside and self-isolated there. We drove back home for the last PCR test (we took the home gargle test picked up by a courier service) and the results came back the same day. Hooray.
The million dollar question: was it all worth it?
Yes, it was. For us. But the entire experience was depressing: the care-free travel of yesteryear is gone, and who knows when and if at all it will be ever back. Which, by extension, means that our business is, for now, gone, too. That’s the depressing part. We see a few things stand in the way of travel we used to love coming back… for now.
At this point, travelling Internationally requires commitment. It just isn’t easy. There’s not enough flights. Many destinations are closed. Or some destinations are open, just not to the country where you reside.
The carelessness is gone - there’s just a lot of paperwork to go through, and you are always reminded that travel is just not within the scope of what is considered normal at this point. It’s as if there’s a public radio loudspeaker shouting at you at all times to be careful and to mind the rules and regulations.
Travel is now simply more expensive. Less flights mean less competition, which means more expensive flights. Also, we had to take four PCR tests for our Dubai trip each, and only two of them were free, which means we had to pay for six PCR tests. And quarantine for five days on return. That is a price or cost that simply adds up to the cost of your vacation now.
And then there’s the most important thing, at least to us: the travel shaming.
The general public just now sees international travel as something that is inherently bad, risky or irresponsible done by voluntary super spreaders. (Just to be clear: we disagree. The Czechs’ opportunity to travel has been very limited for months now, yet we are still seeing record numbers in new infections. It just doesn’t add up.)
We met friends on our flight to Dubai and they told us they would not post anything on their social media. We did not post any content for a few days, and we we finally did, the post has become one of the most-commented posts in the history of our Instagram. While some followers liked the pic, others really hated the idea of us travelling. There was a lot of what has been recently called travel shaming. And until that exists, travel will never be back.
How about the future of travel?
Who are we to know? We think there’s a few hurdles ahead of us we will need to negotiate before travel can truly rebound from all of this.
Public opinion. Travellers must be seen as a contribution, as welcome guests, not as a burden or a source of risk. Sure, hospitality professionals will always love you, but few people will travel if they’ll see themselves the subject of public judgment on return.
Cost and convenience. Travel now is less convenient and comfortable while being more expensive. That needs to change.
Bottlenecks. Pieces of infrastructure where people meet in large numbers (think airports, train stations, terminals, big hotels) must be run efficiently to process more travellers while maintaining high standards of social distancing and so on.
Vaccinations. More people need to get vaccinated and - and we know this can be a contentious issue - be incentivised and rewarded for their vaccination. Also, it would help if an international standard for vaccination recognition was generally adopted - a vaccination pass, perhaps in your phone? Whatever works, is easy to confirm and is reliable and quick.
Have you had a recent travel experience? We’d love to hear about it and your thoughts. We are on Clubhouse and may talk about travel in our public rooms going forward. Check us out under Zuza Valenta and Jan Valenta.
In the meantime, stay safe and we hope to see you out there sooner rather than later!