Coastline and Konyaalti Beach in Antalya

Update on Staying Safe Traveling During Covid-19 Pandemic

Landing in Turkey during the year of Covid-19

This year, to date, I’ve spent the entire Covid-19 Pandemic in the wonderful country of Turkey. I arrived in Istanbul in early February from Cyprus with a 90-day tourist visa. Long before my visa expired, the deadly Corona Virus hit Turkey and in late March the country went into lock-down.

By then I’d reached the amazing coastal city of Antalya, which turned out to be my great fortune. I ended up happily ‘stuck’ in fabulous Antalya for 10 full weeks.

Eventually the lock-down regulations were gradually lifted, first along the Mediterranean Coastal provinces, where I was staying, and then all over the country.

Taking up Travel again in this Covid-19 world

Since this coastal region has had relatively few corona cases throughout the epidemic, I decided to finally resume my travels in early June, setting out slowly westward along the Mediterranean coast from Antalya.

Before heading out, I prepared a whole slew of personal safety habits, rules and procedures to keep myself virus-free while riding public buses, staying at various accommodations and moving around in public places and natural attractions. I detailed my safe travel plans in this article.

Fast forward to late July – I’ve been on the road for nearly eight weeks thus far and have visited a whole slew of amazing beaches, cliffs, mountains, canyons, forests, coastal towns & cities, ancient Lycian ruins and various historic sites.

I’ve concluded that it’s not easy to stay completely safe while traveling

Although I’ve greatly enjoyed my coastal travels and have seen so many wonderful places, I have to admit that I’ve often found it quite difficult, and at times impossible, to follow all the safe habits & procedures I set in place.

That’s the result of a combination of factors that include my own occasional inabilities to practice my habits, the flagrant disregard of social distancing by most Turkish people, the raging heat and intense sun during summer months here, and other important considerations besides corona virus safety in various situations.

My short summary is that despite my best intentions and personal efforts, I’ve discovered that traveling does entail some unavoidable risks. I have to admit that staying put in one place and not traveling during this pandemic is most definitely safer.

That conclusion is more or less a ‘no brainer’. Obviously the more you’re out in places where you come into contact with other people, especially people who are not following safe practices, the more potential risk you’re taking.

crowded Konyaalti Beach in June

The more people are moving around through a country or across countries, taking planes & buses & trains, and staying at different accommodations, the more likely the virus is going to spread.

And this has proved exactly correct around the globe by every single country that has loosened its lock-down measures, has opened its borders to visitors from other countries, and has re-started tourism. All of those countries have seen an increase in corona virus cases & deaths to some degree or other, ranging from a moderate increase to a surge to a raging spike in cases.

Of course I knew that traveling would necessarily entail some risk, as compared to staying put in my little hotel in Antalyla. However, I must say that I thought I could stick to my personal safety habits, procedures and rules more easily and thoroughly.

Alas, I’ve found it impossible to do 100%. Following are the major problems & obstacles, most of which I admit that I didn’t foresee.

Personal Inabilities

Practicing my safe habits & procedures is relatively easy when I’m well-composed, alert, focused and feeling well. But the habits can quickly become difficult or impossible when I’m exhausted, hungry, broiling hot, distracted, aggravated by other people or otherwise unfocused.

One bad situation I’ve run into many times happens when riding a public bus that has no air conditioning. In high summer here, the outside temperatures often reach 33-37C / 90-100 F. Obviously, a van or bus made of metal and glass is going to become considerably hotter inside as the sun blazes down on it hour after hour.

Usually when the vehicle is moving along the road quickly, wind blows through, keeping things cool-ish. However, when the van stops at long red lights, the interior becomes unbearably broiling hot.

Wearing a face mask in that condition is absolute torture. So I’m confronted with the choice of potentially getting heat sickness or else taking off my mask and exposing myself more readily to corona virus. I usually have to partially remove my mask while the vehicle is stopped.

There have been several times while walking or waiting to take buses when it’s super broiling hot outside with an intense scorching sun. I’ve become so hot and/or so exhausted that I don’t even remember to use a disinfectant or cloth when touching bus interiors – seats, handles, railings. Likewise, if I’m excessively hungry, I have trouble practicing such procedures.

This also has been a problem a few times when arriving at a new hotel room. By the time I arrived, I was so hot and/or exhausted and/or hungry that I entirely forget to disinfect the room surfaces before I started using them. Sometimes I remember to disinfect but am just too hot/tired/hungry/dehydrated to do it.

I realized that despite my best intentions and well-thought-out procedures, I just can’t always do them. I have to admit that I am not Super Woman after all. Sigh.

bus passenger without mask

Other people not following safe Covid-19 procedures

Even more than my own inabilities, the biggest problem by far for staying safe is other people’s bad habits.

As I already detailed in my original article, quite unfortunately, and to my great aggravation & frustration, the majority of Turkish people do not practice social distancing. At all. Ever. In fact, it’s quite obvious to see that the idea doesn’t even enter their heads.

This causes me no end of extra work, discussions with strangers, altercations, frustration and aggravation. For example, walking down a wide sidewalk should be a simple procedure for everyone. But because I’m usually the only person practicing social distancing in public, simply walking anywhere becomes a huge ordeal for me, but only for me.

I constantly have to swerve out to the sides, step into roads, duck down alleys, dart into doorways or restaurants, to avoid people walking within inches of me. They are so unaware of their surroundings that they usually don’t even notice me dodging, let alone realize that I’m avoiding them!

I’ve come to using my sun umbrella to keep them at a distance, holding it out at the end of my fully extended arm to force them to go around it.

Inside stores it’s the same story. Both customers and staff constantly pass within inches of each other. I’ve had to take up some rather extreme measures to keep people at a safe passing distance. Most notably, I always use a shopping cart so that I can put the length of it between myself and nearly everyone else who passes me.

Not surprisingly, they all think I’m a nut-case. They just don’t get the concept of social distancing…even though it’s written everywhere. Including on the floors of the stores. Hello?!

Kidrak Beach in early morning

Happily, I learned how to avoid most of this, most of the time, by working around most Turkish peoples’ schedules. They tend to be on late schedules, not going out to shopping areas, stores, beaches, parks or other places until mid afternoon. Most places start getting crowded about 2-3 pm and proceed to get more and more packed through evening.

So I simply do everything in the mornings until about midday, possibly 2 pm a the latest. I get up at 6 am and head out by 7 am to walk, cycle, do yoga in the park, hit the beach or go grocery shopping, At that time of day, every place is practically deserted, much to my great relief and enjoyment.

Bus driver without mask

Bus safety procedures

Most alarmingly, during the past two weeks I’ve seen a progressive lag in bus safety practices. According to Turkish laws, everyone inside a bus must wear a mask, including the drivers. It’s left up to the drivers to enforce that.

Luckily, most drivers do tell every passenger to put on a mask when they enter, if they haven’t done so already. However, some drivers do not. In fact, some drivers don’t even wear their mask properly themselves, slinging it under their chin!

Quite unfortunately, at least half the bus passengers do not follow the correct procedures. Many tuck their mask under their nose or under their chin. Some dangle it from one ear. A few bolder ones just take off their mask entirely.

Then there are passengers, myself included on occasion, who take off their mask temporarily to eat or drink water. Then put the mask back on.

On several different bus rides recently I’ve had to ask various passengers to put their masks on. When I ask them, they do so right away. But if nobody forces them to, they won’t.

I’m discovering that the Turks are rather rebellious and don’t like following rules, even if its for everyone’s health & safety, their own included.

World Wide Phenomenon of Not Following Health Experts Advice

It’s not just in Turkey where citizens are refusing to co-operate, though. I’ve seen on news and heard from family in the USA and friends around the world that lots of people in lots of countries are either not wearing masks or not practicing social distancing, or both.

In the USA that’s true, obviously, and in the UK. I’ve also heard about it even in Germany. It seems that a large percentage of the human population just refuses to deal with the reality of this Covid-19 pandemic. That, ironically of course, will make the pandemic both worse and more prolonged.

General Conclusions about Traveling During Covid-19

hiking through Saklikent Gorge solo in early morning!

The clear conclusion is that traveling at this time, probably anywhere in the world, is somewhat risky. How risky, I guess, depends on the specific place, time of year (high or low tourist season), the mentality of the other people there and the safety procedures that are put in place, or not, by the country, city, region, public transportation system and hotels.

Quite unfortunately, even travelers like me, who personally practice safe Covid-19 habits & procedures,are going to run into a lot of other people who are not. And we’re also going to be in situations where safety in terms of Covid-19 is not the only crucial factor to consider & deal with.

It can quickly become exhausting, frustrating and considerably un-enjoyable to travel under these conditions.

I’m not saying nobody should travel at all right now, though that would clearly be the absolute safest thing to do. But travelers should take as many precautions as possible, take responsibility for their own health & safety (not expect others to behave safely) and avoid situations where lots of people are gathering.

my camp at a campground in Kas

My Own Travel Situation

Having said all that, I am still glad that I set out to explore the Turkish Mediterranean coast instead of continuing to stay longer in my little hotel in Antalya.

I’ve stuck to my rule of staying only in private rooms or camping in my tent. No hostels! I’ve stayed at campgrounds, one AirBnB room and a couple small private hotels.

I have had to share kitchens and bathrooms at most places, but always Math just a few other people.

As noted above, I’ve mostly been able to stick to safe social distancing rules by doing everything in mornings until about midday/early afternoon, before most people even get outside. And when I end up in situations where people are trying to get too close, I’ve taken up tactics to keep them at bay.

The major risk situations for me have been in taking buses. I do my best to choose the safest seat, to make sure everyone on the bus is wearing a mask and to open windows for fresh air. But it’s certainly not as easy or risk-free as I’d hoped, primarily due to other peoples’ negligent behavior.

One thing I’ve done in response is to limit my bus riding. Now that I’m staying in Fetiye city for a few weeks, I only make one, or possibly two, bus excursions per week, out to a new destination or to my favorite beach. Otherwise, there are plenty of great walking routes along the waterfront here in the city. And of course I can walk to/from the stores.

So this concludes my latest travel update during the Covid-19 pandemic.

I hope we can get over with this sometime soon!

In the meantime, I hope all of you are staying safe and following the advice of the world’s top virus experts, wherever you are in the world.

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