Traveling During COVID19 and My Summer Trip To Croatia

Can you believe it is September 1st and nearly the end of summer…

It has been one hell of a 2020 and the good times just seem to keep on coming.
With everything going on this year, I felt more compelled than ever to get away and have some kind of change of pace, change of scenery, and some sort of normalcy as a summer vacation. After all it is kind of tough keeping up with a fashion and lifestyle blog when you never leave your house and basically live in your pajamas. So I pulled the trigger and booked a last minuet trip to Croatia. Don’t worry, I definitely socially distanced and it wasn’t one of those party vacations in the slightest. If you guys didn’t know I am actually half Croatian, and that whole side of the family still currently lives there, so this vacation was just more about visiting with family, enjoying the beautiful country and beaches, and just getting out of my own four walls in New York for a bit.

While I completely agree that COVID19 is still very real and relevant, and by no means am I advocating to just carelessly travel. But for those who do feel the need to get away and plan on doing so anyway, I feel it could be helpful to share my experience while traveling during the pandemic.

So I am going to be honest. Organizing everything prior to leaving was a bitch. Granted I booked my flight on a Friday night/Saturday, I can’t even remember which anymore, and flew out on a Tuesday (and just so you know I wouldn’t consider myself a light packer in the slightest). However, in addition to the normal stresses of traveling there were a couple additional factors that I had to deal with. For one, to travel to Croatia, I needed to have a COVID PCR test that was done no longer than 48 hours from the time the swab was taken to the time I arrived at the border. This is not necessarily as easy to find as the free tests that are available at any Urgent Care and many of the locations that do provide PCR testing are booked up weeks in advance. PCR tests also generally cost around $150. Had I not completed the PCR test I would have had to quarantine in Croatia for two weeks and would have to test upon arrival at my own expense. Thankfully, I was able to get it done in the knick of time.

In addition to the PCR Test, I also had to create documentation via the Croatian Embassy/ The Croatian Board of Tourism to state my purpose for traveling. This summer, Croatia was open to tourists, however the situation in the country and it’s borders seems to change on a daily basis, so if you are looking to travel to Croatia or any other country, make sure you have the facts(as best you can) before booking. One other note was that due to reduced airline service, many of the flights involved overnight layovers, or awkward travel times. I actually got really lucky with my own but it was an anomaly compared to the other routes. So be prepared to play with your dates and times of travel.

For the actual traveling part, I did feel some anxiety due to COVID and the debate of whether masks work efficiently blah blah, whether I could catch something from the recycled air or by touching things, and just some paranoia being amongst other people in general. Once you get passed that personal fear, I can honestly say things ran as smoothly as they could considering the situation. As I said, I am sure this statement is not all encompassing for traveling these days, but had there been no COVID, this would have been the most seamless travel experience of my life. I don’t know whether it is due to fear and less people traveling or if airlines are running at half capacity, but all my flights (going, coming, and connecting – 4 total) were empty and I had a whole row to myself each time. All flight attendants and airport staff always had masks, and more or less the airports were empty as well. There weren’t long waits or huge customs lines, no long waits for baggage, nor any delays with the flights. I actually enjoyed the overall travel experience thoroughly.

As this is such an overwhelming topic and I’m sure I didn’t even scratch the surface of it, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you guys have any questions either privately or in the comments down below.

Otherwise I can’t wait to share all the amazing content I gathered from my summer in Croatia.❤️