Traveling When You’re Paranoid During the Pandemic: Choosing Our Destination, Toilet Set-Up and Safety Protocols

It took us a while (almost a year!) before we got out and went on an excursion because we are paranoid. By paranoid, I mean we are extremely cautious. And by we, I mean my husband! Hehe.

But if there’s a will, there’s a way. Sharing with you how we are now going about traveling as safely as possible (to the best of our knowledge and abilities) during this pandemic season.

Choosing our destination:

• Outdoors
• No using public transportation (no planes!)
• Little to no contact with staff
• No common areas to be shared with other guests during our stay
• A place big enough where we can “set up camp” (See my toilet set-up below!)
• A place where we can set up BESIDE our car

The last criteria is so that we don’t have to put all our things at another area (which we will have to disinfect before using). So we can’t go to places where you have to leave the car at a designated parking lot. We have too much stuff and disinfecting will be too much work.

This means that:

• All hotels and resorts are immediately out.
• No public pools or anywhere that’s crowded (even if it’s outdoors!)
• It seems our best bets are car camping sites

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Toilet Set-Up

Our biggest concern when traveling is the toilet situation: we don’t want to use a public restroom. So our only choice is to have our own portable set up.

Our portable toilet setup is simple: I got a pop-up shower tent. Easily available at Shopee/Lazada. Then each person brought their own portable urinals (yes, the girls each have one too!) This is why when choosing our destination, I look for a place where we can “set up camp” beside our car because the tent takes a lot of space.

If you have daughters, you may wanna consider bringing a portable sit-down potty.

Sink Set-Up

We also made our own sink set-up, since we don’t want to use the sink at the public restroom. We basically just used a water dispenser. We brought our own water for washing as well, so that I don’t have to go to their public place to refill water. Hehe.

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Packing

We choose not to borrow items (like hotel towels,) use public furniture (tables, chairs,) use public facilities (bathroom) and avail of any services (restaurants.) And this means we need to bring everything on our own!

I know it’s not ideal but it is the trade-off we are willing to make given the situation.

Aside from our toilet and sink set up (hehe), here are SOME of the things we also had to bring:

• Tables and chairs
• Camping gas stove, grill plate and cooking utensils
• Our own water, food and cooler
• Own clothes and toiletries (including towel, soap, and as mentioned, water for hand washing!)
• Emergency first aid and items

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Other Safety Protocols

• Social distancing: We try to choose a place where there’s little to no contact with staff and other guests but should there be a need, maintain proper social distancing!
• Disinfect items that need to be given back and forth: TIP: Bring a UV bag where you can put receipts, medical certificates etc. after other people have touched it. We forgot to do this last time but we’re doing this moving forward.
• Disinfect public furniture, surfaces or items before use: We don’t usually use public furniture or items that we know other guests may have touched. But sometimes we make exceptions. The place we visited for example provided us with a tire swing and a hut. We decided we wanted to use those so I disinfected everything with alcohol and wipes prior to use and made sure we all washed our hands after.
• Settle all payments etc. beforehand: To minimize contact with staff

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Staying at an AirBNB

I’ve also considered booking an Airbnb for a longer stay (1 week minimum,) and I think this is also a great choice for families! I haven’t done it yet, but I’ll update once I have.

I’ve thought about the differences in safety protocols that we’ll be doing (as compared to car camping/picnic) and here are some of those:

• Need to disinfect all areas before entering the house: But at least you only need to disinfect everything at the start and then you can enjoy the place for a week!
• Need to have a designate area for receiving and disinfecting food deliveries
• You’ll have to bring a ton of food items for long stays
• Choose a spacious place with lots of outdoor area so that you can happily stay there for a long time!

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Hope this post helps should you decide to take your family out during the pandemic.

Upcoming post about THAT trip we just had. 😉 Keep an eye out and stay safe!