Is It Safe To Travel With The Coronavirus Spreading?

For anyone who doesn't known who I am, I'm a world traveler, travel blogger and digital nomad with a Youtube channel, Gabriel Traveler. I've been traveling around the world for the past thirty years, visiting seventy-two countries so far.

I recently completed a seven-month trip around the world. After traveling for so long I was ready for a break and went back home to California in January. This coincidentally happened to be right as news of the coronavirus (COVID-19) began to make headlines around the world. I was visiting family in northern California at the time and following developments daily as the virus continued to spread and captured the world's attention.

But after a month of staying with family, I was ready for a change of scene. About ten days ago, on March 7th, I flew from San Francisco, California to Guadalajara, Mexico. The SFO airport was eerily quiet. Once I arrived in Mexico things were perfectly normal. There were only five reported cases of the coronavirus at the time. (The number has now risen to 93 confirmed cases in Mexico as of today, March 18th. To see a live count of coronavirus cases around the world click here.)

From Guadalajara I took a bus to the small city of Zacatecas, capital of the state of Zacatecas. I planned to stay there for a few weeks, work on some personal projects and also watch the situation with the virus as it developed.

But after just a few days, as flights were being cancelled, travel was being constricted and borders were closing, I realized that things were rapidly spiraling out of control. And in case things got a lot worse and the United States closed its borders completely, I didn't want to be stuck in Mexico or be scrambling to get somewhere else when it might be too late. There were still plenty of flights, and they were cheap. I decided to make a move and checked available flights. There was a direct flight from Zacatecas to Los Angeles, so I booked it for a few days later, without knowing where I would go from there. No offense to Los Angeles (my family is from there originally), but that's about the last place I would want to be in a crisis such as this.

I was considering a variety of options from Hawaii to the Azores islands, New Zealand, Canada, Peru, Thailand and others. I caught my flight to Los Angeles, still uncertain what I was going to do and without an onward flight booked. But I made up my mind once I landed back in California and booked another flight. I will keep my current location undisclosed for now.

The point of this story isn't just to update my viewers about what I've been doing the past couple weeks, but to make a point. Now is not the time to be traveling for pleasure. Regardless of your opinions about the virus, whether it's a hoax or a conspiracy or things are being blown out of proportion or whatever, the reality is that countries are going into lockdown. Borders are closing. Flights are being cancelled. Canada and the US are currently working on a plan to close their border, which could happen any day, or any hour.

To see which countries have closed their borders click here (that page also lists visa requirements for US citizens in every country in the world).

It is still possible to travel right now. I just flew to my current location yesterday. Some other vloggers are still traveling and posting their travel videos on Youtube. I've gotten updates from people through Instagram from people in various countries such as Thailand, saying everything is normal there.

But the stories are starting to get more extreme as time goes on. One friend with a Youtube channel, who I won't mention by name because this was conveyed in a private message, was traveling in Pakistan, saw what was happening and decided it was time to head somewhere else. (And no this wasn't Nick Fisher of Indigo Traveller, who is currently posting videos from Pakistan. He isn't in Pakistan now but has a different story.)

So this other person, who I will just call James, decided to get out of Pakistan and booked a flight to Thailand for a few days later. When he got to the airport he was being told that he couldn't fly because it was too late, Thailand had closed its borders. But it turned out there was some confusion because Thailand had only closed its borders to people from certain countries. Fortunately James was able to catch his flight and arrived safely in Thailand. The problem is that Thailand only allows tourists to stay for thirty days at a time before they have to leave or do a visa run and then come back in. But they could close their borders completely at anytime, in which case who knows what might be the case. Perhaps they will expect tourists to leave the country after their visas expire, but won't allow them to re-enter.

Another popular Youtube travel vlogger, Eva zu Beck, posted on her Instagram that she is on the island of Socotra, which is part of Yemen. It's safe to visit as it doesn't have the same problems that are plaguing mainland Yemen and she's been there before. But shortly after arriving, all flights to and from the island were cancelled. She's now stuck there, for who knows how long.

The point is, traveling right now is a major risk. Who would have thought a week before Italy closed its borders, that that could happen so suddenly? And it could be the case with pretty much any country around the world right now. Of course there are certain countries that are safer from the virus than others for various reasons. But it's an extremely uncertain time for the world.

And so my best suggestions when it comes to traveling right now are the following:

1. Seriously reconsider any travel plans.
2. Don't travel anywhere that you aren't prepared to be stuck for an indefinite amount of time.
3. If you aren't currently somewhere that you're prepared to be stuck for an indefinite amount of time, then right now is your time to act. Go. Travel. Now. Book a flight for tomorrow or as soon as you can. Not for the fun of it, but to get somewhere better, safer, with family or more resources or whatever you think you'll need. Because you can still travel right now. There are flights, and they are cheap. But this may not be the case for very long. Things can change within a matter of days or even hours.
4. Wherever you are in the world, get ready for some uncertainty. Don't be greedy. Don't stock up for six months. Don't take all your money out of the bank. But it's probably wise to have 2-3 weeks worth of food and some extra cash on hand.

I'll resume posting videos at some point and reveal where I've chosen to hunker down through this confusion. Stay safe and stay healthy!