Exploring America: Hawaii
Read moreTraveling in the times of Covid-19
by Melissa & Richard TerrisCurrently, traveling seems to be less of an activity of leisure and more of an activity of necessity. Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, travel has become limited, with some countries making an exception with up to date Coronavirus testing. However, recently my husband and I had to make an essential trip to Glasgow and London, while the United Kingdom doesn’t require testing they recommend quarantine periods.
Glasgow
Travel to Glasgow is somewhat of a typical occurrence for me since my husband has been unable to travel to the United States due to the travel ban. During this visit however, the country was undergoing another lockdown in an effort to salvage and have Christmas celebrations. This lockdown left a lot of the local stores, restaurants, and “non-essential” businesses closed. Despite the lockdown we still made an effort to walk around the city a bit and see the beautiful architecture that surrounds it.
We stayed in a hotel right in the city center, which made sightseeing a walkable occurrence. Prior to the lockdown we were able to visit some shops down Buchanan street (major shopping district in the city center) and see beautiful Christmas decorations at George square. Once the lockdown went into effect, we were limited in options and would visit Kelvingrove Park, where we had a socially distant visit with Richard’s brother and his wife. The views from the park were magnificent. We had a birds eye view of the University of Glasgow.
The University of Glasgow was founded in 1451 and is the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world. It boasted the title of ‘most instagrammed University in Scotland’. The grounds and buildings are exquisite and well maintained. One of the iconic sites that allows the university to boast such a title of ‘most instagrammed University in Scotland’, would be the Cloisters. The Cloisters are an enclosed walkway made of archways and fluted columns - a must see sight if you visit the university.
While cemeteries can be seen as morbid and scary, in Glasgow the Necropolis is a tourist destination. It’s a cemetery that holds over 50,000 individuals and thousands of monuments. The most iconic sight is the statue of John Knox at the top of the hill. You can get a 360 degree view of the city from the Necropolis, and right below the Necropolis is Glasgow Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in Scotland and the Glasgow Royal Infirmary founded in 1794, and is still a working teaching hospital today.
Music in Glasgow is lively and active, and the city has a number of world-renowned venues, chiefly the Barrowlands Ballroom. Originally built in 1934, and originally used for ballroom dancing (Richard's grandparents used to go there to take part in the ballroom dancing in their younger days), the venue has seen performances from Snoop Dog to The Ramones, and many others in between.
London
We’ve visited London many times, and Richard went down for a day in early November, but it was definitely strange to be there during the pandemic lockdown. Many places which are usually packed with tourists were eerily empty, such as the famous Abbey Road Zebra crossing, or the Camden Market.
We spent 2 nights in London as part of our overall trip, at the Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel; this hotel is in a great location, just south of the river Thames. The rooms in the hotel are fantastic, very large and luxurious. The strangest thing about the hotel during our stay was being unable to dine in the restaurant for breakfast due to the lockdown restrictions. So instead we had to order breakfast and go down and collect it and bring it back to our room. No real hardship, just unusual.
Aside from this and there being slightly fewer people on the streets, it was fine. We were able to take walks, and still use the tube, but in order to eat we would go back to the hotel and order Uber Eats, since most restaurants were closed.
After the two nights it was back to Glasgow for the remainder of our stay, back to our city center hotel.
Overall we would say that travel is possible and aside from having to wear a mask and keep as much distance as possible, it’s still fairly normal. The downside is that the airlines are moving flights around to try to keep things profitable, and this caused a lot of last minute flight time changes, and in the case of traveling between Glasgow and London the flights were continually being cancelled, so we travelled by train instead - so if you do choose to travel, keep a watchful eye on your flights for changes!
Once you get where you’re going things are definitely different than normal; there are very little or no tourists on the streets, and most stores and restaurants are closed, as are tourist attractions. If you are content with just walking around and seeing places then it could be a good time for you to travel, as the streets are less busy, but you could run out of things to do.
We only travelled because we had essential business, and we likely wouldn’t have if it were not essential. In spite of that, it was an interesting and enjoyable experience, one which we won’t forget!
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