We Took a Family Vacation During the Pandemic

My family decided to take a vacation during the COVID Pandemic. Honestly, admitting it out loud makes me nervous for all the backlash of people saying we’re irresponsible. But let me explain. 

My husband and I are both teachers and this past spring and even the beginning of summer has been filled with anxiety, loss of sleep, and craziness. We were thrown into virtual schooling with not much notice and also thrown into being a two-parent stay-at-home family all within a week’s notice.

It has been and is still stressful.

I am sure many of you can relate. Each day right now I have thoughts swirling around in my mind about what this fall will look like. How I can’t even start to think about the possibility of my spirited third child starting Kindergarten at home after months off of preschool and summer with a not-trained-nor-desired to be homeschool mom and dad. We’ve been going through a lot of stress (I know many of you have been too, probably many with much more than we have on our plate).

We were SO excited because we had our family’s long-awaited first Disney trip planned this summer. We were waiting until all of our boys were done napping before we went to Disney.  This summer was going to be the summer before our oldest was possibly too cool for Disney. We had planned an epic road trip adventure landing us in Orlando to see Mickey in the end. 

Then the pandemic hit.

We hung on to the hopes of Disney for as long as we could, even considering flying if we could still go, but finally canceling when it was announced mid-May that Disney World would not be open for our planned trip in June. My husband and I went back and forth about what to do.

Was it smart to still travel? It really depends on who you ask. We told each other we needed it for our sanity. We take pride in our dual teacher family’s yearly trip. We only get a certain number of summers with our kids, so we really didn’t want to let this one pass us by without adventure. 

After flight prices plummeted, we decided to take the risk and book a direct flight to Florida. We found a house to rent with a pool, and basically social distanced when we got there. We’d hang out at the house, swim, eat fun snacks, and carry out food, hit up the beach, and just relax for a few days. 

Is there a risk of contracting COVID while traveling? Sure. But there is just about any place now. We figured flying was a pretty safe bet since not a lot of people are doing it right now and airports are cleaned probably more frequently than some other places we might venture to in our own town.

Honestly, since March 14th, our kids haven’t really been out in public besides a couple doctor and dentist appointments, so this decision wasn’t easy. But, we know that mental health is just as important as physical health and there are COVID risks anytime we step outside our home. Before we left we prepped the boys by picking out fun masks, having them practice wearing their masks around the house, talking about expectations of wearing them and how they would need to make sure they stayed distant from others. 

So, here we are. I sit typing this sitting by the pool of our rental house. The sun is shining, the kids and hubs are swimming. The palm trees are swaying, and my stress is at bay for a few days. Our direct flight was fabulous. We were able to sit away from people waiting at the airport, our flight was possibly 50% full (we had a full row in front and behind us empty on the flight), we wore masks when near others, and we feel so good about the decision we made. Could we contract COVID on our travels, sure could, but we could also contract it at the grocery store. We are happy with the choice we made for our family. 

Have you traveled with your family during COVID?