So 2020, coronavirus, worldwide pandemic — not quite what we all expected. After six months, we’re starting to understand the risks a bit better. But what does it mean for family travel? The truth is, no one really knows just quite yet. But I say, have faith and family travel and hotel stays will come back. It might take a while – six months, a year, two years – but it will.
In the meantime, depending on your own personal comfort level, do what makes you happy as a family. Whether that means staying home, day trips, camping, road trips, renting an RV, cottage rentals, etc., etc. There’s no one right answer for every family. It’s all about the joy of travel (local is good!), being together as a family and exploration that feels right to you at every stage.
For us, we knew we needed a change of scenery during summer 2020 but still wanted to have our own space and remain socially distant and responsible travelers. So we rented a house in Portugal for seven weeks and had a lovely time spending time together as a family. It wasn’t a typical holiday per se – we didn’t do that many tourist things and avoided large gatherings and busy places, but we had a lovely time enjoying picnics on the beach and the natural wonders of southern Portugal. We occasionally would do a few small activities, like socially distanced boat trips and horseback riding, when it could be done safely and responsibly. Portugal took coronavirus very seriously and had hand sanitizing and washing options everywhere as well as mask requirements in shops and restaurants that were well complied with.
Although we really enjoyed our stay in the warm summer sun, it wasn’t an AFH hotel and we’re looking forward to staying again at one of them again very soon!
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