What's It Really Like to Travel During COVID

Destination: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

I’m sure there are a lot of people who are fearful or curious about traveling during COVID. Going from being a furloughed flight attendant to an active flight attendant, soon to be furloughed again. I can say I’ve experienced both fear and curiosity. Recently, I traveled during my personal time to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. While it is still considered the United States, I still had to follow COVID traveling protocol. Based on my experience, here’s what you can expect.

First and foremost, a negative test result is required to check in for your flight. I tested 3 days before departure to ensure I got the results back in time. Next time, I’ll test 2 days before just so there’s a shorter margin of time. Once I got my results, I uploaded the PDF into the United app as a required step in the check-in process. Click here for approved test details.

I flew to NY and had a 20 hour layover. I booked a hotel room at the AC Marriott downtown so I didn’t have to sleep in the airport. While in NY, if it is your final destination, a 3 day quarantine minimum is required. You have to scan QR codes to dine in restaurants or leave your ID information for tracking purposes. For me, NY wasn’t my final destination. I had no choice but to wait there for my outbound flight to St. Thomas. *Update* Now, NY is far more lenient. The state has opened to tourism again.

I stayed at the AC Marriott Downtown in the Financial District. The room cost $80 per night! Unheard of! I had a beautiful view of the city and water on the 25th floor. Of course, I had to seize this moment with an in-room photo shoot.

The city was extremely quiet and much different than what you normally expect.

I felt very safe in the room and I was assured that the hotel was taking all the steps necessary to ensure they were doing their part to keep each guest safe and protected from the virus.

When it came time to go to St. Thomas, there was an additional USVI Travel Screening Portal form that was required to fill out. Once that was completed, there was an orange QR code that said "24 hour travel window" sent to my email address. It was mandatory to show this code to the gate agent in order to board the plane. Upon arrival, if the QR code was red there was additional screening and or verification required. If the QR code was green you can go right through after the temp check. My QR code was updated during the flight and it was green by the time I landed. I got my temperature checked, they checked my QR code and they sent me straight through to baggage claim.

My sister's QR code was red when we landed. She had to go through additional verification. It turned out it was because she didn't upload her negative COVID test result into the USVI Screening Portal when she originally filled it out.

Masks are still required when interacting with people or to enter any building but on the beaches while socially distanced and while seated in restaurants actively eating, masks aren’t required.

We stayed at the Bluebeard's Resort in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. They are keeping individual rooms vacant 24 hours before new guests can check in. Also, to avoid interaction, the room keeping service is on an 'as requested' basis. New towels are left outside of the room hanging on the doorknob in a sealed plastic bag, that is placed inside of another microfiber drawstring bag.

Everything was rather simple to do. The hardest part was figuring it all out for the first time.

Requirements are:

• a negative COVID test result 72 hours before departure to USVI

• a completed USVI Travel Portal Form.

On the travel portal form, it had negative test 5 days before departure listed. But I think the airline requires 3 so I recommended getting tested within 3 days to be safe. There was no form or test was required upon departure back to the United States.

I will keep these travel blogs coming as I keep traveling and sharing my experiences. My hope is to get you feeling more comfortable about living life to the fullest and seeing new places in spite of the tough time we are all in. All of the stress of 2020 certainly calls for a beach day, or two, or three. Just be sure to be safe!! Wear your masks, sanitize your hands, use Clorox wipes on public items like door knobs.

BON VOYAGE!

See the VLOG here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb0N6i16h4g&t=1339s

Next stop: Tulum, Mexico