What it’s like traveling India during Covid

I had wanted to revisit India for a long time. Ever since I last left, I had wanted to come back and explore more of this beautiful country. As I finally made my bookings, everything seemed to be alright. Covid cases were low, and my contacts in the country told me that it was safe to visit. Cases were the lowest they had been for a long time so I though it safe to book. Up until my departure, things were still looking good. However that all changed on the day of my departure. In this post I will tell you all about what it’s like to travel India during Covid.

As I was embarking for the airport, I started getting a little nervous. The first cases of Omicron had just appeared. Seeing how it had slowly exploded n Denmark after the first cases arrived, I feared the same would happen in India. My contacts assured me that it was all good, and it was just a few cases. Nothing to worry about. There were no major restrictions.

So I departed for India, hoping that everything would work out just fine. As I had my 8 days of isolation in Delhi, I tried following the news. Just as I had feared, the cases started exploding again. From one day to the other, the cases absolutely sky rocketed, meaning that my trip would now change entirely.

Staying up to date with restrictions was rather exhausting, as every state would have their own specific restrictions. Whenever I came to a new city, I would ask about restrictions, as well as make sure to book a covid test through my hotel, just in case I would need a negative report for the next state I would visit. that way I was sure to be on the safe side, as long as I could avoid catching the disease.

There were of course the general rules of face masks, and social distancing. However that didn’t seem to be upheld in many places. Of course, there were people trying to follow these protocols, and also a lot of people walking around with masks. As a tourist, I found it the safest, to keep my mask on whenever I was outside among people. Restrictions such as night curfews and weekend curfews also started appearing, making my trip a bit more complicated. Because of this, I was forced to stay inside during weekends, and couldn’t explore the city as I normally would. That also meant that I would have to change my schedule, as I wouldn’t be able to visit the places I had originally planned. Curfew wasn’t completely upheld I quickly realized, but as a tourist I though it safest not to break it.

Many places, hotels and larger restaurants would have temperature checks upon entrance. Of course that didn’t affect my trip, but I found it to be a great thing for security reasons.

Traveling India during Covid

Besides from the restrictions, I still enjoyed my trip! India is so real somehow. As a travel destination, it still feels raw, and many places are completely untouched. Even though I had difficulties during the trip, I would still do it all over. Many things didn’t go according to plan, but the things that did, outweighed the things that didn’t.

From a tourist point of view, there were far less foreigners than on my recent trips. Not that I normally encounter a lot of foreigners when I’m in India, but this time there were far less around. Hotels also seemed rather empty, which again, makes sense. That’s another thing. Normally I prefer to stay in hostels, but for this trip I opted for hotels instead, thinking that it would be the safest option.

Even with all the restrictions, India is still India. And I love it. I feel lucky that I was able to experience this country once again, and have already planned my next trip back, visiting entirely new places.