There is definitely a different vibe while traveling during a pandemic. First of all, a US passport no longer confers one with the freedom to travel anywhere anymore. Thanks to this country’s botched response to COVID, Americans have had doors shut in our faces for valid reasons. Now, a US passport is about as good as a Uruguayan passport. Pre-COVID, we used to have access to 185 countries visa-free. Now it’s down to 158.
Of all the countries, Turkey has held its door open to Americans, and that’s one of the reasons we decided to travel to Turkey (it didn’t hurt that it’s been on our radar for a while).
Another very startling difference traveling during this time is the crowd, or the lack of it. Here are scenes from the LAX international terminal.
For some it may be a depressing sight, but for a couple of introverts this is ideal travel conditions. However, I suspect Turkey may feel more lively, as evidenced by the crowd at the Turkish Airline gate!
Luckily most of the middle seats were left empty…
FIRE'd @ 47 
Being from England we too are finding travel near impossible and that is how we are spending 12 weeks in Turkey, already had our flights cancelled twice. Are flight home is now 5 December. But it is a great opportunity to explore this wonderful country with such friendly people. We had to abort our 4 month Asia trip at the beginning of COVID and escape Vietnam. We found some people there hostile towards Europeans but on the flip side there were some really kind people who helped us get out. Let’s hope normal travel resumes soon 😁
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Traveling this winter is going to be tough. We ended up pushing our return date up because we were afraid that Turkey was going to start clamping down. It’s not a bad thing to be “stuck” in Turkey with the people, food, and scenery, but I’m missing the comforts of our home a little 😬. Have a great rest of your time in Turkey!
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