May 23, 2020
When the coronavirus hit, Gilda and her husband were on a ten week trip through Asia. Like most of us, they had little concern for the tsunami of infections that was soon to engulf the world, and assumed it would be confined to China. On this podcast episode Gilda tells us how it felt traveling through Asia during the pandemic as the locals feared that foreigners were bringing the virus with them, how they made it home just in time and what lockdown is like in England.
Travel In Asia During The Pandemic:
Gilda is a travel blogger who took early retirement after working as a dietician for the NHS (National Health Service). I am a big admirer of hers because l wish l had the courage to even consider traveling in an RV (never mind actually doing it!) , and driving through some wonderful destinations such as Norway and Spain. She and her husband Brian, downsized and split their time between their home and RV life for months at a time.
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Federico would love to travel in an RV and on an almost daily basis, shows me YouTube videos of people loving life on wheels. I am still quite uncomfortable with the thought of driving such long distances and not having a proper toilet and l definitely don’t consider myself an “outdoorsy” person at all. I have not so great memories of boarding school open air showers and community holes in the ground passing for toilets. I still have amazing calves from all that squatting :-). Yes, I know it is light years away from that, but there you have it… my warped sense of life.
Some of the travel in Asia during the pandemic highlights with Gilda:
- Leaving on holiday from her native Brazil to England and staying after meeting hubby.
- How she met her husband, and why she would not advice her daughter to meet a guy the same way.
- Switching careers midlife for something more satisfying.
- Loving early retirement life.
- Some of the places they have travelled to in their RV.
- Keeping costs down and eating healthy on the road.
- Why they decided to keep on traveling even as the number of cases grew.
- When it finally hit that the coronavirus was a worldwide catastrophe.
- The countries visited as the pandemic spread and the number of tourists diminishing.
- How they were treated by fearful locals.
- Coming back home to the lockdown.
- What the lockdown is like in England and effect on tourism in their part of the country.
Traveller Interrupted Again – Podcast with Gilda Baxter:
You can keep up with Gilda and Brian’s travels on the website (definitely check it out, very informative with detailed itineraries and lovely pictures).
Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, iTunes or whatever platform you use.
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Other podcasts of interest:
Lockdown In Valencia Update:
While we are happy as a whole to be in phase 1 of the deescalation procedure as mentioned on the last post, Valencia region has for now, voluntarily chosen not to follow others into phase 2 which is due to start on Monday the 25th.
The reason being that the number of cases in the region have risen slightly since we entered the first phase. I think this is wise. We went into phase 1 a week after the other regions, and since two weeks is considered the incubation time, it makes sense for them to put the breaks on and make sure that we at least pass that 14 day mark.
From what l’ve seen anyway from our morning walks, not too many people are rushing out there after the initial exuberance. A lot of bars around us are still closed because only the terraces can be open and since they all tend to be really small places, it would be only one or two tables outside and so not cost effective. People will nurse a beer for hours so very little turnover, and l’m sure no tips either.
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I do notice a lot more people driving now though, and the bike sharing stations have been unlocked. We are still choosing to stay home for a few more days. Maybe that’s our new normal. Our hour walks in the morning staves off the longing for freedom that l had occasionally. We will start venturing out and meeting up with friends starting next week.
It is now compulsory to wear a mask at all times when out in public and it’s impossible to keep a wide berth between people. Federico is all for that. Me?, I’m not so sure. With my hot flashes… it totally sucks sometimes. l feel faint and have to rip it off for a bit as l sweat buckets and the mask gets soaked through. It has gotten quite hot temperature wise too, so it does help it dry quickly as well.
Overall, I’m happy that most people here continue to take this seriously. I was looking at a video yesterday of a long line of people waiting to go into a “Ross dress for less” store in the U.S and of course a fight broke out. I was not so much surprised about the fight (par for the course there), l was more surprised at the long line of people waiting to enter the store.
The itch to spend that stimulus check is just too strong l guess. Sadly, l think things will go back to the way they were before the pandemic. Consumerism, especially in the states. Sales are up at Target, Best Buy and other retailers. So much for the reset l had been hoping for.
Have the lockdown rules relaxed in your area? Did you even have quarantine?
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Kemkem, thank you so much for inviting me to take part in this travel podcast. I was very nervous, as you can probably tell from my wobbly voice, but I am glad to have done something so out of my comfort zone. You really made me feel very at ease and I did eventually relax a little bit.
I can understand why Valencia is not quite ready for phase 2 of relaxing the lockdown measures, particularly if the infection rate has risen a bit. I think it is a very wise move. Here in the UK, I do wonder whether we are relaxing the rules a little bit too fast. But only time will tell.
Kemkem, I can relate to how you feel about the face masks, am not very keen on wearing a mace mask either, it does get so hot. Also not being able to properly see people’s facial expressions feels so odd. But of course, I will comply with the recommendations and wear it when necessary.
It was so much fun chatting with you. I really enjoyed hearing your story and finally hearing that lovely accent. I think it’s only to be expected that we be nervous doing new things. I can’t bring myself to listen to the earlier episodes without cringing, but l just keep forging ahead, and l figure that l’m not aiming to be Oprah, but rather my own person, and you did just fine :-).
I hope that this whole pandemic winds down soon because the heat is brutal.I had always looked like a crazy woman sweating buckets on the buses even with the a/c usually on. I have no shame saying menopausa … haha! It is indeed weird not seeing faces when you talk to people, and l can’t help smiling at people of course. I will keep wearing them also. We all have to do our part.
That was a good podcast. Weird they weren’t served in a restaurant that was full of customers.
And I’m with you. I prefer a hotel room.
We camped a lot when I was younger so I grew up hating camping. My parents waited until I had my driver’s license and then decided to drive across Canada in our truck and camper so I could do all the driving when I’d only had my license less than a year. Hated it, hated it. These days campsites are so expensive. For an extra $5 or $10 you can get a room at Motel 6 and be more comfortable with a bed, TV and bathroom. This is why so many people in RVs camp in Walmart parking lots for free.
As for quarantine, no lock down in BC, but schools and some businesses were ordered closed. Hair dressers and barbers opened up this past week. Other personal services opening within the next week or two. Restaurants can now have dine in customers but I think at half capacity, as long as social distancing is in place. Schools reopening June 1. Casinos and movies still not reopened, as anything else that attracts more than 50 people like concerts and festivals. Most businesses, like offices and retailers, were not ordered closed in B.C., though some may have closed at the beginning of the pandemic or until they got things in place like plexiglass for cashiers and hand sanitizers and face masks.
No orders to wear face masks, but recommended if you’re in a place where you can’t maintain 6 feet distance, like a bus or train. I don’t wear one, but I ordered two from the Vancouver Aquarium a month ago to help them out because they’re temporarily closed and they need funds for their marine rescue and feeding the sea creatures. I haven’t got them yet. They were slammed with orders all over the world. So eventually I’ll have a face mask to use if the need arises.
And it sucks that they extended the US/Canada land border closure for another 30 days.
Thanks for listening Cheryl. I enjoyed the interview as well.Yeah.. I think with so many fears and unfounded stories floating about, the natives were terrified that they would infect the locals and didn’t want to cause a ruckus. There was, and still is so much misinformation about the virus.
Hotel room all the way. Granted maybe if l was in a luxe vehicle like their RV, I would consider maybe a weekend jaunt to start, but l am such a chicken. I scream at everything. Lizards, stray cats, geckos, you name it. I would be a bundle of nerves and it wouldn’t be fun for me or him for that matter. I was stunned reading some of the campsite fees in the U.S.. You definitely can just get a room for that l think for the most part.
Are the numbers holding steady there in BC with all these openings? I know even the “experts” are just taking an educated guess at this point. Trying to balance between the economy and peoples wellbeing. Makes me glad l am not a politician because you can not please everyone.
Hope you get your masks soon and you can join us in this new fashion statement… haha! It sucks about the prolonged border closure because l know your job is dependent on that. This virus really has done a number on the world. I hope this turns out to be less Spanish Flu pandemic as far as mortality. The recession is already here…so not much we can do about that.
I’ve been a fan of Gilda’s blog for years so it was a pleasure to listen to her lovely voice and put it together with her pictures from the blog. I too was traveling last year during their time in Portugal and was so disappointed not to meet her and Brian. Maybe in the future, when we can all travel freely again, we can pick a spot and all meet-up face to face. I remember taking several trips around the US with my grandparents on summer vacations when I was a kid and loving life on the road. Since then, I’ve often thought how fun it would be to travel by RV but then, there’s that tricky part about having to drive! It’s not hard to picture driving and camping in the US but I can’t even imagine driving a big vehicle through some of Portugal’s narrow roads much less unfamiliar and narrow roads elsewhere around Europe. Gilda’s described a few of the drives in her posts and, while the scenery sounds spectacular, the drive itself would be hair-raising! I’m so glad that Gilda is planning a trip back to Vietnam as I fell in love with the country when I was there and also plan to visit it again. I believe Gilda was right when she said their feeling of being unwelcome towards the end of their travels was because of fear of the spreading Covid-19 virus. I found the people of Vietnam to be welcoming and warm which, as an American, was astounding and made me feel so humble because of the war. Hopefully, Gilda and Brian will be able to explore more of their own fascinating country soon in their RV and eventually, resume their travels in Europe and elsewhere. There are always many things to look forward to and, even though it’s hard to picture travel post-Covid, there are many things to be optimistic about.
I agree with you totally about her lovely voice. It was so nice to hear it after reading her words and imagining what she sounded like. The problem with travelers is that we are always traveling and meeting up is very hard. I was sorry to miss them as well when they visited Valencia. I would have liked to check out their wheels.
I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it would be driving the little tiny roads in Spain made for horses, never mind cars. I am also such a terrible backseat driver, it would ruin the trip for both us for sure. I can never totally relax when someone is driving me, and these days, my reflexes are not as quick as they once were :-).
You both make Vietnam sound so good. If l ever get there, fine. If l don’t, I would be okay with that too. It’s not really high on my list of places. Maybe the food … hahah, but it’s a very long way to go for some food. I find that l can’t really think of travel right now. I was reading an article this morning and l can’t remember what online magazine and it said things like you would need to arrive at the airport 4 hours before departure, temperature scanning and being doused with disinfectants (would take mere minutes for me to display allergy symptoms and be pulled aside!), not be able to bring hand luggage with you and all has to be checked in…and the list went on. No thanks. I’ll wait a bit, nothing is that urgent. :-).
It’s interesting to see how each country handles the virus and their visitors. Croatia has been great for us.
We had been in Spain for our maximum three months on American passports before arriving in Croatia on March 10 before all the borders began to shut down. Croatia had the strictest restrictions in the world according to Oxford University. No one could leave their village. We’ve been in a small village near Split ever since.
The government somehow knew we were visitors be ause we received a text welcoming us along with a website which had instructions which had all the names and phone numbers of on-call epidemiologists to contact if we had symptoms. Each county had it’s own epidemiologists.
I had to call ours because I began getting sick about a week after we arrived. It’s a hilarious story I won’t go into since it’s long. I will say if every country acted like Croatia, the pandemic would be minimized.
All museums, restaurants, stores are now open with social distancing rules. So far, so good. We had zero new cases yesterday. We plan on staying in Croatia as long as possible. Until proven otherwise, I think this government has done an excellent job. We’ll see if I still think so a month from now since 1200 new visitors arrived last week.
Holy smokes! 1200 new visitors? I didn’t think any country apart from U.S and U.K and a couple of other biggies were allowing people in to the country. Ooohhh… I wanna hear the funny story about your hopefully phantom illness :-). Sounds like Croatia really stepped up to the plate and did things right. I don’t know why l thought Spain and Italy had the tightest restrictions.
Spain has given an automatic 90 day extension for people who were already here and had expired visas as of two days ago, but you just missed it and it seems you left in time, and ended up in a better place…hopefully by the sea. It’s kind of scary with Big Brother knowing exactly where you are. That can be good or bad.
I would love to hear what your plans are looking like going forward. If you’re interested in sharing your story in a podcast, please use the contact form and l will get in touch. I haven’t talked to anyone in Croatia and l am curious by nature. Or nosy… either one works.. :-). If not, I would still like to hear the story anyway. Thanks for listening, and for the comment.
Great stuff! It’s always nice to hear how things are in other countries and how the opinion people have on tourists can change over night. This whole virus thing is definitely changing system after system and even though surely most of these changes are not permanent, being an active part of the change (on either sides) is a unique and strange experience. I always said that it often felt like we were in the movies – I am sure that many if not most of us had this feeling. So strange.
Good to hear that Valencia is treating this as it should be treated, though. Here, people are no longer wearing masks, crowds have reappeared, the traffic also increased a lot… if it wasn’t for the closed shops and restaurants, you could definitely say that it’s life back to normal. Which is surely a big risk because the virus didn’t disappear…
I find it fascinating to see how things are going in different places for comparison. When things are going smoothly, locals of course welcome the money infused to the economy, but man… the minute things go sour, it’s easy for fear to take over common sense. Granted this was a once in a lifetime event, and when you’re scared…well… It does indeed feel like we are all in this strange movie. I just hope it doesn’t become a doomsday scenario for real because we can not get on the same page. So much divisiveness.
Yeah, I’m really proud of the way things have been handled so far, but just like there, this past weekend… people are out in droves, no mask and definitely no social distancing, plus it seems in a lot of places, protests are happening on a small scale and at certain times, people bang their pots and pans to protest the government handling of the virus now. A taste of freedom and they want it all, no restrictions. They see no more danger because the numbers have fallen dramatically which makes me anxious that all this might have been for nothing. Bet in 1918, they were like this too, and we know how many people perished.
Kem, I am so behind on reading your posts and trying to catch up. Gilda’s blog has been a favorite for a couple of years. It is nice to hear her voice as she tells their story. I admire her sense of adventure and youthful spirit. The convenience of traveling in a motor home is very appealing and it might be our only option for a while, but I am not sure that Malcolm or I are built for that.
You asked Gilda some great questions and I loved getting to know more about their experiences.
Gilda’s blog really is fun isn’t it? I’m also a big fan of her writing, and putting the voice to the words was really cool. She had me cracking up quite a bit, and l also admire her adventurous spirit, especially on four wheels. I agree that will be one of the few options for a long time till things settle down. I saw on the news that over your way, RV rentals are exploding. Thanks for listening. I have been enjoying your posts :-).