Going to the Beach During COVID

For a small family trip to celebrate my step-dad's birthday, the family loaded up and headed to the beach.

As COVID is affecting everyone, I don't need to explain to you guys why we didn't travel over the summer and our anxieties even traveling now. However, my step-dad absolutely loves the beach and he has had a personally rough year, so we wanted him to be able to be in his happy place even if for only 2 nights.

The whole process of us traveling to the beach started with my mom researching the different hotels in the area and their COVID protocols to find one that we were most comfortable with. On our drive down we only stopped once for a bathroom break and were right back on the road, before arriving to our hotel.

Of course we are doing the basic precautions of wearing our masks and washing our hands whenever we get back into the room. However on top of that we are brought Lysol spray and wipes and disinfected the surfaces and linens in our room before we brought any luggage in. For dinner our first night we ordered a pizza into the room to avoid having to go out. Our hotel still provides breakfast but in to-go bags and everything is personally wrapped and single serving. We are not allowed to eat in the dining hall, so we ate both breakfast and lunch in our room on Saturday. For lunch we brought sandwich things to fix for ourselves.

As you can tell most of our weekend here was in our room. We went out and sat on the beach away from everyone and still wearing our masks for a couple of hours to be at the beach. I sat there with my book and enjoyed the breeze. Mom and Jack fed the birds and walked in the water. It wasn't crowded at all in front of our hotel. We did venture out Saturday night for dinner and found a delicious steak place that wasn't extremely crowded.

I was also able to spend some time studying and writing while my family chills doing their own things, giving each of us our space along with a good amount of quality time together.

It has been an interesting experience, but we have been safe and kept to ourselves. My family got to spend time together, watch movies, play board games and see the ocean. It was much needed for all of and our relationship together. If you decide to travel during COVID please stay safe and travel smart.