Yup we did, we traveled during Covid. We are rolling the dice and taking a gamble. Our trip to Long Island Bahamas has been modified from the original plan, put we have arrived.
To get here though, we had to have a RT-PCR Covid Test – Negative, fill out a health travel visa and be approved and find covid trip insurance. There was also watching every government press conference from the Bahamas to see if borders would shut down again. Here are the highlights, our lab results didn’t say RT-PCR on them, knew that would be a problem, we’ll bring the FDA data sheet that shows that what the test is. My health visa never came through to my email, working with the tourism board on a Saturday morning (thank you kind person), we finally got my travel visa through another email account. Also let’s not forget every single day questioning our decision to do this.
We woke at 3 a.m. to catch our 6 am. flight, check the airlines app to see if flights running on time. Oh crap, second flight canceled. Call airline, oh no we changed planes, you have a flight. Get to airport, they check health visa. Get on plane, which no one was on, so social distancing wasn’t a problem, enjoy the plane views.
Land in Miami, show health visa again. Smaller plane means it is packed, but we wear our masks, just like everyone and wipe down our entire seat area. The view landing at Nassau was beautiful.
Once we landed in Nassau, we had to pass through immigration. Show documents, he questioned our covid test, whipped out the data sheet, he looked surprised. Next he told us our flight was wrong, we explained planes were changed. He said no they don’t have the flight listed we wrote on the form. Meanwhile the other immigration officers are flying people through. He finally asked another officer what flight people are writing down and he said the flight we wrote. He had to get a supervisor to confirm it and get the system changed. We could have chosen to be angry with him for questioning everything, instead we complimented him on being detailed oriented.
Once we passed through, we started to breathe again and finally feel relaxed. Our next plane, a 19 seater had just 4 passengers on it and left early. I love flying over the Exuma chain.
Once we landed, we picked up our rental car and headed off to the first grocery store to pick up a few staples. We then stopped at our home away from home, to drop off bags and the first load of groceries. Headed back out for more groceries and beer.
Once that one was done, it was time to settle in. After unpacking, it was Kalik and snack time.
After that is was late afternoon nap time, followed by dinner and then sunset.
Green night heron 
We went straight to bed, after riding the emotional roller coaster of travel, we were done!
Final thoughts, everyone had masks, though some people clearly needed reminders on how to cover noses. In lines, checking visas, or getting on or off planes, people forgot social distancing norms. The airports were busier than we thought it would be, Nassau airport was a ghost town. Everyone on the island in all the stores have been wearing masks, which is great to see!
We are glad to have been able to return.
CTHikergal Travels 
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