Post by Owen on Aug 4, 2020 5:13:50 GMT
1 ~~~ What it’s like to drive cross country during the pandemic ~~~
matadornetwork.com/read/cross-country-road-trip-pandemic/ ~ 29 July 2020 ~
The Pandemic has made being in public difficult, eating at restaurants strained, and taking most leisure trips dangerous or irresponsible. It’s also made things that were challenging long before COVID-19, like moving across the country, a nightmare. I experienced this firsthand when I drove cross country with my fiance, our two dogs, and a one bedroom apartment’s worth of belongings this summer. It’s possible, though difficult.
In early May, my fiancé Heather and I decided to move from New York City, where we’d lived for five years, to Denver, Colo., after her work at a Brooklyn hospital ended in June. The boundless potential of New York that drew us there in the first place had shriveled during the months of the pandemic. Jobs were scarce, and the local bars and restaurants that previously made the punishing rent worth it were dwindling, yet the cost of living was not.
Denver, on the other hand, felt full of possibilities. It was somewhere we both enjoyed, and we’d occasionally entertained the thought about moving there if the opportunity was right. We were vindicated when Heather secured a job relatively quickly despite the pandemic. So, after months of navigating life in one of the epicenters of the pandemic, it was time to navigate a cross country move on a tight budget.
We took some solace in the fact that we’re far from alone in our decision. A Pew Research Center survey published in June found that about a fifth of Americans either moved due to COVID-19 or knew someone who did. But it’s not just people who are relocating that are trekking across the country. Road trips have soared in popularity as a safer, though not entirely risk-free, way to travel — a study from the Maryland Transportation Institute found that Americans took more trips in the weeks before July 4 than they did the previous year, and the data suggests many were road trips.
The open road is less likely to put you in a risky situation than, say, a crowded international airport as long as you’re properly prepared. But it won’t be like any road trip you’ve taken before.