Pulse of the populations..
 

I generally disregard “neh-sayers”... as they are generally wrong. But I have heard this from a few people i respect, so i thaught i would throw it out there and see how the HU community feels. I have been “warned” that travelling after this plandemic is over will be more dangerous. Due to the terrible economic situation in most countries and desperation of their population. To the contrary, in my experience, i have found the poorest people in the poorest countries to be the most generous and kind. i can not see this covid experience fundamentally changing a persons goodwill. Am I nieve? Thanks,

I have had some thoughts on this myself, and can see it going either way. Right now it's simply speculation, but I suspect that travel will take at least two or three years to return to pre-COVID normalcy.

"plandemic"?

Spare me.

I have meet friendlier people and felt safer in rural areas rather than in big cities--doesn't matter which country I am in, including US.

One should not be surprised by the pandemic and everything in it's wake becoming large politics, national and international... with populism, radicalism, exploitation, fearmongering, blame games, fake news, political and economical opportunism, racism...

"The Chinese Virus" should ring a bell, with Asians being both feared, blamed and targeted in a country where 9ne should expect better. In the eighties Aids, and homosexuality, made many a victim. This pandemic must have much greater potential to blow up. Mix in the echo chamber of Social Media, and you have a volatile cocktail.

Coming from one part of the world and going to another (which ever way), one could very well become a target of hate crime or fear. It wouldn't surprise me one bit. There are reports of travellers feeling the animosity already.

That much said - will it turn really bad? In general, I doubt it. But that there might be some pockets or groups of people where one should be more vigilant with - not unlikely.

I'm not so sure about the rest of the world, but it's clear that in my home country the US this is in part a function of your ethnicity, skin color, primary language, gender expression, and more like that. As a white, English-speaking male of the species I've always been well-treated in rural areas in the US; were I Black, non-English-speaking, even in some cases merely female, this might not have been so true.

How this simple observation intersects with the OP's question "Am I naive?" is more complicated than I'm prepared to go into. However, it's clear that shifted perceptions of relatively wealthy outsiders are likely in at least some areas, and that these may include increased resentment based in disparities in access to resources like money and healthcare. To expect otherwise would indeed be naive.

IMHO, thinking that those resentments were not present before this particular pandemic would also be naive. Even where the overall effect has been warm and welcoming, there are often deep resentments just below the surface, and it's often enough these are given expression. Probably each of us can provide our own examples--mine would include times I've been warned to stay within certain limits under threat of serious violence, even while traveling within those very welcoming rural areas of my own country.

Mark

In general, I experienced that. I would say there is a big difference between being poor but still having food on your table and being poor and not having food on your table.

I once crossed a village where people were starving and running after me with their plates and bowls. They were asking VERY aggressively for food. I didn't find it safe to be there. I did not stop. It was sad to witness that and you don't forget that moment.


Patrick

I think you need to evaluate risk (or lack of it) individually for each potential destination - a generalization such as what you cited above is not valid.

Will there be any increase in risk or danger if you travel to Switzerland, or vacation destinations in the Caribbean, or to Singapore? Not likely.

Will there be any increase in risk or danger if you travel to the worst parts of town in any of the above locations once the bars have closed late on a Friday night / Saturday morning? Might be, if unemployment amongst the poorer & less educated population in those locations remains higher than it was pre-pandemic. But then again, would you have wanted to visit those parts of town pre-pandemic?

Personally, I think that most people in the world will be happy to see visitors / travelers / tourists again, because it will signal a return to normalcy. But having said that, I don't think it is wise to travel to any location while there are still any kind of movement restrictions in place by the local government - that would be insensitive, kind of like going to an Islamic country during Ramadan and eating a pizza in public.

Don't believe the press. Turn off the TV and most Radio stations. Log out of Twitter and Faceache. Panic and horror stories sell.

Most people are decent and don't want the hassle of even causing trouble never mind dealing with the aftermath.

Andy

Maybe you can`t (fore)see right now because the world hasn`t yet reached pandemic peak?

From my point of view the pandemic is somewhere between its start and its end. But where exactly in this moment, I don`t know and I believe all others worldwide don`t know as well.

For a moment I think it is smarter to skip my "prepandemic travel knowledge" as well as my expectation to future travel. I will observe carefully what will happen when the big healthy and wealthy countries start dominating the pandemic impact in their own countries.

At this point many small unhealthy and unwealthy countries will still struggel in unpredictable shapes with the pandemic. This could be the moment when social and economic systems begin to stotter and to change. This could create also a visible and tactile impact to traveling in these countries.