Consider everything missing from Andrew Selepak’s recent family vacation in St. Augustine, Fla. When the Selepaks checked into their hotel, they weren’t greeted by an employee with a warm smile. Instead, a masked worker behind a thick plastic shield issued them a sanitized key card. The remote controls in their rooms were covered in plastic.
“The hotel was eerily quiet,” says Selepak, a professor at the University of Florida. “We found that many of the attractions were closed, and many of the restaurants were not open either. There was little to do other than stare at the ocean and drive back to the hotel.”
As Selepak’s experience illustrates, those who elect to travel during the pandemic will find the experience altered in ways large and small. If you expect to have the same vacation you would under normal circumstances, you are likely to be disappointed.
Corritta Lewis, a human resources specialist from Oceanside, Calif., recently visited a resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, with her family.
