Safe travel? How would you do this?

[ahisma]

We live in Michigan and are planning a week in Bar Harbor - fully complying with the testing requirement. Once there, we will stay in an airbnb and do day hikes. Its not our first visit and we are happy to do some less popular hikes.

Because we cannot go through Canada, it's a LONG drive - 19 hours. We're thinking of staying the night along the way, but cannot sort out the best option. We are pretty risk adverse. We do backpack and have gear, so the backcountry camping option is a hassle under the circumstances, but not totally crazy.

I'm also stuck on the bathroom situation. Ugh.

[pharmjenn]

Someone recently gave an update to her plan to drive to Florida to their vacation condo, and commented that the bathrooms they stopped at were all pretty clean.
I would stock up on wipes and sanitizer, and wipe things down as you need to. I feel that as long as everyone is hand washing at every stop, maybe even before and after using the bathroom or eating, and wearing masks when you have to enter a facility, you will minimize risk.

Packing camping gear for one night seems like a lot of work. Once you get into the hotel room, maybe before the family enters, you can wipe everything down, and remove the coverlet if the hotel uses them. If you plan to bring any pillows and blankets for the road, you can use those instead of hotel pillows, and then wash when you arrive in Maine.

[Liziz]

I picked Air BnB - As I've read more and more that surface transmission is less likely and air transmission is causing most of the transmission, I'm squeamish of places where I'm inside with lots of other people -- i.e. - hotels. I feel like at an Air BnB (if you pick one that's a whole house) there's less of that risk. I would bring sanitizer/wipes and be ready to wipe down high-touch surfaces myself, just to be safe. I'd pick driving straight through if it was reasonable, but at 19 hours, I don't think it is. I'd also probably look at the risk maps on your drive, and try to pick a place to stay that is a location with lower cases. (I know in my state, there's some "good" places to stay right now and some places you want to stay FAR from!)

[SnuggleBuggles]

I’d also pick an Airbnb. Camping for just a night seems like a lot of work.
Though, my first instinct would be to change your destination. We made our travel radius max 5 hours and I ultimately picked something 2.5 hours away. Just enough different but in the same state so no quarantine rules and close enough that if there are any problems, we can be home fast.

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[sf333]

Something else to consider when using public restrooms.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/h...-flushing.html

[Reader]

I thought Maine had a 2 week quarantine. That would be great news for us if it doesn't. I'd love to see the ocean this summer. NVM, I reread your post. Off to research getting tested before arrival.

[wendibird22]

I'd do hotel. I'd trust hotel cleaning protocols better than AirBnB. Either way you are probably wiping surfaces down yourself. I'd chose a hotel or motel with either an outdoor entrance to the room (like motel) or a hotel with just a few floors to shorten an elevator ride or be able to take stairs. I'd also request a room that was not occupied that day, if possible.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'd do hotel. I'd trust hotel cleaning protocols better than AirBnB. Either way you are probably wiping surfaces down yourself. I'd chose a hotel or motel with either an outdoor entrance to the room (like motel) or a hotel with just a few floors to shorten an elevator ride or be able to take stairs. I'd also request a room that was not occupied that day, if possible.

The motel idea could work. The newest info about how long it can stay airborne inside makes me not want to do a hotel. The ventilation system plus more people would concern me more than how well things are wiped down in a private house. The Airbnb cleaning policy is pretty good and if they choose not to follow it then they have to wait 72 hours between bookings. Our upcoming one took the training required to (supposedly) receive enhanced cleaning status.


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[ahisma]

Something else to consider when using public restrooms.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/h...-flushing.html

Yes - this is definitely stressful. I haven't heard of transmissions this way, but who knows, I guess. We have a Luggable Loo that we are considering bringing... https://www.rei.com/product/876179/r...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Philly Mom]

A lot of hotels are allowing contact free check in so you won't have to run into other people. I could do the drive in a day. As for restrooms, I stopped at a place that had a single toilet. I was able to wipe everything down and we were in and out quickly. We are in Maine now, but further south. It is lovely. We have had to make adjustments to avoid people around the 4th, but overall, we were able to avoid people.