Planning a Road Trip During COVID-19
Feeling a little cooped up? I can totally relate. With cabin fever at an all-time high from people being in their space 24/7 since mid-March, many people have been wondering how to take their staycation on the road safely. What sort of planning needs to be done in advance? Is it safer to stay in a rental home or a hotel? For most people, they want a change of scenery for a couple of days, and they’re figuring all of these things out in the process. Although international travel may have come to a halt during this pandemic, it hasn’t stopped people from getting in their car and having safe adventures on the road - I felt inspired to do so as well. For those of you who had grandiose plans for celebrating a “big'“ birthday or a milestone anniversary, even a bachelorette weekend, you don’t have to forgo the events altogether! Instead of taking to the air…you should hit the road!
My pride and joy all in one photo - my family ❤️
With all of us quarantining at home, we decided as a family that we all needed a little getaway. Our goal was to have a California summer staycation and not get on a plane. Our destination had to be drive-able. One of the perks about living in Los Angeles is that there are many vacation spots close by. We narrowed down our choices to 4 different California cities, Santa Barbara, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, and Malibu.
We had to take several things into consideration with this little getaway. An ideal location included the following:
A place no more than 2 hours away by car because our kids were traveling with the baby and they could only be gone for a long weekend due to their varying schedules.
Lodging that offered the least amount of contact with other people and felt safe and sanitary.
After the second wave of COVID cases hit California, it was really bad in Orange County, which knocked Laguna Beach and Newport Beach off our list. Our destination choices quickly became Santa Barbara or Malibu. With Malibu only being a 30 minute drive, we ended up choosing Santa Barbara because it felt more like a “getaway”.
Deciding between a Hotel vs. A Rental Home
When we first started making our plans, we thought a vacation rental would be an ideal situation knowing that we wanted both a kitchen and living room area in addition to the bedrooms. We found some nice possibilities. The main obstacle that we had with basically every rental property we looked at was that they all required a 1-week minimum stay. This knocked out the idea of renting a home. At the time, we only checked out Airbnb and VRBO . After we got back from our little getaway, I heard about 2 other vacation rental companies, Arrived Now and Vacasa which specifically stresses on their site that they have a Premium Clean program of “expanded housekeeping measures that meet or exceed CDC recommendations at this time.”
After coming to the conclusion that we would need a hotel situation, our kids started researching and making calls to different hotels. After speaking directly to management at the actual hotel properties, (not the toll-free numbers) it was interesting to hear which hotels and hotel chains were doing a good job with social distancing protocols, and those that really were not. We ultimately let our kids decide where they would feel most comfortable and the final decision was The Belmond El Encanto Hotel in Santa Barbara, California.
This hotel is in the hills of Santa Barbara, not on the beach. The Belmond is on a sprawling property with cottages, not a tall, single building. They assured us that they had social distancing rules in place, which was a win-win for us. We were able to get a 3-bedroom cottage that basically had everything we wanted. We didn’t have to use an elevator while we were there, which was important to us. We didn’t want to eat our meals inside a hotel restaurant and the great thing about this property is they had a large outdoor deck where we ate lunch every day. We spent most of our time outside and in the fresh air. The property was very low-key and relaxed, not a lot of hustle and bustle.
Our first night there we did room service for all of us. Easy, peasy. For dinner every other night we did takeout from local delicious Santa Barbara restaurants, which was a lot of fun. We ended every evening on a high note; making s’mores on the fire pit in the backyard of our cottage. The hotel even brought us our marshmallows, Hershey bars, and graham crackers every single night - it was so much fun!
During this COVID climate, we made the perfect choice for our family with this destination. It was quiet, spread out and very low-key. The service at the hotel was top-notch and I would go back in a heartbeat. I have to admit, it was also nice having the perks of room service (which you don’t get in a vacation rental) and housekeeping services every day. This isn’t to say that our decision would be the right choice for everyone. Different strokes for different folks.
Whatever events you had planned throughout the rest of the year, consider taking it on the road instead of cancelling it. It is possible to stay safe, socially distant, and still celebrate the special moments with our families and loved ones.
xx Barbara