Vacationing Safely in a Coronavirus World

With families eager to begin traveling and vacationing once more, the team at Village Realty wants to share some tips on how to have a safe vacation and being respectful of the needs and challenges facing the local destination communities. We want to help keep everyone healthy and safe.

Tip #1: Follow Government Guidance

It’s important to remember that we must observe and respect rules and regulations in place to protect public safety. This includes but is not limited to adhering to recommendations or rules set forth by local or national governments with regards to how we travel and conduct ourselves in private and public settings. Please stay aware of what regulations may impact your travel including personal protective equipment recommendations and social distancing guidelines.

Tip #2: Bring Supplies

It should come as no surprise that many communities around the country are facing shortages of groceries and everyday supplies. Village Realty encourages you to plan ahead and create a checklist of essential supplies and dry grocery goods that you can bring with you on your vacation to lessen the burden on local stores struggling to keep up with supplying the local population. It will also save valuable time for you to spend enjoying your getaway instead of standing in shopping lines.

This includes paper products, personal protective equipment, hygienic items and cleaning products, dry/shelf-stable groceries, laundry supplies, first aid and medications, sunscreen and beach supplies, and other essentials you should prepare for not being available in local stores. By bringing more of these essentials with you to your destination, you’re lessening the stress on local supply chains and ensuring you’ll have what you need for an enjoyable vacation.

Tip #3: Vacation Responsibly

Traveling to and during your vacation, you should be respectful of current public safety concerns and be courteous to the people and places around you. Many tourist destinations are in the beginning phases of reopening to travelers and it is critical to remember to be respectful to the residents and other visitors. Maintaining proper health and hygiene is more important than ever. Be aware that many residents and visitors have been self-isolating and social distancing like the rest of the world and will naturally be sensitive to contact or close proximity to others. Our businesses are relying on your patronage but please do so in a responsible manner with respect to distancing and preventing transmission of illness. Adhere to any special requests for crowd control or spacing of seating or lines.

During these times, it is also important to maintain a safe distance from large groups and limit your time in crowded spaces. When setting up your beach equipment for the day, ensure there’s ample space between you and other groups so that coughing or sneezing droplets are not transferrable. Pay close attention to wind speed and direction as this can influence your true viral proximity to others.

Tip #4: Leave the Beach Better Than You Found it.

As with any vacation, it’s important that visitors leave the beach in better shape than they arrived. This advice takes many forms. It can include simple courtesies like properly disposing of your waste items. While we commonly think of not littering household trash and food/drink containers, personal protective equipment is abundant in use right now and requires proper disposal as not to transfer germs or create a litter nuisance. Leaving the beach better also includes simple acts of kindness.

Remember that we’re all in this together. A few more minutes of patience while waiting in a store checkout line or accepting takeout only for a restaurant will go a long way to improving the happiness and health of everyone in/on the Outer Banks.

From all of us at Village Realty, we hope you have a happy and healthy vacation to The Outer Banks!

We look forward to seeing you soon!

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