[Raghu M]

Thank you for the excellent tips and a wonderful travelogue. I personally have put all my travel plans on the back burner. I do not want to venture out and take the risk of contracting the virus. I think you have a great amount of patience, the care you have taken for your family is laudable.

[haisaikat]

Originally Posted by KMT

Although the lockdown has been lifted, I believe it is irresponsible to travel for recretiational purposes during these times

Like others have said, this continues to be an individual choice. However look at the positive sides of exchanging our precaution measures and building our knowledge which you can apply when you have an inevitable reason to actually go out other than recreational purposes like visiting a doctor, or going for some work including office commute if that cannot be done from home.

Originally Posted by am1m

Unfortunately the virus is incapable of distinguishing between someone travelling on an essential purpose (who gets to define what is essential btw?) and someone out on recreational travel. People (and there are several) travelling on essential purposes anywhere are just as likely to be asymptomatic carriers.

Very rightly said. I would guess the majority of the spread is happening from community / locality markets and central AC premises that have many people gathering at once. Even elevators and common washrooms should be avoided or used with utmost caution in public places.

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Recreational or not, this whole idea of being holed up inside your home is making people sick and without even knowing it. This virus is part of our lives now and it's not like it will be gone when someone finally decides to put a lid on the bottle from where the virus is coming out !

Very aptly put Abhi. Looking at a 14 inch LCD screen and exercising fingers for unaccountable number of hours in a day with ear plugs inside our ears we thought initially was fun, only to realize that its not so fun when rest of the office is also doing the same . When this continues for days and months the same becomes intolerable, driving us next to insane and highly fatigued. Travelling is a good therapy in this case that I chose to avail.

Originally Posted by Ulysses

If hydrogen peroxide is used, then there will be rarely any difficulty such as sneezing etc.

Rightly said, I am on the lookout for a battery power / rechargeable mister for spraying Hydrogen Peroxide on entry. Presently using spray bottles. If course those cheap Chinese nano misters are not an option. I am using Chemtex made Silvix 150 Mist for this purpose which is 0.5% Silver Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide. Unable to say if it works but of course mid says "All is Well"

Originally Posted by Raghu M

Thank you for the excellent tips and a wonderful travelogue. I personally have put all my travel plans on the back burner. I do not want to venture out and take the risk of contracting the virus. I think you have a great amount of patience, the care you have taken for your family is laudable.

Thank you dear for your kind words. People do have possibility to get contaminated by the virus while even at home from outsiders like maid, home delivery, surfaces, etc so follow as much precautions as possible and stay safe. People are buying pulse oximeters nowadays to keep a check.

[bigDaddy_In]

Hey! I am driving down to Kolkata from Bangalore next weekend for some work and be with my parents for some time. Was looking for places to take them as they are literally in house arrest since March end. I was thinking of Ffort Raichak as the only option.

But do you recommend going to resorts you mentioned in Mandarmani? Are they adhering to COVID protocols? Asking as these resorts are not big names in the hospitality industry and accountability is less.

[boniver]

Thank you for this thread. Tried to follow your tips as much as possible and had a wonderful weekend at Digha/Tajpur/Sankarpur!

[haisaikat]

Originally Posted by bigDaddy_In

I was thinking of Ffort Raichak as the only option.

But do you recommend going to resorts you mentioned in Mandarmani? Are they adhering to COVID protocols? Asking as these resorts are not big names in the hospitality industry and accountability is less.

Talking of brands, some of the hotels in Mandarmani are infact part of hotel chains, even if not as big as Mariotts or Hiltons they do set very high standards like ADB Group, HSB Group are in fact quite renowned. Having said that, you can consider going to these or any hotels for that matter provided you inquire first about the sanitization precautions used by them.

My colleagues who are travelling this weekend to Mandarmani are staying at HSB where they have been assured that rooms will be sanitized in front of them using fogging and fumigation both and then they will enter the rooms. Such things do create sense of security. But of course nothing beats your own precautions which no matter where you are, you must adhere to them in order to keep yourself safe, especially travelling with elders.

On a related note, in terms of COVID safety some very unfamiliar names in Restaurant industry have surfaced in Kolkata who have set new standards in terms of safety and are attracting people in a time where many restaurants are still relying on food delivery. Even multi star hotels like Marriott are nowadays delivering food on Swiggy.

Originally Posted by boniver

Thank you for this thread. Tried to follow your tips as much as possible and had a wonderful weekend at Digha/Tajpur/Sankarpur!

Thank you dear, pictures are lovely, I like the idea of rain driving by the beaches with glass down, gives a terrific sense of feeling the nature. One picture I noticed, is that the park in Udaipur from Digha side?

[bigDaddy_In]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Talking of brands, some of the hotels in Mandarmani are infact part of hotel chains, even if not as big as Mariotts or Hiltons they do set very high standards like ADB Group, HSB Group are in fact quite renowned. Having said that, you can consider going to these or any hotels for that matter provided you inquire first about the sanitization precautions used by them.

Thank you! This helps a lot in my research. Being away from Kolkata for the last 7+ years I had no clue about these places(we were frequent to Mandarmani/Digha in our college days, but then we could only opt for the "cheap" options ).

[dsnaveen21]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

[*]Always ensured car is sanitized prior to the boarding, especially seats, dashboard and steering, all door handles and switches inside the car, non alcoholic surface disinfectants are recommended. The one I used is Accelerated 0.5% Silver Hydrogen Peroxide Solution sprayed through atomizers

Nice pics there, need to buy the sanitizer, can you please send the link for the car sanitizer.

[haisaikat]

Originally Posted by bigDaddy_In

Being away from Kolkata for the last 7+ years I had no clue about these places

If you are on vacation and weekends are not first preference then I must advise to make your visit on weekdays, ideal would be Tuesday to Thursday and avoid national holidays on all accounts. The reason being, news report say there has been a recent surge in visitors on 15th August, that is risky. The whole advantage of travelling in these times is to be able to stay in a place with less than 10% of the usual crowd that allows safe social distancing. Also you would get cheaper rates over weekdays.

Originally Posted by dsnaveen21

Nice pics there, need to buy the sanitizer, can you please send the link for the car sanitizer.

You can buy directly from their website e-comm shop at https://www.chemtexltd.com/product/a...50-mist-p6-1l/

Sometime in few states they prefer to deliver through their Amazon Offcial Shop as in https://www.amazon.in/sp?_encoding=U...902N&sshmPath=

A product usage comparison chart from Chemtex is attached for reference.



And finally some pictures from our last made trip to Bakkhali, courtesy my BIL.

[psbali]

What a nice thread to go through for people who want to travel as well as safety and hygiene conscious people. I am going through the list of foggers available on amazon as. I too want to go to Goa as a lot of branded chain properties are functional over there. However, I keep thinking about the safety aspect of all such hotels having a centralised air conditioning systems.

Is it safe to stay in a hotel with a centralised cooling system? a lot of major hospitals have been switching off their central ac systems as there is a risk of virus travelling to other floors.

Any thoughts on this? anyone has stayed at such a property?

[Tygerman]

I can't thank you enough for this post . I am planning on driving down to Kerala from Pune in November and was actually thinking on how to prep up for the trip. Been thinking what precautions to take. Your post answered most of it.

How did you manage the tolls where Fastag did not work? Toll booths are potential risk zones.

[haisaikat]

Originally Posted by psbali

I keep thinking about the safety aspect of all such hotels having a centralised air conditioning systems.

Is it safe to stay in a hotel with a centralised cooling system?

Your concern is valid on the dangers of a centralized air conditioned facility in the present context, although having adequate filters in the air conditioning system can minimize the risk of spreading air borne contamination though the same. Filters rated MERV 13 or higher are known to work in this although more research is required, it is like a N95 mark put in the AC.

Most of the hotels we stay have individual AC installed in rooms but we make sure to ask and double check on this during booking.

We consciously avoid pulling our masks down in a centrally air conditioned facility like the restaurant of a resort, as such we prefer nowadays to have the food sent to the room. This results, at times in missing the breakfast or lunch buffet even if the hotel insist to avail that at the restaurant, we turn down such offers and have found hotels to be understanding so far.

Originally Posted by Tygerman

How did you manage the tolls where Fastag did not work? Toll booths are potential risk zones.

In the 3 accounts of travel posted earlier in this thread, there was only one toll plaza we encountered where Fastag did not work I had to put on mask, turn the wind flow of the car AC off and then pull down the glass only enough to slip my hand out in order to handover the toll fee and collect the receipt.

Some highway tolls plazas, like the one we encountered offers free hand sanitizers too on request. But you must make sure that after you put the cash and receipt somewhere separated than rest of the stuff, you do sanitize your hand before touching anything inside the car, even the window up switch or the lever as the case may be.

There is another way, like we see in parking exits in some malls, if you have a small light basket made of plastic or if you are fond of origami you can make a disposable paper bowl which you can hold out of the window to collect change and receipt apart from paying the cash in the first place. This way you avoid direct touching of currency and the receipt or even accidental touching of hands of the toll counter person.

[anivy]

Hope this is the right post to ask about the topic of identifying genuine/counterfeit sanitizers.

Was reading on a regional BBC website about the flour test for checking if a given sanitizer has the recommended amount (70-80%) of alcohol in it. It involves mixing a little sanitizer with wheat flour. If lumps form, it is considered counterfeit. There are 2 other tests as indicated in this article.