[haisaikat]

There was a time when my father used to narrate stories of World War 2, and both me and my sister used to gaze at him in astonishment hearing all the incidents in and around Kolkata about British soldiers, the Japanese attacks, the blackouts, the air raid sirens, bombing of the Khidderpore dock area and what not, things that made us thrill on one hand and on the other hand made us feel having missed a great opportunity to witness a very important chapter in the human history.

Jump to 2020, we see the united fight of mankind against a common enemy that one cannot see with bare eyes and that kills you silently, an era where terminologies like lockdown, social distancing, quarantine, N95, sanitize have become the buzz words among all with the fear of not having a definite cure. The lives lost may not be comparable to WW2 but the impact on the economy and the related damage on people's lives and livelihood is a grave matter in itself. Sometime this leads me to thinking that our generation will now have enough to narrate to future generations regarding this exceptional era of mankind and having witnessed it in person.

This situation has impacted our mental states too, we see the impact around and in news and media to a large extent. People like me for whom work continued from home in the private sector our stress level and work load has increased several folds. Add to that the restriction to roam around freely has made the stay at home even more suffocating than ever.

During initial days of lock down in March, only time I was going out was the weekly trip to Spencers for groceries and may be a few night drives around the city to witness the lockdown. Things started changing when the lockdown was lifted and we started hoping of rejuvenating our souls by attempting to make day outings.

Of course not to let go off the warnings and risks sounded by news and media and relatives and acquaintances. We closely monitored the situation and saw hotels, and tourist facilities attempting to open up in phases and under restriction. Although they are offering discounts on accommodation charges, I believe they are making up for that through the dining charges at hotels.

On the other hand for the first time in my life we were spending more money on sanitizing and disinfection liquids and related measures than on fuel for our cars, who could have every imagined.

This thread of mine accounts three such recent outings made between June 2020 and August 2020.

To the readers I will not portray this post as a Travelogue and neither will I encourage others to venture out unnecessarily but if you are one of those who considers travelling as a therapy then note from these posts what precautions must be adopted to stay safe within the extent one can achieve by themselves. Of course note that precautions do not eliminate threats, it barely minimizes and reading below will get you the idea that life is no longer going to be the same as before until situation stabilizes.

As a result the majority of the details given are on precaution methods and very little is stated on the the usual stuff we are accustomed to providing like roads, cars, drive, etc

To start with, these are what we carried for sanitation on all trips

• Hand sanitizer, with push down dispensers and sprays, we like the VLCC Gel Sanitizer and Chemtex Alstasan Handrub liquid sanitizer
• Surface Disinfectant which are safe on human beings, Chemtex Silvox 150 MIST, 60 seconds disinfection
• Instant Surface Disinfectant, for hard and inanimate surfaces that are frequently touched including electronics, Chemtex Alstacol 25+, 5 seconds disinfection
• Toilet seat instant disinfectant and deodorizer, Peesafe, 10 seconds disinfection
• Several Cotton Towels for wiping
• Hand Wash Liquid Soap with Dispenser
• Enough spray bottles of various shapes and sizes for enabling everyone carry them every where
• A high sense of touch awareness which is needed for one to prempt where to focus for cleaning

Recently I have procured a fumigation machine which I have applied successfully on the last trip. It can disinfect a room with fumes in 15 minutes (using Silvox 150 Fume liquid, again from Chemtex stable).

Note that I have no affiliation to any of the brands mentioned above.

A few pictures in advance

Yes this being unprecedented times, the focus to sanitation kit comes first

[haisaikat]

Trip - 1: Day Outing to Falta

It was mid June, lockdown had just been lifted and we started calling all picnic places for a suitable day outing vanue. Our priorities were as below

• The place must be within 2-3 hours of drive from Kolkata so that we can comfortably do a round trip within the same day
• Not near to any red / containment zones
• Must allow social distancing
• Must allow home cooked food that we will bring along
• Should have a bed room and clean washrooms

After several searches found one small picnic spot in Falta riverside which ticked all the above criteria and they were giving entire place to one party at a time. Only drawback was the room was Non-AC but we decided to give it a go.

What we carried

• Sanitation Packs as specified in previous post
• All home cooked food that does not require much of pre-heating, although having those mini camping Butane stoves could have sweetened the experience. Everyone contributed by bringing something.
• All one time use plates and glasses that were bought in the pre-covid era, if you buy now, make sure you keep them under hot sun for some days unless you sanitize them prior to using. At best you can let them stack at home for 1 month in a dry place
• Enough dry and wet tissues
• Bin bags
• Packaged water bottles and soft drinks which were pre-washed using soap, we also got water from homes in pre-sterilized bottles as and additional backup

We started around 9-30 am and took the route via Haridevpur and showed up to DH Road near Thakurpukur and continued on our trip to Falta. One the road we completed our breakfast inside the car over a short roadside break. Refer to the next post regarding how to address the situation when someone from outside have to board the car or we are picking up guests.

On entering the destination around 12-30 pm following was done

• Kept others waiting in the car for 15 mins while I walked into the room to sanitize it as below
  • Sprayed soft surface disinfectant on the bed thoroughly and all touchable areas around it to let them self dry, remember if you have kids no place within his /her reach should be left to chances. A bed sheet we carried was placed on top of what they already had, even if I had disinfected that recently.
  • Sprayed and wiped instant disinfectant on chairs (note where we usually touch while pulling them, like behind the back side, under the handle, etc), door handles and all commonly touched areas of the room including door handles and common areas of doors we usually tend to touch, taps inside the washroom and finally kept the toilet seat disinfectant and an easy dispensing liquid hand wash bottle inside the washroom
  • There was a metal fencing on the river side, anticipating folks will touch it cleaned the top rail, then thinking the kid may touch the middle one cleaned that too with instance disinfectant, sprayed to disinfect the underneath surface of the rails too.
  • Repeated the cleaning on the dining table in the open area (thankfully only one was there) and chairs with instant disinfectant
  • Finally placed few hand sanitizer bottles here and there
• Made sure only one person opens and closes all doors of the car and boot and hands over luggage / belongings after sanitizing everyone's hands to carry forward.

That's it, enjoyed the rest of the day. Kept sanitizing hands frequently even if you have not touched something recently or touched even pre-sanitized things just to ensure that if you have unknowingly touched something untrusted you do not get penalized.

A microwave and some ice would have been nice but we managed without. Probably a thermal insulated ice cube carrier would be good idea. The humid day made us feel the need of the AC more than anything else. Although the very sight of the river and the surrounding made us feel great once again after such a long entrapped time at home.

Some pictures from the day trip

















About this trip, with our good old road trip gang with whom we share some of the best memories of going around places, this was our own way of doing unlock, the first time we went more than 10km away from our homes since the start of lockdown it was a first breather we enjoyed, albeit differently than we are used to. It was a great experience.

[haisaikat]

Trip-2: 2 nights at the Mandarmoni Beach

Around mid of June when we heard that hotels in Digha and Mandarmani have started to open up, we knew this is the moment we need to aim before things start getting crowded once again. There were news on the media about locals blocking roads and preventing tourists so we spoke to local Police Station there over phone and were assured that after police intervention things have stabilized with nothing to worry. After making a few calls to few hotels we decided the date around end of June.

While my choice to stay was at Candlewood Suites since they were fumigating their rooms for sanitation but eventually zeroed on ADB Kanvas for better reviews on food and better room options although sanitizing methods were not clear.

We took the usual Nandakumar route to Mandarmani with a interim halt at Express Food Plaza Kolaghat. Express Food Plaza was a disappointment as they had opended with very limited menu and compete vegeterian. Good thing they have kept AC off and have the facility running with limited staff self service only and their wash rooms are still sparkling clean. Nandakumar had few kilometres of bad road with terrible traffic that slowed us down but rest of the road was very good. At Nadakumar the Police stopped us once at a temporary checkpoint along with other cars to inquire about our destination, but let us pass eventually noting down my driving license number and the purpose, same for the other cars followed. We eventually checked into out hotels by 10 am

Without spending more words on the road and the location which has been discussed umpteen times on this forum I will now move into the precautions followed for every situation we met

Getting In and Out of the Car

• Sprayed surface disinfectant on luggage especially around handles after loading them into the boot
• If there is a need to take out something from boot during any halt, after opening the boot lid, sanitized hands before touching the luggage
• 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
• Assumed all the time that outside door handles and surfaces, along with car key (unless its Push start) are not sanitized and to remain so, hence all passengers post entering the car and before touching any inside door panels to close the door must sanitize their hands and then close the door. I assisted others by opening and closing the doors on their behalf to make things easy. While boarding the driver seat, post opening the door and letting the door stay open, first put key into the ignition slot and started engine, sanitized hand and then pulled the driver side door from inside to close it.
• If you accidentally have ended up touching steering or dash controls with un-sanitized hands, clean them again before starting journey, better to be safe.
• While inside the car, if you trust all the other passengers inside then either resort to light 3 ply masks or otherwise as you deem suitable

At highway Gas Stations and Food Joints

• Unless it is for nature calls, I recommend staying inside the car, but if one does plan to venture out, avoid fully AC places, Food Express is now running with AC turned off.
• The same way the car is boarded, getting out is easier. Sanitized hands after closing the doors from outside (for passengers). Me as driver must first opened the driver side door, take purse / sanitizer in one hand, better to carry waist pouch, and then turned off ignition and unplugged the the keys, shut the door and put keys inside pocket (remote locking done) and then sanitize hands. So one pocket is to remain un-sanitized all time. I avoid sanitizing keys every time thinking of wearing out the rubber cover of the remote and the markings on the remote itself.
• Most food joints are keeping door panels open. We sanitized our chairs and table with instant disinfectant. Even if others are looking, no shame, remember that your own safety is in your own hands. We made sure to clean the sides and 1-2 inch underneath the table and chairs considering how we grab them while seating. Sanitized cutlery differently, this is explained later unless you use pre sanitized single use cutlery and glasses.
• We try not to buy water bottles and soft drink cans from outside. if you must keep hand soap to wash them before touching or make sure their surface is not wet and then spray disinfectant (not recommended) to clean them. At best carry empty bottles and make it a two person job of emptying the new bottles into empty ones for consuming.
• If you skip sanitizing chairs, disinfectant cloths especially your back side before entering car

On Arrival at the Hotel

• They sprayed some oil based disinfectant all around the car and on the luggage and carried them to the room where they also sprayed the same liquid merely on the floors.
• We made sure immediately after entering the room to sanitize commonly touched surfaces including washroom taps, door handles and locks, sprayed body disinfectant on bed, sofas, even tray / surfaces inside the mini fridge
• Since the porters hand carried our luggage, sprayed the handles once again

When room service comes

• Open the door from inside by ourselves and hold the handle, let someone else take any plates or flood pots from the trays, the objective is to not to let anyone from outside enter inside especially with AC on. Even if you have to let the person enter do not let him touch anything inside the room including the inside door handles / knobs while going out by habit, so better that you stand there holding the door, if the person is wearing shoes ask him to enter into the room barefooted.
• Generally they brings sanitized plates and cutlery on top of the tray, but recommend either you carry your own cutlery / reusable plates or to sanitize food contact surfaces including plates and cutlery with non toxic surface disinfectants like diluted hydrogen peroxide or hypochlorous acid. Better that all food covers are opened at once and kept aside and every member eats together so that one person takes charge of serving.
• During eating try not to touch bowls and containers as much as possible while you let them reside on table. Even better if you keep the plates on the table and eat from there.
• Packaged drinking water bottles ordered at the hotel, considering they may be chilled with water droplets on them, better to sanitize them by washing with hand soap
• Keep a squeeze top type dispenser fitted hand sanitizer on the table at all time to allow someone to sanitize hands with one hand operation if the need arises

Regular Sanitizing Activities

• Sanitize regularly touched surfaces twice or thrice a day with instant disinfectants
• Spray body disinfectants on bed at least once
• Spray on floor at night, especially where the shoes are left and the area around the room entry

When you enter the room from outside with no one inside the room to grant you access

• One person opens the door from outside and holding the door lets other entry so that others do not have to touch outside door handles. Unless you have kept a hand sanitizer with dispenser bottle near the entrance it is expected that the person holding the door must spray the hand sanitizer to the others
• If the need be, do body disinfection spray on bodies
• Finally that person holding the door enters and before closing door sanitizes hand and then closes the door from inside , even better if foot is used to push close the door

Precautions for kids and elders

• Elders with restricted physical mobility have the habit of touching several places for support, observe and pre sanitize.
• Do not let kids play on the floor even if carpeted, keep games to engage them on the bed instead

Some Other Important things

• Sanitize the surface of the bottle holding the sanitizer if you dispense by holding it in hand
• If you absolutely need to use any outside seats like those half laying easy chairs or even kids play areas, keep you mask on all the time, easier to sanitize body afterwards than to sanitize chairs / tables / kids play structures and soil yourself.
• With non-sanitized hands, don't touch anywhere else consciously, even scratching your butt
• None of us wore any watches on this trip, even going out of room, we kept cell phones (except may be one for photos) inside the room
• Make sure to sanitize your mobile regularly
• Avoid going to closed AC places where other people can be there without masks like restaurants of the hotels / resorts, insist for room service all the time
• While on beach, if there is no one in a few hundred meters close to you, you can consider that to be safe social distancing

While Checking Out

• We paid with touchless paytm / upi and gave tips in cash where there is no return
• The bill is usually a hard copy, if they can send a soft copy of bill with paid seal and if you can live with that then nothing like it. Otherwise take the bill and dump it in a no touch area in the car (may be boot floor) and sanitize hands
• Always try to carry luggage yourself back to the car, may be ask the waiter or porter to open the boot lid for you unless its remote opened. After dumping the luggage in the boot, you may let them close the lid but try not to allow them to touch the luggage, if you do sanitize luggage handles.

And now, time for some pictures from the trip

On our way to Mandarmani




At the hotel




Beach




Somebody claimed to have spotted a submarine


Loaded up, ready for the return


On our way back, we met with some very heavy rainfall enough to almost blinded the visibility ahead of us.






Nevertheless, a great refreshing trip to help us breathe openly.

[haisaikat]

Trip - 3: 1 night at the Bakkhali Beach

This trip was made early August, we had stayed near the Bakkhali Beach at Hotel Icon Heritage. The hotel is fairly new with parking inside but does not have elevator. The view from the 2nd floor rooms of the sea is the best. We went on Saturday, the day of the Eid so roads were fairly empty and with a 30 min halt for breakfast we reached in just 4 hours from Kolkata. We did have an earlier booking at the West Bengal Tourism property for the following week but had to cancel that owing to the lockdown on the same day. The weather was still hot and humid yet we got some exceptional white and blue magic from the skies.

Coming to sanitization what we followed is already explained in the above post, just few things were different

• We halted at a roadside food joint for some Bread-omlet and famous variety of chops. We made sure food was transferred directly from their cooking pots to our single use plates without allowing them to touch the plates. Also soft drinks and water bought on the way was not bottle sanitized but instead served by one to others holding their glasses with dumping the bottles immediately after followed by hand sanitization.
• We fumigated the rooms by our device and let the smoke settle, opened up closets and drawyers everything prior to fumigation and also turned the AC on for a min to draw in some fumes.
• Since the rooms had lot of furnitures and a balcony with glass door, additional precautions taken to sanitize lower portions of furniture and doors which are prone to touching by kids. Even the balcony railings and surfaces were sanitized in all 3 rooms
• We dined together in one of the rooms with one person taking charge of serving. Since we found the plates to be red hot signifying fresh sterilized we did not sanitize them separately
• We dined together in one room
• We had masks on whenever we came to less than 10 metres of other people on the beach

I missed a big opportunity to meet BHPian @turboNath and @Abhi_1512 who were also at Bakkhali on that Sunday, the day of our return. Someday will surely meet the adventurous Biker and the Ecosporter

The advantage of having two Pro Photographers, the clicks were really out of the world. Courtesy goes to my two Brother-in-laws. Here are some of them including a few clicked by us.

The Hatania Doania bridge on the way to Bakkhali


At the Bakkhali Beach








At Hotel






The moonlit sea at a distance


At Fraserganj Beach, there was no one at a distance, all shops closed




A lunch halt at PunnaLakshmi Hotel of Diamond Harbour during our return, momentarily took out the masks


A concluding thought, although this was a one day trip, when we travel with like minds time seem to pass so fast that you cannot account when it all started and when it all came to an end all of a sudden. Most important, in these times when lot of precautions need to be taken, it is imperative that without active cooperation of every one on the group it is difficult to achieve complete sanity, or a state close to it. I can say that this trip was exemplary in terms of cooperation received from all.

So before venturing out on any such trip please make sure everyone is having an awareness level that helps execute things smoothly, best way would be that if you follow touch awareness, masking habit and social distancing at home the same can be carried forward seamlessly to every situation. It would be otherwise difficult to discipline members on the go during the trip, more applicable for elders and kids if they are not used to doing this at home.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[khanabadoshDil]

Hello,

And many thanks for penning these points down. Finding myself in an unavoidable position of having to travel with family across the country, I'm very grateful to have this ready-reckoner handy now. Wish you good health and many more safe trips.

[ahujapradeep]

Excellent article, detailed and well put together. Curious to know which fogging machine were you using? Hot cold etc.
Thanks in advance and enjoy your travels.
Pradeep Ahuja

[fiesta1.6]

How about using a UV light disinfectant instead of fumigation devices for the entire room with a auto switch off function with set time? Did anyone try the UV lights? Any recommendations?

[ABHI_1512]

Wow, apart from everything else, the amount of precautionary measures taken in view of the pandemic situation is astounding. I would never be able to manage even one-tenth of what you managed. Missed meeting you this time round but I am sure we will meet soon.

Regards,

[jkrishnakj]

Wow Saikat !. Super way to unwind and it was a good read, lovely pictures and very educative on the precautions. Loved it and rated it as well.

We did a quick trip to a beach too, at Karnataka, in the last week of July. Almost similar precautions. My mini travelogue will be up soon (lazy to transfer pictures from my mobile to the laptop )

[haisaikat]

Originally Posted by khanabadoshDil

I'm very grateful to have this ready-reckoner handy now. Wish you good health and many more safe trips.

Thank you dear.

Originally Posted by ahujapradeep

Excellent article, detailed and well put together. Curious to know which fogging machine were you using? Hot cold etc.

I have used the commonly available chinese Fumigation (hot) machine that is flooded online. Here is one such link although I procured for 3200 INR from OLX, expect price cuts in days to come https://www.amazon.in/Portable-Sanit...Q5V1T1TDTA3RFR

Here is a demo video of the same in action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVMfUMdsFiU

There is an alternate version with remote and supposedly better looking build that is available with several indiamart sellers. A sample video of the same is also given below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngJ5K8FOQpA

Originally Posted by fiesta1.6

Did anyone try the UV lights? Any recommendations?

I was researching UV lamps which have started to become commercially available for household disinfection. I see the only challenge is not the efficacy rather the limitation that it travels in straight lines and stopped by opaque objects. So you need to re position the light several times in the hotel / resort room to have all surfaces receive the UV rays unless we install more than one at several points in the room of roof mounted.

The advantage I perceived with the fumes is that they will reach every nook and corner in the room no matter from where they are thrown and also inside AC. Of course the manufacturers are claiming that silver ions in accelerated silver hydrogen peroxide stays in the air for up to 24 hours.

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Missed meeting you this time round but I am sure we will meet soon

Sure Abhi and thanks for the kind words. The Mysore, Coorg TL from you is an absolute gem, rated well deserved 5 stars.

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

We did a quick trip to a beach too, at Karnataka, in the last week of July. Almost similar precautions. My mini travelogue will be up soon (lazy to transfer pictures from my mobile to the laptop )

Thanks, eagerly waiting for yours to come up. I want to also learn newer and easier techniques to stay safe from folks who have made night stays in this situation.

[KMT]

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

While we can take precautions to prevent ourselves from falling sick, we also may be asymptomatic carriers and pose a risk to people living in the outstation areas we travel to.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by KMT

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

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.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by KMT

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

While we can take precautions to prevent ourselves from falling sick, we also may be asymptomatic carriers and pose a risk to people living in the outstation areas we travel to.

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 !

If one has taken adequate precautions and which the OP has taken in more than adequate amount, I don't see any reason of not going out for travel. You can't be cooped up inside your home forever. Every one has to get on with their lives and not cooped up inside a bubble for the fear of the virus. Those who want, can remain inside the bubble for as long as they want, but branding someone irresponsible for going out isn't going to stick even for argument's sake.

[Ulysses]

Originally Posted by fiesta1.6

How about using a UV light disinfectant instead of fumigation devices for the entire room with a auto switch off function with set time? Did anyone try the UV lights? Any recommendations?

The problem with UVC light is that all the shadow areas will remain contaminated. However, small handheld UVC wands, are a good option to sanitize food/serving utensils, especially cold foods such as drinks, ice cream, lassi etc. Generally, any contagion would remain on the surface only, which can be effectively sanitized without getting chemicals enter into the food. However, home cooked is still the best option, followed by frozen food and safely cooked food.

I would also like to mention a word of caution for using fume /fogging machines. Please be mindful not to use any alcohol based liquid sanitizer, because it will result in fire! In such hot fuming machine, only non-alcohol based sanitizers, such as hydrogen peroxide (plain or with silver nitrate catalyst) or sodium hypochlorite (bleach) will work. To get the fume, add water soluble glycerine (cheap industrial grade will do fine) to at least 25-30% and mix well. It's actually glycerine that gives that thick white smoke (and builds confidence)

These fogging machine are also an excellent option to create a decontamination screen at home, where anyone coming from outside can stay for a few seconds (15-20 seconds max) in the smoke to get completely sanitized (clothes, shoes etc.). If hydrogen peroxide is used, then there will be rarely any difficulty such as sneezing etc.