Travel Writing

A Voyage in the Time of a Plague

Traveling during the pandemic.

We have all seen the travel restrictions being lifted, we all have heard about the terrifying dangers of the special kind of COVID-19 - the one taken from abroad. As every country in the world tries to shelter from the infection, we have tried the ‘exceptional safety measures’ that Russia has imposed to save its eager travelers.

We’re being told that flying on an airplane increases the risk of contamination. This is totally incorrect. Every airplane’s air conditioning system is equipped with the so-called HEPA filters, the exact same filters used in surgeries around the globe. Not only that, the system is able to completely change the air in the cabin each 3 minutes. Considering all of this, it’s clear that air travel will get ‘safer’ when all of us will get to know how safe it really is.

Some countries, including ‘The Motherland’ will require you to submit a COVID-19 test. The most convenient way to get it is to do it in the airport itself. The market of the ‘on-spot’ test soon became very competitive as the labs understood how profitable this is. For example, in Domodedovo there are 2 testing labs. On of them offers a cheaper (~2500₽) and more comfortable process with a downside of 1-2 days results. Another one is just a cup of coffee more expensive (~2750₽) and gives you the results in one hour but the process itself is quite unpleasant. Both ways are convenient and you can choose what fits for you.

The ‘iron dome’ over some of the countries made some of the airlines either scale down the operations or go bankrupt. As a result of that, the amount of flights has decreased dramatically. Not only that, but the new cleaning and disinfecting standards require more time therefore increasing the turnover time, also known as the time you need to wait for your plane.

Just as it is with the flights, most of the hotels abroad haven’t opened at the end of the high season. Some of them were unable to sustain the financial difficulties and some of them didn’t want to fight the outcomes of a possible outbreak. For example, in Belek, a new, luxurious resort city on the southern coast of Turkey, only 2 out of 10 main 5-star hotels are opened as of November.

We’re confident to say that the measures taken by the government, airlines and people are more than sufficient to keep you safe and most importantly make you feel safe. As long as you are perceptive in checking the availability of your flights and the COVID regulations in your hotels you’re completely safe to enjoy the travel.

Stay safe, keep tuned!

By Tim Zhewlakow

Campione d'Italia



Italy and Switzerland. What do you imagine? Mountains, a lake and a beautiful little village. This village is Campione d'Italia, a village with a truly fascinating history of national identity, Swiss money and Italian corruption. This is a colorful drama of an Italian village inside the Swiss border.

As with everything in Italy, the history of Campione begins with the Roman Empire. Romans founded this village as a garrison town to protect themselves from the nasty Helvetians. As such, the town currently stands by the lake for about 2300 years. During the 1790s, when the Swiss Confederation was assembled, the people of the Ticino voted to join the newborn état neutre. This is the moment, when citizens of Campione showed their national cohesion and opposed the motion, staying within Italy. The Swiss even tried to exchange the exclave for multiple regions down south, but the Campionesi stood their ground.

Now, the duties over cities are almost equally distributed among the Swiss and Italian authorities. For example, Italy has full control over police and mail, while Switzerland provides medical care, Internet and telephone services, and, surprisingly, the vehicle registration, meaning that all vehicles have Swiss plates. Although, legally, the only currency that can be accepted on the Italian territory is Euro, the Swiss franc de-facto remains to be the main financial instrument of the city with the Euro being a supporting or a secondary currency.

Remember the corruption part all the way up? Well, another thing you could have noticed is a monstrous beige building on the left side of the picture. This is the Casino d’Italia, the oldest casino in Europe and one of the first in the world. Well, actually it was a casino. It was declared bankrupt in 2018 after failing to pay out a debt of 73 million euros. Before the shutdown, the profit from this governmentally owned casino was more than enough to support the cities without any taxes for the residents. However, such benefits were not enough for the Campionesi. Dozens of managers from the local municipality were accused of corruption and fraud, which left more than 650 people of both Switzerland and Italy with neither a job nor a place to go.

The negative part of this story doesn’t make it less fascinating. All in all, the Campione d’Italia is a beautiful place where billionaires, high-profile criminals and common Italians are living and I highly recommend you to pay their town a visit.


~Tim Zhevlakov

  1. French for Neutral state

  2. People of Campione d'Italia