How to relax in a pandemic – experts advise

For 2020, my young man and I, like many others, had grandiose plans: travel to Moldova, Georgia, Thailand and a trip to Europe. But due to the coronavirus, we had to revise them, so this year we inadvertently got to know our country a little better. And now we can recommend several options for rest, when almost everything is “closed”.

Travel by car with a tent

First of all, you can advise traveling by car with tents in order to contact with a minimum number of people. For example, this summer, while on vacation, my dog ​​and I decided to go to Altai by car. We took a tent, food and packed sleeping bags. On the way, we decided to take our time and call in the places they liked. On the way, we stumbled upon the small town of Sim not far from Chelyabinsk, there is a very beautiful lake surrounded by the Ural mountains.

We were in Altai for 5 days with maximum autonomy – we cooked on a fire, spent the night in a tent, washed in Katun, we contacted people only at gas stations and when it was necessary to replenish food supplies. We spent a couple of days climbing to the top of Ora, breathed in the cleanest air, pumped up our legs on the ascent. It seems to me that rest in Altai should be just like this – in complete unity with the wild nature, with minimal use of the benefits of civilization.

Forest and mushroom tourism

Another way to relax during a pandemic is forestry and mushroom tourism. We, after a trip to Altai, tried it in the Tomsk region, which is 93% forests and swamps. Including several times we got together with friends from Tomsk and Novosibirsk, looked for mushrooms, cones, played board games, sang around the fire with a guitar (when planning these meetings, the first question was “how do you smell smells”?)

Trips to Russian cities

A trip to the cities of Russia, many of which have beautiful architecture and nature, would be an excellent option. We chose – Kaliningrad (we got there by plane, during the flight there was nothing new except masks, gloves and an internal slightly anxious mood due to the situation in the world. There are many old German houses, pre-war cobblestones on the roads, parks and squares at every step, to The Baltic Sea is only 30 kilometers away.

You can go to the seaside town of Svetlogorsk, the pace of life there is very slow and calm, there are practically no people on the streets, but at the same time there is a lot of greenery, beautiful low-rise buildings and walking routes. By the way, this city is the only one in Russia that is included in the Cittaslow (“slow city”) association.

And probably many have heard about the Curonian Spit reserve in the region, but this is too popular a place where many people come. Therefore, our choice is the Baltic Spit, where the nature is the same: sands, pines, the sea on one side, the bay on the other, but only there are very few tourists there.

By the way, if we had a trip to Altai during our holidays, in other cities we combined work and travel (and in Kaliningrad we continue to do this right now) in the format: on weekdays we work – on weekends we study the surroundings.