Going somewhere?

The other week, my partner and I took a short trip to a destination barely two hours away. It required about as much planning as a full-on vacation to Europe might have in the Before Times: renting a car, researching what food options were available for takeout, picking socially distant activities, choosing a hotel that seemed to be observing safe practices. I’m so glad we went — it helped us clear our heads considerably — but it did throw into sharp relief the idea that travel is not going to look the same for a long, long time, if ever again. Terry Nguyen, who’s been diligently covering travel and transportation in the age of Covid-19, has [an excellent piece]( this week getting into the specifics of why that is and how to weigh risks when deciding whether to get out of town yourself. As someone who loves rules and spreadsheets, it can be tough to process that there isn’t a perfect checklist here, no series of items and assurances you can gather to make sure any trip is perfectly safe. Mitigating risk — for ourselves and for others — is the name of the game right now, even if that means Europe will have to wait. —[Alanna Okun](, deputy editor of The Goods Yes, you can travel this summer. But should you? [maps]( Getty There was a brief period from about late March to mid-May, during the first spike in [coronavirus]( cases in the US, when domestic air travel virtually ground to a halt. Only about [100,000 people]( were traveling per day, compared to the pre-pandemic rate of more than 2 million daily travelers. Some flyers were greeted with nearly empty planes. Then, as states started to open up, the number of flyers began to rise significantly, averaging about 575,000 per day for the last week of June, with little sign of slowdown. “There is clearly a segment of the traveling public who is ready to go,” Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie [told USA Today](, as the budget carrier prepares to increase its daily flight offerings. It’s likely a rash call to declare that people are “ready to go” anywhere, with more than 2.6 million coronavirus cases in the US as of June 30. After months of staying indoors, however, many Americans are growing restless. [Read the full story on Vox ]( 7 questions about outdoor dining and drinking in the pandemic, answered Outdoor dining and drinking is allowed. But is it safe? [Read the full story ]( Colleges say campuses can reopen safely. Students and faculty aren’t convinced. Campuses plan to open with widespread testing, socially distanced classrooms, and mandated masks, but will that be enough to curb an outbreak? [Read the full story ]( More good stuff to read today - [Will the coronavirus drive down housing prices? This real estate broker says no.]( - [Beauty companies are changing skin-whitening products. But the damage of colorism runs deeper.]( - [CSAs for the 1 percent]( - [Money Talks: The friends who met raising money to feed Black Lives Matter protesters]( - [This week in TikTok: The real story of the Trump rally is not that interesting]( - [Coronavirus is changing bars as we know them]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving all emails from Vox. If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. View our [Privacy Policy]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved.