Preparing for a 2000 KM Road Trip in a Pandemic

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In March of 2020, we thought of this crazy idea of driving 2000 plus kilometers across the east coast of India – from Bangalore (southern part of India) to Kolkata (eastern part of India). It was in the beginning part of coronavirus global pandemic, and we decided to prepare ourselves for the journey.

We made a list of what we need for such a travel. Here’s how that goes:

  1. N95 Masks
  2. Protective Eye-wear
  3. Surgical Gloves
  4. Face Shields
  5. PPE Suits
  6. Hand Wash Liquid
  7. Hand Sanitizer

Now, back in March 2020, the situation was different from now. The e-commerce websites did not offer these things as much as they are delivering now. So we had to improvise.

First of all, we were unable to find N95 masks. Then we started reading about what is called an N95 mask. We understood that there are different standards of masks available. FFP1, FFP2 are European standards; N95, N99 are US standards, KN95 is Chinese standard. FFP2 is equivalent to or better than N95. But we were not able to find FFP2 either. We ordered some N95 masks but instead, they delivered FFP1s. We checked what is the harm in using FFP1s. We understood that FFP1s does protect you from more than 80% of oil based particles and 95% of non oil particles. N95 protects from more than 95% of particles (oil+non oil based). Since covid19 virus is non oil particle, therefore we deduced that it means same level of protection from covid19 virus. We ordered FFP1s masks from VENUS company at bulk. We kept looking for N95 as well, but at least now we have something in hand. But still we were not ready in our mind. We were not able to fully convince ourselves about the efficacy of these masks and we decided to wait a few more days. Finally on the 15th march, we received N95 Masks from the same VENUS company (V4400) and then we started our journey on 16th march. Below you can see the masks we took.

We wanted to order Swimming Goggles for the eyes, but none of the e-commerce companies were delivered those. All were out of stock. So we ordered the next best thing, which is the protective sun glasses. Although it covers lesser than the swimming goggles, they are adequate if combined with distance measures. Below you can see the glasses we used then along with the swimming goggles for comparison.

We did not have trouble in ordering surgical gloves. We ordered two boxes of 100 gloves each. We decided to use them in use and throw manner. We however could not get PPE suits and we also felt that they would not be necessary if we carry extra clothes which we would change at every place of stay at nights during the journey.

We could also get hand wash dispenser bottles but we knew that hand wash is not always a feasible mechanism during the journey. We wanted to have hand sanitizers. But unfortunately, we could not get any hand sanitizer. So we decided then it is better for us to make it ourselves. We watched the videos on youtube about how to create these hand sanitizers. We arranged the materials needed for it. Ordering raw materials were not a problem at all. We could get ethanol and glycerine. And then we made our own sanitizer for our journey by mixing 75% ethanol and 25% glycerine. It was very sticky but we now had our weapons ready šŸ™‚

We also knew that on this trip we had to stay at hotels. So we prepared ourselves for that as well.

  1. Packed our own set of personal care essentials , towels, bed-sheets soap etc .
  2. Sanitized cellphones frequently because that is one of the most touched object.
  3. Rubbed hands using alcohol-based sanitizer
  4. Also disinfected sanitizer bottle

We made a big deal with our sanitation in all public places , touching door handles etc. – you should not leave any stones untouched regarding self-protection. It’s for your best interest to survive pandemic.

So we took the following with us:

  1. Multiple bedsheets and pillow covers
  2. Multiple towels
  3. Multiple use and throw dinner plates and cutleries
  4. Bunch of tissue papers
  5. Our own soaps, shampoos etc.

Keep multiples of these because you wont have time or facilities for washing and reuse. Make sure to have a separate bag for keeping used items.

I hope this blog post helps you prepare for your journey. Have a safe journey ahead. And do check out my detail trip blog as well: