If I stay in the same place for too long my mind gets overcome by brain fog. I find it difficult to think straight, feel inspired or motivated. The biggest negative that has come out of this pandemic for me is the feeling of constraint. There is almost a moral obligation to not go anywhere unless absolutely necessary. I find it easy to feel guilty when my decisions go against these rules and advisories. The feelings of guilt stem from a combination of wanting to do the right thing and anxieties around ‘letting the side down’. I worry how others will perceive me. (I still have mental work to do around my tendency to care too much about what people think of me.) So with all this in mind, the decision to work remotely from another country during a pandemic didn’t come lightly.
Between the three of us who made the trip, we thoroughly planned and thought it all through. We settled on Cyprus as a destination and weighed up the pros and cons of going and not going. Essentially our reasons for going to Cyprus came down to these points:
- When we originally booked the trip, Cyprus was a travel corridor destination. This meant that those travelling to and from Cyprus and the UK wouldn’t need to quarantine at either destination.
- Cyprus was experiencing a prolonged summer with temperatures in the mid to high 20s. Us Brits love sunshine. As winter in the UK begun to draw ever closer, we found ourselves itching to escape the cold.
- Each of us have been working from home since spring when our offices closed their doors. We thought this was the perfect opportunity to take our remote working situations abroad. We wanted a change of scenery and for a taste of the ‘digital nomad’ lifestyle. The time difference between the UK and Cyprus is only two hours. It would be easy to adjust our working hours to suit our colleagues back home.
- Cyprus has a good relationship with the UK. We were confident we wouldn’t get stuck over there. The country also has good healthcare if we happened to need it.
- Cyprus had a really low covid-19 infection rate at the time.
- Flights and accommodation were really cheap.
Before I get into the story of our experience travelling to Cyprus during the pandemic, I’ve created this handy index so you can skip a bit of the waffle and get to the bits you’re interested in.
This is a pretty long post, and we all have busy lives so no hard feelings if you don’t read it all.
With permission from our managers to work abroad for a short period of time we proceeded to book our trip. I could feel my dreams of becoming a travelling remote worker starting to come true. In my current role, everything I do can be done from a laptop. Being in a different country doesn’t impact my ability to do my job, given I have an internet connection.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all plain sailing. We had a few hurdles to cross along the way, which I get to further into this post. The aim of this post is to give you a realistic overview of what it is currently like to travel with so many restrictions.
Something worth mentioning – when we departed the UK, we weren’t in a lockdown. It will be more difficult to leave the country now.
I assume that you’re reading this out of curiosity and perhaps thinking about doing something similar yourself. In a nutshell it is perfectly OK and possible to travel right now. It just takes a bit of extra planning and a bit of flexibility. If you’re like me and staying at home is driving you crazy – rest assured, it’s not all doom and gloom. You can escape! (Although you might need to wait until lockdown is lifted. Fingers crossed for a covid-19 vaccine in the spring of 2021!).
Booking our trip
Flights: We chose to fly with British Airways (BA). We like the airline and their prices were very affordable. BA is also offering some super flexible booking terms at the moment, so if you need to change your flight or even fly to a completely different destination you can do so without paying any change fee. All you pay is the difference in price of the new flight. If you need to cancel your flight completely, BA will give you a voucher worth the full price that you paid to use on a future booking with them. If BA cancels you can choose your preferred replacement flight at no additional cost. (This was all correct at the time of writing this post, but I do recommend that you read the terms and conditions on the BA website before you book with them).
We decided to go to Cyprus for two weeks, starting our journey in Larnaca and then making our way west along the South Coast to the city of Limassol, followed by historical Paphos. We booked to fly into Larnaca and then return home from Paphos to avoid having to travel all the way back to Larnaca.
Taking a Covid-19 test: In order to travel to Cyprus you have to provide proof of a negative covid-19 test result. There are a ton of testing labs offering postal tests to choose from, but some of them are really expensive. The most expensive test I found was over £200! So after shopping around we settled on a company called Randox. We found a good deal with Randox via a referral link on the TUI website and it ended up costing me and my partner about £84 each.
Cyprus require you to have had a negative test result within 72 hours of your flight. With this in mind we ordered our postal tests in good time. They arrived a day before we needed to take the tests. This meant we weren’t stressing about them arriving in the post on time. We waited until the 72 hour time limit had passed and then took our tests. Randox have partnered up with DX as a courier and luckily we have a DX depot a short drive from our home, so it was easy to drop off our tests to them. You simply book in a time slot to drop off your tests and then they ship them that same day to the lab in ireland.
To give an idea of timings, we did our tests at around 12pm on a Thursday and received our results via email on the Friday at around 9pm and flew out the following Sunday. If you do use Randox I would advise against using Royal Mail to post your tests. Firstly you have to pay. Secondly they lost, my friends test, causing him to miss his original flight!
Accommodation: When it came to booking our accommodation, we decided to only book our first week’s accommodation. We would then wait until we were out there to book our accommodation for the second week. This is because, though numbers of Covid-19 were low in Cyprus, they were on the rise like most other countries in Europe. There was always going to be a chance that Cyprus would introduce tighter restrictions while we were out there and even potentially a national lockdown – so we wanted to play things by ear. During our first week we first stayed in a Hotel in Larnaca when we arrived, followed by a spacious two bedroom apartment and we stayed in a beautiful villa during our second week. I’ve shared more detail about where we stayed with prices below.
The Curveballs
Curveball number 1: Travel corridor & aircraft change
Our plan was looking good. We had our first weeks accommodation booked and our covid-19 tests on the way to us. Then everything changed. The government removed the travel corridor between the UK and Cyprus. For a moment it looked like our plans to escape the cold and grey UK had been shattered. It was back on the ‘essential travel only’ list. We were pretty disappointed and even considered cancelling the trip all together. But without jumping to any drastic decisions, we weighed up the pros and cons of not going.
Firstly we had already paid for our accommodation and flights and our covid-19 tests and if we didn’t go we would’ve simply been throwing money away. We did have travel insurance but we would’ve had to pay an excess in order to get a refund for our accommodation. It would’ve still cost us money not to go. The situation in Cyprus was still good. Cyprus had restrictions that were similar to the UK, so it wouldn’t make much of a difference being there or back home. Even though we would now need to quarantine on return to the UK, this wouldn’t really have much of an impact on us because we work from home anyway, so don’t really need to go anywhere. It just didn’t make a whole lot of sense not to go – so with all this in mind, we decided not to cancel!
Meanwhile, in Cyprus, many tourists who were already in the country were panicking. There was a rush to come home before having to quarantine, which would take effect from Monday 2nd November. The weird thing is, this actually had a pretty crazy positive affect on us. Due to high demand for return flights to the UK, BA changed the aircraft for our flight. Instead of an A321NEO, it was now a Boeing 777. These have a much larger capacity, meaning that BA could bring home more passengers in one go.
Not only did this result in our flight out being almost completely empty, but we also hugely lucked out. We were able to get ridiculously cheap upgrades to business class! It even feels mad to me as I am writing this. I never thought I would ever travel in business class so I almost couldn’t believe it was happening. And get this… it only cost an extra £15!! (WHAAAATTT!?). Yes you read that right… £15! Upgrading to business also meant that we had business lounge access, where you get free everything! Naturally, at 5am in the morning we had sparkling wine with our breakfast. It would be rude not to, right?
Business class on a 777 is pretty special. Your seat turns into a bed that you can lay flat on. The cabin crew served us (more) free breakfast and offered us champagne. Again, it would be rude not to, right? You also get entertainment, which we wouldn’t have gotten had we been on a smaller plane. It was the most comfortable flight I’ve ever been on and this is something I will forever be grateful for. So this curveball actually resulted in one of the best experiences of our trip. #Result!
Curveball number 2: Flight cancellation
We were halfway through our first week in Cyprus, when we received an email from BA informing us that our flight home had been cancelled. Upon re-booking a new return flight, we learned that there were no flights available out of Paphos. There were now only return flights from Larnaca. Luckily we hadn’t yet booked our accommodation in Paphos for the second week as we were playing things by ear. This meant that we could be flexible with our plans. After much consideration we decided to spend our second week on the other side of the island in Protaras. We had heard good things about the area and it was closer to Larnaca. Luckily, we were able to secure ourselves return flights on the same Sunday as originally planned.
It turns out that this also worked in our favour in a few ways. Firstly we were able to book ourselves a stunning brand new villa at a very reasonable price in Protaras. Secondly, Paphos and Limmasol both went into a regional lockdown while we were in Protaras. Had we decided to stay in Paphos we would’ve had to leave anyway. So again, luck was on our side!
Our two weeks in Cyprus
Putting a slightly stressful booking experience and curveballs aside, spending two weeks in Cyprus was truly wonderful and a much needed break away. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed our time there despite the restrictions and occasional stresses. It was also nice to get a taste of the digital nomad lifestyle. Since spring I have only been working a four day week so I have been enjoying three day weekends and this meant that I still had a good amount of days out of the two weeks to explore as well.
Larnaca – Day 1 & 2: We touched down in Larnaca, and left our lavish business class seats behind us. As we left the jet bridge we were first greeted by airport staff asking us to show our negative covid-19 test certificates. This was a quick and easy process with no questions asked. We proceeded to passport control, which was completely empty so we didn’t have to queue and again, it took us no time at all. The gentleman who checked our passports was also super friendly and even joked with us a bit about our photos. So often, passport control is stern and serious. His manor was really refreshing and we immediately felt welcome. It definitely helped me feel better about being somewhat rebellious against travel advice in the current climate. It showed me that despite everything, they still want tourists to come to Cyprus.
Overall the airport experience in Larnaca was effortless and quick. Our bags came out really fast as well because of our business class priority labels – #Winning!
We made our way towards the exit with glorious sunshine in sight beaming through the terminal windows. Despite the early morning start my excitement of being in another country gave me a huge boost of energy. You wouldn’t have known I had been up since 3am! As soon as the warm sun hit my skin, I knew we had made the right decision to come to Cyprus.
We made our way towards the taxi rank. Touts greeted us with the words ‘Ayia Napa?’ in an assumptious manner. We awkwardly laughed saying, ‘No, Larnaca’, before proceeding to pile our luggage into the back of one of their vans and headed to our hotel.
Our first accommodation was a brand new Best Western Hotel, just a short walk away from beautiful sandy beaches, an infamous salt lake and Larnaca town centre. We had planned to spend the weekend here exploring before heading to Limassol.
The Best Western Hotel was really lovely. The hotel is brand new, with a modern minimalist interior. It was immaculately clean when we arrived. It only cost us £50 a night with breakfast included. That’s only £25 each for myself and my partner. After checking in, we headed into Larnaca town centre to explore and find somewhere to eat. It was Halloween, so there were loads of locals out in fancy dress. Larnaca town centre was probably the busiest place we went to while in Cyprus. Even more so than Limassol!
The next morning we headed down for breakfast. It was a standard hotel buffet breakfast with a good variety to choose from. I’m a bit of a coffee snob, so the machine coffee didn’t really cut it for me! Even so, it was fine for what we needed on the day.
We spent the morning in the sunshine by the pool. The hotel staff bought us a complimentary fruit platter while we were relaxing, which was a lovely touch.
Things to see and do in Larnaca
After a relaxing morning by the pool we headed out to explore. First we headed to Mackenzie beach, which is a popular place for plane spotting. We watched two jets coming into land at Larnaca airport before walking back along the beach.
We were pleasantly surprised by the bustling bars and restaurants that lined the beach. There were even DJs playing, which is something we didn’t expect to see!
In the afternoon we headed to the salt lake for mini hike. In the summer the lake is mostly dry. Then when the rains come in the winter there are often flamingos there. We had unfortunately arrived a bit too early in the season to see them, but the lake was still an interesting place to visit. There is a nature trail that you can follow. It will take you all the way around the lake if you have time. There is a beautiful mosque on the other side of the lake that we caught a glimpse of in the distance. I think it takes over an hour to complete the full trail, which we would have done had we had a little more time in Larnaca.
From my short experience staying here I would recommend the Best Western Hotel to anyone wanting to stay in Larnaca due to its close proximity to everything. It took a maximum of about 20mins to walk to everywhere we wanted to go.
Limassol – Day 2 – 9: On Sunday afternoon we checked out of our hotel and headed to our Airbnb – Eden Beach Apartments in Limassol, where we would spend the next week. Our Airbnb host was super helpful and arranged our taxi for us at a very reasonable price of €50. The journey was about one hour and naturally we ended up discussing the pandemic situation with our driver. Turns out he is super into his natural remedies. He was telling us how he felt their government need to do more to educate the population on ways to keep healthy through lifestyle changes. This is something I feel we should also be doing in the UK so we bonded quite well through this mutual agreement!
We arrived at our apartment and our host showed us around and recommended a few restaurants, marking them on a paper map for us. We settled in, getting ourselves set up for a week of remote working.
Over the next few days we unfortunately came to realise that the WiFi speed was pretty poor in our apartment. Throughout the week we occasionally had to tether from our phones in order to join calls with colleagues – but all in all it wasn’t that much of a problem as we always had some form of internet signal all the time.
One of my biggest concerns with working abroad was that I couldn’t take my second monitor with me and this would have an impact on the speed in which I’m able to work.
I bought an ELECTRIQ portable monitor, which has a folding stand. It’s really easy to pack into a suitcase or rucksack along with a laptop. To use it you simply connect it to a laptop via USBC. The ELECTRIQ monitor I have is also touchscreen which is a nice little plus and it cost me £110. That could seem like a lot of money for a two week trip, but the idea is that it’s an investment for more future remote working trips. It will also come in handy whenever I work from cafes back in the UK. I can honestly see remote working becoming more and more popular as a result of this pandemic due to changing ways of working. I think this is a massive positive because it’ll only help more people improve their work-life balance!
A useful fact about Cyprus: They have the same plug sockets as the UK, so you don’t need to worry about packing a ton of adapters!
It was a real luxury having the option to work or take calls from the balcony. We even enjoyed a bit of alfresco dining at lunch time – something we aren’t able to do back home.
Staying here for a week cost us just over £611 – just over £203pp.
Things to see and do in Limassol
I would highly recommend you visit the old town. You’ll find a small castle at the heart of the old city, surrounded by cafes, bars and restaurants. In the surrounding area you’ll find narrow streets lined with the stone walls of old buildings and historic landmarks. Head to Zik Zak street, which as the name suggests is a very narrow zigzagging street. It’s filled with trendy bars and restaurants that almost merge into one as their seating pours out onto the cobbles. You’ll have to weave between the chairs and tables on your way through as fairy lights that hang above you guide the way.
As I mentioned above, we stayed at Eden Beach Apartments and to get to the old town from there it is a really nice 15-20min walk along the promenade. You can walk all the way along to the Marina and up to the castle from there. The Marina is also worth a visit. It’s recently been re-developed into an ultra modern hub for tourism and yachting and has been carefully designed to blend in well with the old port.
If you’re looking for a day of rest and relaxation, complemented by delicious food and maybe a cocktail or two, head to Columbia Beach Club. Situated right on the beach with plush sofas and sun loungers among the palm shaded gardens, it is the perfect spot to wind down and soak up some rays. It’s popular with wealthy locals and young working professionals. We enjoyed a morning here, tucking into a tasty brunch, lounging in the sunshine and sipping cocktails by the bar. It is a little on the pricey side, but it’s not unreasonable at all, so I would say it’s worth it and highly recommend it to anyone who likes a little bit of luxury.
Aphrodite Rock and Paphos Day Trip: Day 8
At the end of our week in Limassol we booked a rental car and took a day trip west to explore Petra tou Romiou also known as Aphrodite Rock and historic Paphos.
Petra tou Romiou is a sea stack off the pebbly shore in Kouklia. According to a legend it is the birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Many tourists come to the beach and make their initials and heart shapes out of stones.
We had parked up on the hill behind the beach, next to a little gift shop. From there you can walk down and through a narrow tunnel that leads under the highway, out onto the shore. As I walked through the tunnel, with beaming sunlight glimmering ahead of me, it felt as though I was transcending into a mystical land. Perhaps I would be transported back to the time of ancient Greece and come face to face with Aphrodite.
As the path beneath our feet turned from bricks into pebbles, we had our first glimpse of the famous rock, jutting out from the shore. It appeared we were still in 2020 though. When we visited it was almost completely empty, a common theme throughout our time in Cyprus due to the pandemic. Apart from one or two other groups of people, we had this place of natural beauty to ourselves – There is something quite magical about that.
We walked along the beach, occasionally disturbing basking lizards on our way. We sat on a smaller rock along from Aphrodite Rock facing out to sea for a while to admire our surroundings. For a moment or two I closed my eyes and simply breathed the salty sea air, focusing on nothing but my breath, the feeling of the wind in my hair, the warm sun on my skin and the sound of the waves washing over the pebbles below. Taking time to just be is something I don’t do enough. When I do I feel my body relax into a rare sense of calm. I spend a lot of my waking life feeling anxious, so meditation is a form of medicine for me.
We spent about an hour here before continuing our road trip to Paphos. From the car park you can also walk up to a view point via a dusty trail. After walking back up from the beach we decided to take a look before heading off on our way. It’s only a short walk up to see some fantastic views of the surrounding cliffs.
Arriving in Paphos we parked up and walked along the seafront to find a place to eat. We found a restaurant with a roof terrace that looked out to sea. It was the perfect spot for an alfresco lunch in the mid afternoon sun.
After lunch we decided to explore Nea Paphos, which is a huge archeological site consisting of a variety of ruins and stunning ancient mosaics. We spent the afternoon exploring the site as the sun moved towards the horizon, turning everything golden.
The sun sets at about 5pm in November, so by the time we finished exploring the archeological site the sun was already going down. We headed to the harbor to watch the sun disappear behind the sea, then headed to a café for a much needed refreshment before the drive back to Limassol.
Protaras: Day 9 – 16
We had found ourselves a last minute deal and booked a beautiful brand new three bedroom villa in Protaras with a Pool. We booked through a company called Imagine Villa Rentals. It worked out cheaper than our apartment in Limassol, costing just under £590 – just under £196pp for the week. They even upgraded us to a bigger villa for no extra cost! This would be our base for the rest of our time in Cyprus. We left the city behind us and began our drive Eastwards.
We stopped on the way at Agia Napa Aqueduct, a structure dating back to the Roman times. Its original purpose was to deliver water to the local monastery and surrounding area. It’s pretty striking with its tall arches that stand over the mini national park below. It was actually raining when we got here. Luckily it stopped enough for us to get out and have a quick walk around. I thought about climbing the Aqueduct to walk across it, but decided against the idea when I found a sign warning people not to.
After a quick pit stop at the Aqueduct we continued to Protaras, to our villa. When we arrived we were the only people staying at the villa complex. It was pretty surreal to be surrounded by empty villas, but if anything it just added to the experience. We just felt incredibly lucky to be there! We spent the evening settling into our villa. As the day turned into evening we noticed bats emerge from nowhere. They were flying about above the pool. I went and laid on the garden sofa and watched the bats darting around above me, catching bugs. Occasionally their bellies would catch the light emanating from the villa. I honestly felt as if I had walked into a dream. I’ve stayed in villas before, but this one was simply stunning and so peaceful, surrounded by farmland and nature.
The following day it was back to remote working. Inside our villa we had a huge dining table, which was the perfect place to work from. It was blissful working in an airy open plan living space with huge French doors that open out into a sunny garden with a pool. In fact it almost felt like I wasn’t working at all because I felt so relaxed and content.
At midday we decided to venture into town to find the beach and somewhere for lunch. We knew it wouldn’t be busy in Protaras, but we massively underestimated just how empty it would be. The only other people in the area were locals, working on construction and hotel renovations. Pretty much every shop, bar and restaurant was closed. It was a total ghost town. Even the beach was completely empty, which was surreal on a hot sunny day. We had no choice but to settle for a Costa Coffee lunch, which was disappointing to say the least. Nevertheless a local restaurant owner was able to reassure us that restaurants would be open later on and that most places open after 5pm, so at least we would be able to try out some of the local restaurants at dinner time.
A note about the weather
During our time in Protaras we had noticed a change in the weather. When we arrived in Larnaca it was about 30 degrees. It had gradually gotten cooler as the days went by. When we got to Protarus, it was still warm and was staying in the mid to low 20s, But with the change in temperature came occasional rain and thunderstorms. When it rains in Cyprus, it’s torrential! The weather in Cyprus is hot and dry for most of the year, so it’s almost as if an entire year’s worth of rain would fall in a matter of hours, reviving the dusty plains across the island. We did notice the landscape turning greener in the days running up to when we left.
We experienced a few really epic thunderstorms, some lasting hours, with continuous sheet lightning and bolts hitting the ground in the area around us. The ground would even occasionally shake when the lightning hit the ground nearby.
On two occasions the thunder had woken us up in the early hours of the morning and I can honestly say I’ve never experienced a storm quite like it before. The villa had huge floor to ceiling windows in all the rooms, and the rain was so heavy it sounded as if stones were being thrown at the glass. The lightning was also blindingly bright. Me and my partner opened the curtains so that we could watch the storm from the comfort of our bed. Occasionally the lightning was so bright it was as if the sun had come out for a mere second and then disappeared again into the night.
I’ve always found thunderstorms quite mesmerising. There is something about the energy and power in nature that makes you feel something bigger than yourself. I found myself contemplating the purpose of thunderstorms, how they replenish the earth’s energy and how that is the same energy that runs through all living things, through our veins. Epic natural events always make me feel deeply connected to our planet – a comforting feeling.
Things to see and do in Protaras
We only had three days of work in our second week as we had booked off Thursday. This meant we had four days to explore.
We took a day trip to Paralimni, where we enjoyed brunch at a restaurant/bar called Maccadam. We sat outside, enjoying some tasty food and the ambiance. It had much more of a local feel than some of the other nearby touristy restaurants. I think we were probably the only tourists eating there at the time!
Paralimni has a few beautiful Greek orthodox churches, built in an otoman style. We were welcomed by a friendly man to look around inside the Church of the Virgin Mary, one of the oldest churches in Paralimni. He showed us around, pointing to the artworks and artefacts. He didn’t speak much English, so I didn’t understand much of what he was telling us, but I still really appreciated how welcoming he was and his efforts to show us the church. The church was simply beautiful inside – I’d highly recommend paying a visit.
Most of the other churches seemed to be closed, so instead we just admired them from the outside. Many of them have beautiful mosaic artworks on the outside, depicting images of the saints and Jesus Christ.
After exploring Paralimni, we made our way towards the border of the buffer zone between the south of the island and Famagusta on the North side. For any Dark Tourist fans reading this, we had decided to make the trip to the Famagusta viewpoint café after being inspired by the show. Here you pay nothing more than €3 for a drink and entry to the roof terrace where you can look over at Famagusta with Binoculars. Use of Binoculars is also included in the price.
For those who don’t know, Famagusta is a completely empty city in North Cyprus. It has been left empty since the Turkish invasion in the 70s. It’s a tragic story, where many people died and over 150,000 people were expelled from the northern part of the Island. Those who used to live in Famagusta have never been allowed to go back to their former homes.
We spent another day driving along the coast of Cape Greco National Park. Here there are a number of picturesque coves and white sandy beaches lined with crystal clear waters that look turquoise from a distance.
Konnos beach is usually bustling with tourists in high season. It’s only a small beach so I can imagine it would be hard to find a spot to relax in normal circumstances. Even in November I can imagine it’s popular with the locals. When we arrived here we were blessed with an almost empty beach, almost entirely to ourselves. We spent a short period of time here walking along the sand with our toes in the sea. The sea was still lovely and warm despite the time of year.
After stopping at Konnos beach we made our way to Kamara Tou Koraka to see a natural rock arch that has formed as a result of thousands of years of erosion – a great point of interests for any geology geeks reading this!
From there we continued to The Blue Lagoon, which as the name suggests is a beautiful turquoise lagoon. It is surrounded by rugged cliffs with steps down to the water. It’s a popular spot for swimming, diving and snorkeling.
We finished our tour of Cape Greco at the Love Bridge, which is a large rock arch that stretches out over the ocean. There is a little bundle of padlocks on top of the bridge, placed there by visiting couples.
Throughout our time exploring, we were blessed with the luxury of having most of these places to ourselves, and for that I am forever grateful. It is a rare positive of this pandemic, to have nature to yourself when it would usually be packed with tourists.
After a late lunch in Ayia Napa, we headed back to our villa for the evening.
It was our last day in Cyprus, and we still had a couple of places we wanted to see near Ayia Napa before heading home. We headed back to Ayia Napa for brunch at Café Central. The food was really good and the restaurant had a nice local vibe about it. Again I feel like we were some of the only tourists there.
The Sculpture Park in Aiya Napa is huge. It’s a place where contemporary sculptures of mythical beasts & ancient gods stand amongst succulents and cacti on a hillside with sea views. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the park and found many of the sculptures really interesting and beautiful to look at in the afternoon sun.
We also stumbled upon a praying mantis, perched on one of the cacti.
Our final stop of the day was Nissi Beach. I’m not sure which beach I find more beautiful between Nissi Beach and Konnos Beach, but they are both stunning and the water is crystal clear and warm. At Nissi Beach the sea is really shallow and there is an island that you can swim out to or potentially even walk out to at low tide! We didn’t spend long here as we had to head back to the airport, but I’m keen to go back and spend a bit more time here, as it’s simply beautiful! We were really lucky again, as we had the beach almost completely to ourselves.
It was finally time to head back to Larnaca Airport for our flight home. We set off in our rental car, west towards Larnaca. The sun turned bright red and warped on it’s way towards the horizon directly ahead of us as our adventure drew to a close.
The airport was a fair bit busier than it had been when we had arrived two weeks ago. Despite this it was still fairly empty compared to normal times. Since there were only flights in and out of Larnaca at this point, it had become the only place for tourists to get home from. Still, we didn’t expect our flight to be busy, but it turned out that it was fully booked. This surprised me because I had assumed from our experience getting to Cyprus that the flight would be fairly empty. But it does make sense since it will have been booked by other people who had originally planned to fly out of Paphos like we had.
It disappointed me a little bit, because I felt as if BA were putting profit over safety. We were sat next to a stranger, which I didn’t expect either. It just felt like the perfect environment to catch Covid-19 with so many people in such close proximity to one another. Luckily, it’s been over a week since we got home and I have had no symptoms – Phew!
Another thing to mention is that upon returning to the UK you have to fill out a ‘Passenger Locator Form’. You have to present this at the check-in desk at the airport. Once you are back in the UK, you may also get a call from the Government. They simply ask you a couple of questions about where you have been and where you plan to complete your two week quarantine.
A note about the restrictions in Cyprus
When we arrived it was common to see locals walking around outside with masks on in towns and cities. We asked if this was a requirement by law and it is, so it’s advisable to wear a mask to avoid getting a fine.
They also have an 11pm curfew, which means you cannot be outside after 11pm. You will risk getting a fine if you ignore this rule. Most restaurants and bars close at 10:30pm to give people enough time to get home before the curfew. So the restrictions were slightly stricter than the UK at the time.
While we were in Cyprus they also introduced regional lockdowns in Limassol and Paphos. Luckily this didn’t affect us as we were in Protaras when this was announced. I’m not 100% sure how long the lockdown will be in place and whether there are plans to introduce a lockdown in Protaras and other areas or not. It is always best to check before you travel!
How much did this all cost?
If you consider that we stayed in a spacious apartment in Limassol and a luxury villa in Protaras AND had business class seats on the way out, we really did get away with a pretty spectacular deal overall with this trip! It was off season, with the double whammy of a pandemic making everything cheaper.
We were also careful with spending while out there and cooked a lot at our accommodation. We would only eat out at restaurants a maximum of once a day, so we saved a lot of money that way.
All in, including food and car rental etc, it only cost us just over £1,080pp.
Summary
I’ve come back from this trip feeling myself again. After feeling stuck in a routine of not really doing a whole lot other than working from home, occasionally going to the same local pubs and going out for walks at weekends, Cyprus was an incredibly welcome break. Routine is a huge motivation killer for me and it’s so important to mix it up a bit in order to stir some creativity within me. As a creative person I crave multi-sensory stimulation to trigger curiosity and inspiration. (You can read my post all about how travel increases creativity here.)
Would I recommend working remotely from another country during the pandemic? Absolutely! The positive impact that escaping for a little while has had on my wellbeing is priceless, and I would do it all over again in a flash! So it’s absolutely worth the money and effort if you’re similar to me!
Thank you for reading! I hope you have found this useful and inspiring in some way. I wish you all the best of luck in planning your next adventure!
And just a quick note to the people of Cyprus – thank you for being so friendly and welcoming us into your beautiful country during such strange times!
Have a beautiful day.
~ Faine
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