Alexis Henripin, 39, was in the middle of a career change and in great questioning of life when a friend told her about an upcoming trip to Nicaragua. A country he already knew for having visited it a few years earlier.

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"She was going there to recharge her batteries, do activities and meet people, and that was exactly what I needed," explains the 39-year-old traveler, whose last trip was in October 2018. to join her."

It was the desire to get back to his habits and a normal rhythm of life – which in his case includes travel – that motivated him to leave. Despite the stress coming with the slew of documents and medical evidence required to stop over in Costa Rica and then travel to Nicaragua at the time of his trip.

“The visa application, proof of vaccination, positive PCR test result, requests to travel to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, PCR test 72 hours before, sending the result to the government, proof of vaccination and the negative test result for Nicaragua and the same thing on return, the rapid test done by videoconference with a nurse from Quebec, all of this was stressful and complicated, ”he admits.

The desire to travel and the happiness of resuming one of the activities of his normal life were stronger for him than the stress of obtaining a possible positive test at his destination, falling ill and being stuck alone in Nicaragua (despite his three vaccines) .

“It really felt good, because at the hostel where I was, it was like before; without a mask, without distancing. For a few days, I kind of forgot that COVID existed and it did a lot of good, especially mentally.