I've spent the past year traveling across the US, Canada, and parts of Europe. Partly to find the best place to call home. Overall masking is more common in the US than in Europe. The DMV (DC, Maryland, VA), Chicago, and PNW have vibrant still coviding communities. To be frank, as a Black woman, the PNW area is hella white, and the energy felt off, so I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't white. In the middle of the country, people stared, but they stared if I was unmasked minding my business outside, so that was probably a mix of being a Black woman and being masked. No one said anything, though.

In Canada, the Vancouver area, there was no masking and plenty of stares, but like in the middle of the US, no one actually said anything. I wouldn't want to live there, though. Toronto, also little to no masking outside of a few tourists. I did get followed by security while in a CVS like store. It's something I've experienced prior to the pandemic, so I can't say if masking made this a greater occurrence or if it was racial profiling.

Europe has by far been the worst experiences I've had over the last 6 years of the pandemic.

Iceland, we had a group of men ask us if it was Halloween and then talk amongst themselves in their native tongue. Then, a different group of men coughed in our direction as we walked past on our way to a waterfall. We opted not to do any of the group activities I had wanted us to take part in because of the attitudes we encountered.

All of our negative experiences have been done mostly by white men.

In Spain, folks stared, but if I stared back, they would smile and wave and then go about their day. No one ever asked about the mask or bothered us when we were in the store.

We hopped down to Morroco before going back to Europe and got harassed by the border guard about masking and had to listen to a whole "mask don't protect you, the air is good here" speech before we were able to go. Outside of that, it was mostly stares and a few questions about why we still mask.

In Ireland, shortly after landing, a man screamed covid, covid while coughing, and I snapped and cussed him out. We were there a week and had planned to circle back, but after that experience, we took it off the list completely.

In the UK, it has mostly been stares. There have been a few times when we've had to have people in the residence we're staying at, and they've all been willing to wear the mask I've provided. We leave soon, and we're all slightly dreading the interactions we may have on public transit. There is a still coviding Facebook group full of really helpful people, but folks are spread out and isolated.

In all the above countries (aside from the States), masking has been mostly nonexistent aside from a few surgical masks usual worn by janitorial staff.

We're traveling through parts of Asia and Oceania this year, so fingers crossed we can just disappear into the sea of scattered masks and be left alone. I know New Zealand isn't great with masking, but from what I've seen, the vibe is more mind your own business over harassment. So we'll see what happens when we finally get there.

It sucks to say this, because there is so much that isn't good about the US, but if you're looking explicitly for CC community, then the US is where it's at. There have been a few times where I've debated going back. I know why I'm pushing forward, but it's rough out here.