The Universe Has Spoken

We are home, we are safe and we are self distancing.

Even before we left, the universe was beginning to speak. Some of the places we were thinking of visiting in Australia were being ravaged by bush fires. By some accounts, over 32,000 square miles were destroyed by the fires. To put that into perspective, Wisconsin is about 54,314 square miles. Not only the loss of life and property, it is estimated that 500 million animals perished, pushing some species to the brink of extinction.

Still, it was not enough to cancel the trip, we would just adjust our plans.

Our cruise to New Zealand was disrupted by high winds and seas, causing us to miss the majestic sounds of the south island. This gave us the opportunity to revise our plans and take a flight to Queenstown and explore from there. One of our ports of call had originally included excursions to an island town that suffered through a volcanic eruption that killed 18 and injured dozens of others the month before we arrived.

Our original itinerary included a visit to Alice Springs, Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the outback in central Australia. The airline, Virgin Australia, decided that this route was not worth keeping, so they just cancelled and refunded our ticket. Since we did not use Virgin Australia to get there, so we had to eat the cost of the inbound ticket.

As we progressed through Australia, there was a new virus out of China that was starting to get some traction. We began to monitor how this was impacting various parts of the world. Early on, no problems for us. Our plans never included China or North Korea. We planned to watch and make adjustments as needed. In each subsequent location, we saw the numbers of tourists decline. It was painfully evident in Cairns and on flights by the beginning of March.

When we got to Singapore, the virus was really getting a foothold and causing some countries to close their borders. At that point, no firm impact on our travel plans. We would continue to be vigilant, monitor the news and be flexible. On our second day, Steve had a bit of a sore throat, stuffy nose and a cough. Oh-oh. He also had pressure behind his eyes and above his teeth. The tell-tale signs of a sinus infection. However, we were not about to take any chances so he dropped in on a walk-in clinic to confirm his suspicions. Yup, it was a sinus infection. We walked away with a pocket full of prescriptions and a note form the doctor with the diagnosis and a letter stating that he had no fever or respiratory symptoms, just in case an airline or border guard took issue with his coughing.

Singapore was an interesting country. When we landed, we had to pass a thermal scanning station. This was the first of many thermal scanning stations. As we walked into buildings, we were scanned. Same with our hotel. Singapore learned some lessons during the SARS and H1N1 epidemics in the recent past.

While in Singapore, the impact started to feel very close. This was a new feeling. As we walked through the airport, is was eerily empty.

Countries were beginning to restrict entry. We signed up for the STEP program with the US State Department. This is the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to keep Americans informed as they travel internationally. Our inbox was heating up with new restrictions on the countries we were planning to visit. Israel was shutting down for all visitors. Every country was limiting China, but Italy and Iran were quickly being added to every list. Our first direct impact was Laos’s decision to prohibit entry for any foreign national who had been in any country with a single case of Coronavirus, i.e., basically from anywhere.

Our tour of Thailand – Laos – Cambodia – Vietnam was now at risk. Our travel company, Gate1, made some adjustment to the itinerary. Ok, we can roll with that. Adapt and modify. The universe continued to speak and we started to listen a bit closer. At the end of the first day of the tour, we were informed that Vietnam closed its borders. OK, the trip would be cut short and we would see some additional places in Thailand, enjoy a couple of days in Cambodia and continue from there. Nope. Cambodia also closed its doors.

So, it doesn’t take a 2X4 upside our head to get us to listen. A 2X2 will do. Because we could not get into Vietnam, we can’t take our flight to Egypt for our Nile cruise. Not only that, Egypt started its own restrictions. Further, the STEP program advised against taking a Nile cruise.

Enough!  At the end of the first day of the tour, we looked at airfares and booked a flight home. Considering we only were two days out, we found a decent, fair price on EVA Airlines. We never heard of EVA, but were pleasantly surprised. Wide seats with great leg room. Bangkok to Taipei was an easy flight. Taipei to LAX was a long 11.5 hours. About an hour before landing, a flight attendant confirmed we had a tight connection and just prior to landing, they moved Cindy to a first class seat and Steve had to suffer in business class for the landing. They did this to allow us to de-plane quickly

And now a word about Global Entry. A few years ago, we enrolled in the TSA and Global Entry programs through Customs and Border Control. The TSA program allows us to quickly traverse screening at domestic airports and the Global Entry program cuts the inbound lines through U.S. Customs to next to nothing. Scan your passport, provide your finger prints, take a picture and you get a receipt to hand to the Customs Agent and be on your way. LAX’s lines for traditional customs entry were worse than a nice spring day at Disney World. We spent about 5 minutes, start to finish and were on our way. If you travel a lot, these programs are well worth the money.