Travel Bits: May 2021

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Looks like 2021 is going to be another year of staying at home... for many of us.......

While we were all told that 2020 was not going to the year where leisure travel was possible due to the pandemic, many of us thought that 2021 would be the time when international leisure travel will be able to resume, albeit slowly.

However, amidst the news that new mutant strains had started to rear their ugly heads coupled with slow and lethargic vaccination programmes in many countries, 2021 is now more or less looking like it is going to be a lot similar to 2020. Renewed social distancing measures and stay-at-home practices are going to be the norms for at least another year.

While the US, UK and many EU countries are looking to slowly reopen their borders to international leisure travel, countries in Asia are firmly keeping their borders shut for now. And that is for good measure. I personally believe that rushed border re-openings when things are still bleak with respect to the pandemic can be more of a bad thing rather than good. Maybe this is due to my personal conservative take on things. But I always believe that it is wise to err on the side of caution especially with it comes to something as uncertain as the current pandemic.  

Thus, while I am itching to dust off my luggages and to be able to go on overseas trips as soon as possible, I won't be rushing to do so even when borders are eventually re-opened. Any first trips I am likely to take after the worldwide travel hiatus, will most probably be regional ones. This is to allow me to quickly return home should the situation starts to turn awful again. Travelling regional and closer to home makes it easier to return home when borders are suddenly shut again if the pandemic decides to stage a comeback.

And while I wait to return to travelling, my books and laptop will continue to be my windows to the world, for now.

Hello World! - from my trusty well-used laptop.

A selfie I took in Nov 2019 at San Francisco International Airport (IATA: SFO, ICAO: KSFO) on my last international flight before Stay-At-Home became the new normal.
San Francisco, California, United States (2019)


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