Travel Bits: September 2021

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A "vacation" by any other name.......

As international border closures remain strictly in force, I have decided that an overseas vacation pre-pandemic style is simply neither possible nor practical.

While it is true that I can theoretically travel to a couple of destinations currently, the required administrative loops and hurdles that I will have to jump through just to travel to these "select" destinations immediately made even the idea of leisure travel impractical. For example, based on the number of COVID testings one have to undergo just for a one or two-week trip, which can be as many as four or even five tests, simply don't make sense. Besides the costs involved (assuming an average of USD$110 per test), there are still the inconveniences of having to travel to designated clinics for these tests, queue up, wait, waste precious vacation time and to top it all the up, grapple with the amount of extra paperwork just to prove that I am vaccinated and also do not have any renegade COVID viruses hiding somewhere inside me, ready to jump out into the world to wreck havoc and bring about the next wave of pandemic!

It is thus not pessimistic of me to assume that I will very likely to be staying within the borders of my home country, which is basically a large city, for not just the remaining four months of 2021 but also the foreseeable upcoming twelve months of 2022.

But I am determined to have a vacation this year or early next year. I have decided that I will have my vacation one way or the other. And that was when that famous Shakespearean phrase of "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (or something to that effect) came to my mind.

CAMPING! Yes, I can pack some stuff and go camping in a remote park or offshore island within the international borders of my country (err... city). Ta da! No post-trip quarantine and no multiple virus-swappings required. 😆 The best part is, it is still a vacation! Call it any other names I may, a camping trip is still a vacation.

I will get to sleep under the moon, count the stars, smell the grass and listen to the sounds of nature. This is what my next vacation is going to be. A solo camping trip a.k.a. camping outing since I am not travelling out of the country. 😄

And I don't have to burn a hole in my pocket for this local vacation. It also promises to be way more exciting and fulfilling than any hotel staycations that my limited finances can afford. Time to answer that Call of the Wild!

But, due to prevailing COVID-prevention restrictions and guidelines, camping is currently not permitted in my city as at the time of writing and publishing this blog post. Bummer........ 😭 The Call of the Wild has to wait....... for now.

Under the Tree, Pulau Ubin, Singapore (2016)

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