COVID-19 puts the kibosh on this year’s fabulous travel plans!

I write this from my hometown of Sydney, Australia, where I had no plans to be for the foreseeable future.

Last Monday, I was supposed to have travelled from Philadelphia to Puerto Rico for two weeks of fun in the sun.

I was then to fly to Reykjavik and embark on my three country Familiarisation Tour (FAM in travel speak) through Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. About which I was very excited, as it was to be my first time in Greenland and the Faroes plus a very happy return to Iceland, where I had spent a blisteringly cold week in early January 2016.

After nearly two weeks of frozen fun, I was to fly to Edinburgh, Scotland, then take the train down to Berwick-Upon-Tweed to start The England 48/24 Challenge which would take me through all 48 counties in England for six months, ending in October 2020.

Sadly, the dreaded lurgy that is COVID-19 first caused the closure of Greenland – bless their sensible souls – which started the domino effect on everything else.

After a tense 2 hour and 21 minute period on hold with the major airline that was ferrying me from the USA to Australia, I cancelled my PHL–SJU flight, used the credit to buy a ticket from PHL–LAX on Tuesday, as Monday was sold-out. That gave me one more day to worry that I they would close Australia and not let me in!

Thankfully, the lovely people at my deluxe digs in Philadelphia, The Notary Hotel extended my stay by one night, so at least I could fret in luxury.

Tuesday came and I arrived three hours early for my flight to LAX. No safety precautions were in evidence and I was one of few wearing protective gloves and face mask. One hour into waiting, the Departure Board showed that my flight was now departing 22:15 instead of 17:45. There was no-one at the counter to confirm that this was not a technical glitch with the board and when I did hunt someone down, they were totally unaware of it.

I looked at the app and over the next two hours it proceeded to vacillate between “on time” to “delayed” repeatedly. The Departure Board – usually my favourite thing at airports – provided no comfort as flights were being cancelled one after the other. Frankly, I didn’t care how late my flight was, just as long as it arrived. I had a hotel booked at LAX as my flight from LAX-SYD was for the next night.

Finally, it did arrive and we boarded at 21:00 – the original plane had been deemed ‘broken’ in Orlando and they had to find a replacement and a new crew – which meant that we arrived at LAX at 01:00 the next morning. Once again, no health procedures were in place at that airport. However, throughout the city all restaurants had been ordered to close their dining rooms and only provide curb-side takeaway.

Taking the shuttle straight to my hotel, Embassy Suites LAX North, I discovered that I had snagged the very last room when I booked a few days before. Apparently, all of the hotels around LAX were all sold out. After a decent sleep and a takeaway (included) breakfast from the lobby, I asked for and was thankfully granted the opportunity to pay half the room rate again to stay in my room until 18:00, as my flight to Sydney left at 23:15. Worth. Every. Penny.

I arrived at LAX to check into my Virgin Australia flight and still no real health measures were in place. I bought my takeaway food, found a secluded spot to sit inside the Tom Bradley Terminal and stayed there until just before my flight. Once again, watching the Departure Board was depressing, bringing many more cancellations.

I’m happy to say that we left on time and we arrived slightly early on Friday morning. However, I was expecting Australian customs to be über vigilant and was once again disappointed by the ‘normality’ of the arrival halls. We all lined up to use the machines to process our passports, everyone standing too close and there was no hand-sanitiser or antibacterial wipes provided to clean our hands or screens which thousands of people would use over the course of the day.

Again, I was wearing my mask and gloves and trying to stand apart, with limited success. I did sign the paper that stated I was to quarantine myself for the next 14 days and I’m sticking to it. Being a digital nomad, it’s easier for me than most to conduct my business from wherever I am and stay inside than for others.

I hope you are all washing your hands, staying at least 2 metres (6 feet) from others and keeping sane with lots of Tom Hanks movies in which he saves the day, as we all need positivity in our lives today.

Stay safe and happy no-travels!