They have finally allowed Australians to leave this island! Huzzah!
Something that I have always struggled with is just how far we are from the rest of the world. Flying excitement is short lived until you realise that it’s going to be about 5 hours until you clear flying over Australia to Asia.
In the past year or 2, reasons that you could leave Australia as an Australian were if you were relocating for work or study. Other than those reasons, no family reunions, funerals or quick trips to visit family overseas were allowed. I had heard of many people who had applied to leave but were rejected multiple times.
As of the 1st Nov, we have been allowed to leave the country without having to apply to leave. So I had a peep. What does post pandemic world travel look like?
Difficult is the first word that comes to mind.
Our Government travel website finally changed from DO NOT TRAVEL to now updated information per country. First off, countries differ in whether they are welcoming international travellers or not. On further investigations, it also depends on what country you are travelling from depending on whether you meet the need to quarantine or not. Even then, quarantine times differ as well as facilities.
I’d only recently found out that we need an Australian-issued International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate set up too prior to leaving. Information just keeps trickling in slowly, it’s alittle overwhelming.
Next up, I had a look at flights. Ooooof. I do not fancy a 41 hour flight to Europe with 2 stop overs. With the situation across countries changing quickly, the logistics around travel at the moment requires extra extra planning. PCR tests before flying and trying to find local test centres is another plan that needs to be on the itinerary.
For those also taking annual leave to travel, there is always the risk of having to delay flying back if one should test positive and have to isolate. For most, the minimum of 14 days quarantine is just not feasible to plan into a trip either. For many, family visits will not be practical yet.
It’s been interesting to see how international travel has resumed for us and let’s see what it’ll be like in a few months time.
Lingo in Transit 
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