travelling allrite

As 2021 comes to a close the travel situation is as messed up as it has ever been. Just when we thought a small measure of normality was about to return and that we could travel interstate and overseas once more, along came the Omicron strain of Covid.  The rapid spread of Omicron in the community and the requirements to have a PCR test before travel means that the testing centres are overloaded and unable to provide tests or results in time. And if you do actually travel, what happens if you catch covid? Can you get the test? Where will you isolate? It is really messed up. But after so long with restrictions, everyone wants to travel now. B and Alex are desperate to go somewhere outside of Sydney. The situation is so fluid, the risk of being a considered a close contact or, worse, infected so high. I am unwilling to travel further than a petrol tank away from home in case a rapid return is required. A post Christmas night in Canberra. The traffic out of Sydney is horrendous, crawl...

Twenty years ago we were in Paris celebrating our honeymoon . A decade ago we were back in Europe celebrating our tenth anniversary . I was hoping that we could do the same for our twentieth. Unfortunately, the covid pandemic threw a spanner in the works. Until last week we couldn't even travel out of greater Sydney. Okay, technically we could fly out with international borders opening earlier than planned at the start of the month. The logistics and costs of testing and quarantine, plus the risk of infection and delay mean that such travel is as yet impractical for tourists such as ourselves. Then there is the fact that Alex is now in high school and can't just take a week off at this point in the term.  The best we could do was book a room in the hotel where B and I spent our first wedding night, the Novotel Brighton Beach. I was going to book the exact date, but the people of New South Wales were getting vaccinated faster than expected and the reopening of schools was resche...

I wake in time to see the sun just risen over the horizon. The masted boat has moved, across from one side of the mud flat to the other. I both wish to return home and to stay right where we are. I'm enjoying the relaxing escape from normal life, but I do miss the comfy furniture and decent television of home. I'm much rather have my streaming than a zillion Foxtel channels with nothing to watch. We pack our bags, load them into the car and check out. Then, as if we are running the trip backwards we drive to the Parap markets. B orders some more of Yati's laksa and a baby coconut to drink, Alex some spring rolls and me, I just have some sliced papaya and lime. I am suffering anxiety over the flight and cannot stomach anything savoury. It's a pity, because there is so much food to try at the markets. There is still time to waste before our flight. We drive out to the Nightcliff Jetty and, while the others sit in the airconditioned car, I take a walk out on to the jetty, ...