Note: I am well aware travelling is a privilege, let alone pandemic travelling — travelling during a pandemic. I typed the below draft sitting on the floor of the Changi International Airport at midnight. Merely hours after forking out 400$ for excess baggage and right before having an empty seat beside me (47J) on my plane back to Melbourne allowed me to fold my body to 90 degrees and sleep. Privilege!
I didn’t expect much from travelling in 2022 — but I also didn’t expect that it would be this tiring — I just came back from one and half months of WFH-vacay at my parents’ in Jakarta. Even before I board the flight to Melbourne, all I can think about is that I need a break! I need a vacation from my vacation.
What is this?? Why am I????
What’s worse, I feel like my travelling soul has been beaten up that even if there is a vacation coming up, I am not sure whether it’s smh I look forward to.
The additional documents and extra preparations feel anything but reassuring. I can no longer do a 3P-check (passport, pocket/wallet and phone) before leaving for the airport.
I am weary of the unstandardized pre-flight covid test requirement. Is it 24/48/72 hours before? Is PCR/RAT test? I spent a good half-day calling ten clinics in Jakarta that mentioned less than 24 hours of test results on their websites, only to tell me over the phone that they couldn’t guarantee it.
I am tired of additional travel rules by different airlines, countries, and nationalities. In addition, those rules kept changing to the point that I felt it was pointless to keep up with them, resulting in me frantically filling up an updated travel declaration form in front of the airport check-in counter so as not to waste the time of the passengers queuing behind me.
For the longest time, my best friend and I have had this dream of showing up at the airport, buying tickets and flying to a non-pre-determined destination together. But, boy, isn’t that a frozen dream…
These days, my weary self yearns only for one kind of travel, to time travel to the pre-covid era — when I could travel on a whim, even with a significantly limiting Indonesian passport.
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✈️ — KK
