For those of you following my international travels, I’m currently on a flight back to the states from Sydney after my business trip to Australia.
It was interesting to the end. Apparently, the state of New South Wales (where Sydney is) has covid borders to Victoria, where Melbourne is, which was my travel destination for business.
What does that mean? Well I had an overnight transit through Sydney, which meant special paperwork, AND staying in a special quarantine hotel again in Sydney (for just the night thanks to the special paperwork).
We were routed directly to a “Police” hotel when we arrived in Sydney. The next day, police escorted us all the way through check in (not mixing with the general public) to the screening area to get to the gates. Once beyond the check point, there was no further escort.
There is also an “iron curtain” around Melbourne to the rural areas where they stop all traffic on the expressway for travel papers (which I had for work purposes).
So different from the US. Imagine them forcing everyone off an expressway on the last exit before crossing state lines to check for authorization!
@ckd022 Thanks for updating. It’s nice seeing what successful countries are doing! Kudos to them for doing so well. What do the local Australians you met think about it all? Or if there were any stories about it all on the news?
Would they prefer “total freedom” with a higher case count or are they as content as can be with the pandemic out there figuring the ends justify the means?
The citizens were pretty good about the restrictions. Melbourne had a big issue with inbound quarantine that was outsourced and failed. They rose to 700 some odd cases per day in August, but now are at 1.9 per day with 49 active cases in all the state.
The state set a goal of less than 5 cases per day to open up. They achieved that, but the premier still wouldn’t open as promised because of a cluster the day before the decision was supposed to go out and he wanted more time. The citizens were very upset that they didn’t have the freedoms of the rest of the country with restaurants threatening to open anyway. The premier backed down.
As far as I could tell, they are still upset as Sydney is basically all open with few people wearing masks outside. There are not crowds though since the boarders are basically still closed.
The premier was also worried about contact tracing issues as they still had quite a few “mystery” cases that they could not trace to a source. The citizens thought that wasn’t their problem, but the governments, so they shouldn’t be punished for that. They are down to just 1 mystery case in the state now.
We traveled by car two hours this past weekend for a 3 night getaway. We have a family owned vacation home so we weren’t in a hotel. I brought food for the first night for dinner and breakfasts from home. We have a routine of going to the local farmers market and picking up food for the 2nd and 3rd night. Our house is private and we don’t see many neighbors. We do a lot of walking. The local preserve had instituted one way paths and we found most people followed the rules. Most people had masks with them but it was easy to social distance on the trails. One day we drove up the coast to see the elephant seals. That area had a narrower path and we found the majority wore masks and kept a good distance while viewing the seals. The area does a scarecrow festival for Halloween and this year they grouped the scarecrows in five areas around town. They had mask signs and roped off pathways. It was pretty quiet. I think the lack of foreign visitors and the fact that a major tourist attraction are closed kept the visitors down. We go to relax and enjoy the ocean and walking. Even in a normal year we don’t interact with people. One downside of the pandemic is I wanted to buy some pie filling at a famous for the area restaurant but they didn’t have it due to not being able to get the mason jars.
We stopped at two other beach cities on our way home. One of them was disappointing as we saw few people wearing masks. The other spot was better with most wearing masks.
everyone wears masks and they properly. the employees are checked every day before coming to work (I saw their entrance). they also make us step in someone and then wipe our shoes before we enter any shops or other places.
Went into town for a snorkeling trip today . The businesses are hurting without the cruise ships.
Thinking of how cruise ships will run, taking it from what I see here, I could see 1/2 capacity and masks except when in room or sitting by pool (but have to put it on when you get up) . Buffets would be served by someone (which is what they do here). chairs on deck, seating in restaurants, and theatres, would be partial capacity . (which is why ship partial. Also I would think require covid test 72 hours before boarding similar to countries/states. Wont catch all the cases
@sdl0625, what you are experiencing in Cabo sounds pretty safe. Cruise ships less so. I’d be a little more frighted because there are more indoor areas and you can’t leave. When I’ve been to hotels/resorts in Mexico, the indoor areas often have breeze blowing through and it is not hard to spend all of your time outside or in your room. Although we often stay in condos/Airbnbs/friends’ houses, we have stayed in a few resorts and my recollection is that they are all very open. [I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels in Mexico City on business and they are
We have been to Mexico many times. One year, we rented a house in Los Barriles, up the Eastern coast of Baja California Sur. Was something of a quaint town (windy but great for kite surfing). Very calm and beautiful. Just looked at VRBO and it looks like lots of fancy houses and condos have been built on the beach.
We are thinking of driving rather than flying from the Boston area to Sanibel this winter for about a month. We normally fly and stay for two weeks, but driving feels safer (will have to evaluate if it actually is). We would be able to put our bikes on the back of my car, so we’d have much better bikes down there. My MIL has a house in Sanibel and may not be able to make it down from Canada this year. So, we’d either be with her and her partner or by ourselves. I don’t think we can count on deliveries like we do here in Boston (Costco, a fish guy, liquor, etc.) so our biggest risk would be food shopping.
I gather that in Sanibel, unlike much of Florida, mask wearing in public is required by the town and that people are complying.
@shawbridge - I agree food shopping is a concern. At least if you are driving you can bring an initial load of groceries and a cooler of food (freeze as much as you can, to minimize need to buy ice). This summer I retired and had “points” to order gifts from large online catalog - one of my choices was a Yeti cooler… with covid road trips in mind.
What info source(s) work best for getting current guidelines?
I am in Colorado, and my Dad in NY is helping his wife with illness. Hopefully she rebounds soon, but I am starting to think about what would be needed to fly there to help.
So far looking at NY site, I think I need a negative covid test 3 days or less prior to travel and another one in NY within 3 days of arrival (or do 14 day quarantine). Am I understanding the rules correctly? I might pursue a test soon for just-in-case readiness , but it will only be good for 3 days. The local options found so far seem to require doctor order for testing.
@colorado_mom I have a friend whose husband flew into NYC from TX after a visit with his family. He did need a test before taking off, and was registered with contact tracers before leaving the airport. He was followed by the contact tracers and the NYC sheriff. He got a negative test on the fourth day here and he was done. Tests in NYC are readily available, free, no doctor’s note required, and results are quick. Here’s the NY website: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-travel-advisory
Thanks for the posts. I am actually going to upstate NY (Poughkeepsie… not sure what airport / transportation logistics), but I assume there is easy testing there too.
Tests were available in Colorado for free (at the Pepsi center and a few other places) but they’ve closed those centers. I think there are still places but they are not as convenient as just driving through a parking lot. Contact the governor’s office (I’m sure there is a task force) to find out where to go.
Currently in the middle of a road trip to clear out my parents condo. Mask compliance was near zero in TN. Very Disconcerting. The hotel had signs everywhere but zero compliance or enforcement. It’s been better since but nothing like it is at home where everyone wears masks indoors.
I am a bit concerned about being exposed by others in my workplace that are traveling. A co-worker told me last Thursday about her upcoming extended family trip to the beach. 30ish family members staying in 2 houses for 5-7 days after flying there. It isn’t that I would have prevented her from going but I’d like her to work from home when she gets back. Not sure what our official policy is but I will be asking HR today. My meeting with her this week is now virtual regardless.
Mask compliance where we are in western NY is awesome - far better than where we live in PA or where we were in VA. It matches the rest area/fast food compliance we saw in MD near DC, but that was a small sample. Here we’re seeing a bit via our walks in parks, etc.
From our boy’s updates (med school) most transmission here is from workplaces and bars/parties. I think that’s likely true in many places. People get relaxed around those they know and concerned around strangers. We know we’re taking a risk too, so definitely plan to isolate back home, esp before heading back to FIL’s.
Well I am low because we had to pull the plug on visiting my daughter for Thanksgiving in MA. NJ is now on MA’s naughty list and you have quarantine for 2 weeks (can’t do this now) or present a negative Covid test result newer than 72 hours (can’t guarantee return of results on time). My future son-in-law’s mother is a nurse and is very particular about exposure. To be frank, I have been doing what the regulations allow. I can’t tolerate it anymore. I have not been isolating at home; I have been going out (outdoors and indoors with social distancing and masks). But my D, future son-in-law, and their family have been very cautious, more so than me. So I can’t risk it. I really hope this vaccine will come to fruition.
It’s a big enough city that I should think testing would not be an issue.