Coronavirus Impacts Travels

We were fortunate from a timing perspective to have left South East Asia just as awareness of the coronavirus was heating up. Departing Bali, we saw our first visible images with nearly 50% of people in the airport with masks. On the flight board it showed direct flights (cancelled) to Wuhan, the epicenter.

No cases have been reported in Bali thus far, but I read that based on data it’s not to be believed. It was placed in the top ten of places they expect the virus to be based on data of travel patterns from Wuhan outward.

We’ve stepped up our hand washing, disinfecting our airline seats, etc…

Itinerary Pre-Corona

Feb - Australia

March - New Zealand

End March/Early April - Tahiti

April - Japan

April/May - Hong Kong, Korea, Taipei

May - Kauai

Itinerary In Flux

Feb - Australia

March - New Zealand

End March/Early April - Tahiti

April - Japan (MAYBE)

or

April - Western Australia

April/May - Hong Kong, Korea, Taipei

May - Kauai

We have definitely scratched anything past Japan in Asia, but have not made a final call on Japan. We are going to wait and see and make a final call at the end of this month. If we skip Japan, a likely scenario is that we come back to Australia from Tahiti and explore the Western Coast for a month.

In a stroke of luck, we only had flights booked into Tokyo and nothing beyond, so we’re easily flexible and if we stay out of Asia, we’ll only sacrifice one flight.

Hopefully this virus goes the way of the dodo bird soon. Most importantly for everyone’s health currently being impacted, but selfishly so that we can get back to experiencing the amazing place that Asia is.