Travel in COVID times

We feel like we're somewhat settling into a routine. There is the daily walk, calls with family & friends, some TV watching, reading etc. Food has taken on added importance as the two hour delivery window for each meal punctuates the passage of the day. We chose our meals for each day at the start of our stay but have since forgotten what it was we chose, so looking in the brown paper bags that arrive always provides some surprise and excitement. The fact we can get excited about this is probably a reflection of the new pace of life. The food arrives in neatly lined up bags outside of our room ... The food has varied in quality. We've had some very tasty meals and others have been not that great. We are being kept alive though and we've got to be appreciative for that. One thing that has been noticeable is the amount of food we're getting. There is always so much food. So much in fact that we decided to stop one of the lunch orders as two lunches were enough to feed...

We awoke to two sharp knocks on the door, which was breakfast being delivered at 8 am to the corridor outside our room. Which was 6 am in Australian time. I think we'll be adjusting to the new time zone fairly quickly with these morning deliveries. The continental breakfast option was standard but quite welcome. In the light of day we were also able to check out the space outside of our room. We'd wandered outside the night before and within seconds a security guard was explaining that we had to stay within two metres of our door. He also took our room number, which was probably a subtle way of letting us know that we were being monitored and rule breaking would be noted. It was great to know that we'd be able to get fresh air into the room all day long and be able to enjoy sitting outside. The concrete wall view isn't very inspiring but having some green to look at more than makes up for it. (far view room pic taken while on a monitored walk later) The room is a fairly...

The day started with a slow wake up and waving to office workers in the building opposite. A cooked breakfast was delivered to the room, all in sanitary but disposable packaging ... We'd been told to be all packed and ready to leave the hotel four hours before our flight, however a call from the police downstairs came five hours prior to the flight advising that the bus was leaving the hotel in 20 minutes. Reasoning with them didn't get us anywhere and so we hurriedly packed and got down in time for the paperwork process. We then boarded the bus with our police escort and made our way to the airport. Once we got to the airport it became clear that the police process had not gone smoothly as we were too early to check in for our flight later that day. We sat down in a public space and were minded by two police officers for an hour. We were starting to get the sense that life for the next couple of weeks was going to be one of confinement and close monitoring. We had some nervous...

The taxi picked us up and off we went to Melbourne Airport. It felt liberating to leave the previous 5 km travel zone which had defined our world for many weeks until just recently. Seeing the Melbourne CBD go past was a bit like visiting a foreign country/ The taxi driver had been really surprised to get a job going to the airport as so few people were flying these days. We were all wearing masks and the interior air was being circulated madly with the windows down or the air conditioner running. Approaching the airport, the road was completely devoid of the distinctive Melbourne yellow cabs, which in normal times are ubiquitous when nearing the airport. The next sign that things were definitely different was the near ghost town that was the long term carpark. This is normally near full most days but now only had a few lonely cars, and a lot of grass sprouting through the concrete ... Also evident was the relative emptiness of every part of the airport we saw ... the normally bustling...

I live in Melbourne, Australia and had just learnt that a close relative in Wellington, New Zealand is quite unwell. I made the easy decision to try and see them before they die, but also knowing that it was probably going to be a difficult process to get there given the many travel restrictions in place in this time of Covid-19. We also decided as a family (wife, daughter and myself) that we would all make the journey. Initial research revealed that the only flights going to New Zealand were from Sydney to Auckland, which would require flying Melbourne-Sydney-Auckland-Wellington. So this was clearly going to be more tricky and expensive compared to the normal direct Melbourne-Wellington flights that we'd taken in the past. Delving into the process further, there were a a number of hoops to jump through: Permission to transit through Sydney airport: with the border from Victoria to New South Wales closed we'd have to get approval for transiting through Sydney airport. Permissi...