26-March - Thursday - Bali: Chapter closed

As the 2 travelling lads settled into their 3rd day of isolation, ensuring to eat healthy with salads and tuna (with the occasional Prosecco), discovering old Jane Fonda aerobics workouts to keep fit (and laughing our heads off), the main concern was for the last day in Bali for the remaining two Swiss of the party of four. They reported Bali had completely shut down, Jalan Laksmana completely closed, no restaurants opened anymore, no Circle K or Mini Mart to buy essentials, no more traffic. Online check-in had been done the previous day, flight status was being checked hourly (and looking good), the driver organised and confirmed. The waiting game began. Usually one wants their last day of holiday to go a slow as possible, but invariably it just flies by. Not so this time, every minute felt like an hour. Finally, the time came and we had confirmation of their arrival at Denpasar airport. Obviously way too early for the check-in counters to be open, further waiting was called for. Reports of massive queues, with instruction by these 2 travelling lads to seek out the “bag drop” queue. We were so relieved when we had news of having passed immigration and just relaxing till boarding. Once again, we instructed them to be vigilant about last minute gate changes, something which is incredibly common practice at Denpasar Airport, with or without announcement. A clear message was sent: “If you do not see the Qatar aircraft in front of the gate you are standing at, it’s the wrong gate!”. The message was heeded, and a picture followed with THE aircraft we all worked so hard to get onto. We all stayed up till boarding time, till the final message of confirmation of the two Swiss being called onboard and departing, closing the Balinese chapter, closing their adventure downunder, closing what was an intense roller coaster, closing a time of immense stress, but the beginning of a brand new bond between two brothers that for many years had grown apart! It is with great sadness that I see my brother making his way away from us, but immense pride of us having lived through this together! Ciao, safe travels home into the European COVID-19 crisis!

Popular posts from this blog

25-March - Wednesday - Lock this country down! NOW!

We spent the second day of quarantine (isolation) trying to catch-up with all the various messages from the Australian government: 10 people at a funeral, only 5 at a wedding, do not go outdoors, do not gather in groups, but you can do an outdoor workout with maximum of 10 people. You must stay home, unless necessary, but go to work. Which one is it? We spoke to friends and colleagues, hearing their frustrations and receiving their updates. Why on earth is this country not in lock-down? Why are we interested in saving the economy at the cost of human lives!? Every person potentially exposed to COVID-19 is a person that could pass it onto someone else, who might pass it onto another person, till they pass it onto a more vulnerable person, a person at risk: a father-in-law with pre-existing respiratory conditions; a friend recovering from a cancer treatment; an elderly grandparent. This country must go into lock-down right now, TODAY! These 2 travelling lads are flabbergasted at the inac...
Read more

31-March - Tuesday - Tik-Tok

Day 8, we’re over the half-way point! Another day of work, coming up with ideas on how to engage with students outside class, in a virtual world. The Swiss-Aussie travelling lads and his team had a brainwave deciding on a new initiative: Time2connect. Daily online, virtual activities for students, under the supervision of a staff member or student volunteer. Mine obviously being Time2exercise, encouraging students to join a 30-min daily workout routine to stay physically active! Bring on this virtual world! The Italo-Aussie instead, discovered Tik-Tok, spending the day on it, laughing, giggling, grunting at the repetitiveness of some, but never-the-less more and more sucked into the virtual world, adamant he’ll participate with his own Tik-Tok contribution. The working day also brought sobering news, with the corporate headquarters informing all staff of imminent hours and salary cuts equivalent to 20% of all our jobs and remunerations, only to top it off with the closure of one of our...
Read more