What happens when the world opens up and you’re still at home staring at your Zoom screen
THE word “vicarious” means “experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person”. So to live vicariously means to live through the experiences of others. For example, you could say, “she lacked the guts to bungy jump so she did so vicariously in her dreams”.
This is how I’ve felt the past two weeks as we in Singapore went back into our caves to wait out the “Heightened Alert” wave. The current restrictions end June 13, and as I write this,news just broke that we will be allowed to go back to five in a group and dining in will be possible from June 21. Operating capacity of attractions will be increased from 25% to 50% from June 14 and for live performances and MICE events, a maximum of 250 attendees will be allowed from June 14 with pre-event testing, up from the current 100.
At this stage, we are grateful for any relief thrown our way as we wonder when we can go out into the world again, and when the world can come to us anew.
To tell you the truth, I am beginning to feel a bit like Alice in Nowhere Land – fully vaccinated, sitting at home, staring at my computer screen, watching the world through my window – while the lights come on in the rest of the world.
From our living rooms, we rejoice with our friends and cheer them on. Lucky devils, we say, go forth and travel for us, so we may experience through you.
Speaking to Anthony Lark, president of the Phuket Hotels Association, my heart leapt with joy when he spoke of the preparations going on in the island for reopening on July 1. I imagine the frenzy going on as businesses ramp up to open their doors. It’s not that easy to activate a business after more than a year of hibernation.
I laughed with glee when he told me of the bookings that were coming in from all markets and demographics. But then I felt sad when he said, “Not from Singapore though, or Hong Kong, or China.” He consoled me, saying, if this works, maybe this will give confidence to other governments to allow their people to travel.
Then he told me how he had seen sea otters in Naiton – first time ever – and imagine, mother sea turtles laying their eggs on the beaches. Not to be outdone, I told him how I said hello to otters, monitor lizards and monkeys occasionally on my walks in Singapore.
We both then debated about why tourism and nature cannot live in harmony – why does one have to disappear completely for the other to appear? It’s a big question that needs big thinking and bigger actions. But for now, one small step at a time – let’s make the “Sandbox” work and for it to stay open so others may also play in it.
Leaving Lark behind, I zoomed to California where a friend in Silicon Valley announced with aplomb, “From June 15 we are back to normal. No masks, indoors or outdoors. Everything as it were.”
I felt so happy that I wanted to invest in his startup right away. After all, everyone’s buying travel stocks right now so I might as well invest vicariously too. Who knows, I could get rich without ever leaving my home, like all those people who are mining bitcoin.
Leaving San Francisco behind, I traversed to New York City. Ever a city ahead of its time, it’s opened up even earlier and I devoured every word in this article speaking of its reopening over the Memorial weekend. I was filled with joy and nostalgia as it spoke about familiar places such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art welcoming back residents by the droves. I felt like I was right there, among the crowds.
And when the owner of the Smalls jazz club, Spike Wilner, said, “It feels like some kind of Tolstoy novel: there’s the crash and the redemption and then the renewal. Honestly, I feel positive for the first time. I’m just relieved to be working and making some money,” I immediately went to my jazz playlist on Spotify, blared it out on Sonos and allowed the music to transport me to Smalls.
Across the Atlantic, a friend in Paris exclaims, “Now you can visit me.” Seems Singapore is among the “green countries” allowed to visit France for the summer travel season – we are in the same list as Australia, South Korea, Israel, Japan, Lebanon and New Zealand. The catch is, of course, we may go but on our return, we will face quarantine. That, to me, is not travel so for now, Paris too will have to be lived vicariously as well. (Here’s a colour-coded map laying out entry protocols, so you too can live vicariously.)
Back in Singapore, hopes were raised when Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison popped in for a visit on his way to Cornwall for the G7 Summit. It was his first visit to Singapore since the pandemic and surely there must be news of a quarantine-free travel bubble between the two countries, them being such good friends and both having done so well with the pandemic.
In anticipation, I tuned into Facebook Live to watch the press conference with Morrison and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last night and saw in the comment thread that the most-asked question, other than those commenting on PM Lee’s “nice yellow tie”, was “when will travel bubble open?”
Well, it doesn’t look like anytime soon. Their comments were that the two discussed how two-way travel can eventually resume in a safe and calibrated manner “when both sides are ready”.
Said Prime Minister Lee, “We need to prepare the infrastructure and processes to get ready to do this. It starts with mutual recognition of health and vaccination certificates, possibly in a digital form. When all the preparations are ready, we can start small with an air travel bubble to build confidence on both sides.”
Morrison then said that there is still some time before Singapore and Australia “reach that milestone”, but the two countries will be “getting on with the job” of putting systems in place that will enable such a bubble to emerge between Singapore and Australia, similar to the one between Australia and New Zealand.
Oh well, looks like I’ll have to continue to live vicariously through Morrison as he partakes of Cornish pasties next week.
• Featured image credit: Getty Images
