THIS week, I took out my suitcase, dusted it off and started wheeling it around. Got my dogs excited with this unfamiliar activity – maybe they will be pleased to see the back of me after all this time.
I rummaged around for my passport. Since I’ve had at least two house clean-ups in the last 18 months I’d forgotten where I’d left it. I checked the expiry date – thank goodness, I still have a year or so left. I flipped the pages and cried, but then immediately smiled at the thought of that next stamp to come.
I got out my toiletries bag and started filling it – a process that used to take me minutes now takes hours. What do you need now when you have realised you need so little?
I’m in rehearsal for my first flight. Ever since the Singapore government announced we would be moving from pandemic to endemic, in four steps, I too have put together my own four-step plan to getting out of here.
First, to recap, here’s Singapore’s four steps (from the report).
1. Preparation (started August 10)
• Travel restrictions to be eased, including resuming entry approvals for fully
vaccinated work pass holders and dependants
• Changes in healthcare protocols, including admitting more infected patients
to community care facilities
2. Transition Stage A
• Expected to start in early September
• Further economic reopening with increased size limits for events and less strict border controls
• Waste water testing to be expanded for early detection of virus clusters
3. Transition Stage B
• Further economic reopening although differentiated rules based on vaccination status likely to remain
4. Covid-resilient Nation
• The end goal and “new normal” for Singapore
It inspired me to put together my own four-step plan.
1. Preparation – get basic travelling gear in order. Which I now have. Make sure I have my vaccination papers, and research what other documentation I may have. Am told tons of paperwork, which terrify me but I will be brave. The end justifies the means.
2. Anticipation – check vaccination rates daily – easy to do since the government sends daily updates.
Scroll news feeds feverishly for any signals about which place I may be able to go to, without having to do a two-week quarantine when I return, and who will accept me with no quarantine. I know Australia and New Zealand are definitely off the list – I can’t go in, they can’t get out. Taiwan, that’s a possibility. Travellers from Taiwan can now enter Singapore without Stay-Home Notice (SHN), but it doesn’t apply yet to us travelling there.
But signs of hope – I read a headline today that Taiwan’s luxury airline startup STARLUX will start Singapore to Taipei services from September 23. So could September 23 be the day when vaccinated folks in Singapore can travel and return without SHN?
Or could it be Phuket with its Sandbox? I have been invited. Just need to be activated.
In any case, I will pack two suitcases – one full with beach wear and the other clothes for cooler autumn wear in case. Maybe certain parts of Europe or UK could be on the cards?
My friends and I have a bet as to when we will have the first two-way quarantine-free travel lane open – we don’t really care about where, just when.
3. While Waiting, Life Goes On
To make the waiting easier, live life within limits set. Dine out with friends. Cherish doggie walks. Grab daily moments of joy.
Plan for the return of physical events in Singapore, and hopefully elsewhere where we may take our Roadshow. For now, eye on the August 26 Episode 6 where we will return to Marina Bay Sands where we started our Roadshow.
And then eye on the horizon as we plan for WiT Experience SG 2021, October 19-20, where we will have our “Homecoming” at Marina Bay Sands.
4. Accept Whatever May Come
Plans are just plans. Must take to heart what Minister Ong Ye Kung said when speaking about the four-step plan which is a “very careful balance between lives and livelihoods”. “Ours will be a step-by-step approach, feeling our way forward, making judgment calls along the way, instead of one big bang where all restrictions are lifted all at once.”
Therefore, for personal peace of mind, I must resign myself to the fact that my first flight may not happen till spring 2022.
But anyway, all my bags are packed and I am ready to go.
