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THE WEEKLY #194: THE LOCKDOWN BEGINS

THE WEEKLY #194: THE LOCKDOWN BEGINS

Like many who were traveling abroad while the Corona Virus (Covid-19) pandemic began to escalate on a global scale, I was in Lombok, Indonesia. I had a flight booked back to my apartment in Cebu in two days and that should have been my next move but the world was moving quickly to close borders and quick decisions needed to be made.

After some on the spot decisions and a few unrecoverable flight and accommodation cancellations, I decided it was best to return to Adelaide, Australia. These kinds of decisions are always easy to judge in hindsight but at the time Indonesia and the Philippines had no virus outbreak so I wasn’t too concerned. I tried to predict what the next months would look like in Indonesia, Philippines, and Australia and based on that decided that Adelaide with my family was the best and safest option for me as a solo traveler.

I made the flight to Australia knowing that I would have to self-isolate for 14 days upon my arrival to Adelaide. Because my parents are school teachers and my sister works at an aged care facility, I would need to take the self-isolation requirements very seriously although they should be followed regardless.

Luckily for me, my dad converted our back shed into a studio many years ago with a shower, toilet, kitchen, heating, cooling, gym and basically everything else you could need. I would also have my family cook, shop and help me with any supplies I would need while keeping out of contact and proximity with them.

 

It’s a strange time but it’s not a moment to question the rules or try and outsmart the system. I felt like we all need to contribute as best we can given what we know at a specific moment so I did my best in isolation to follow the rules. 

On a side note: I told my Instagram followers if my recent post got 1000 comments then I’d shave my beard. 1700 comments later the beard was gone.

 

As someone who has a lot of freedom in their daily life, it wasn’t ideal to be confined to a small space and limited with things to do but I’m pretty good at rolling with whatever situation I have and moving forward. I used the time to write blogs everyday and workout every day. These are two things I usually have to cram into my schedule but now they were all that was on it. This gave me a lot of extra time to recover the body and mind and just be a bit lazy. I managed to get a treadmill, exercise bike, rower and gym set up so I have been training a few hours a day and really enjoying having time to focus on that. Even though we were separated by the pool and lots of space, it has also been nice to hang out with my family from a distance. Time with family and friends is something I have had to sacrifice a lot while non-stop traveling the world.

 

I follow the global news closely every day so I’ve watched this pandemic unfold from day one and it’s helped my perspective on the issue. I’m fully aware that I have a very luxurious self-isolation and am blessed not to be in financial hardship during a time when there is no work in the travel industry. My blog traffic is down to 5000 page views per day from 25,000 per day. My income is down to 10% of what it normally is but I’ve always saved all my earnings so there is no panic or career change required for me if this lasts even a full year.

I really hope everyone is making the most of their self-isolation and my thoughts go out to those who are having any struggles whether it be financially, with their health or their mental state during this stressful time. Let’s all hope we come together to prepare, fend off and recover from this global pandemic and emerge stronger, smarter and more thankful for everything that we have.

 

 

 

Abhishek

Wednesday 4th of November 2020

Coronavirus struck everybody of us truly hard . Expectation it move away soon and we again investigate this wonderful world.