I'm going to Australia next week

[Reallyweirditems]

So, who wants to come and tell me how selfish I am for travelling to Australia next week, via Singapore?

Ilovepuppies - whereabouts in Australia are you? DS’s friend’s relatives have said that they will happily take them in for as long as it takes - they’re in the Brisbane area but not in the city.

Haha, so many people have had your attitude op and now look a little bit daft.

Friends in stuck in Spain that just went with the attitude that nothing will happen, everyone is overreacting. And now everything is closed and armed police patrol the beaches.

Enjoy your isolation OP.

Why is it now or never? Is there a reason you can't go in their summer?

labelle I think I was on another thread with your about your son's travel to Asia.

do not come to Malaysia

It's about to kick off here, 190 new cases today and we are expecting a major announcement tomorrow.
I am not convinced they have the infrastructure needed here, but I have to ride it out now.
He does not want to get stuck in Asia, if they even think about that check the travel insurance carefully. It might not cover pandemic.
I would get him back to UK asap. Or, if possible, to relatives in Australia for the duration.
No question.

Be careful you don’t get stuck low standard quarantine somewhere undesirable.

Each day there’s new news you can’t predict what it will be for you.

Penyu - he’s definitely not going to Asia. The choice is between spending the next two months in Australia or coming home early. That’s bad news about Malaysia- it was looking as if the SE Asian countries had it more under control than Europe.

Self isolation in someone else's home, even if they are family, will be grim. How big is their house? Can they keep you separate from the rest of the family? You will be stuck in a house for 14 days and not able to go out at all. Do the family concerned have any regular contact with elderly or vulnerable people? Do ask them honestly if they are still willing to have you to visit and have to self isolate. I do appreciate how upsetting it is to have plans disrupted - I had family due to fly over this week.

I'd bring him home LaBelleSauvage123. My DD is at a college 1700 miles away and I've booked her a flight home today while travel is still possible. The idea of my 18 year old being 1700 miles away in the middle of a global pandemic... No.

Selfish, yes...but also stupid as you will be in quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

@LaBelleSauvage123 I'm in Vic. I don't think there's too much difference between states right now though. NSW is the worst, probably followed by VIC and then QLD. Things are really strange here. It's hard to say wheather it's worse than the UK as I have no idea what things are like for you but they are scary here. A women was assaulted on a train last week when she sneezed and a man told her to get off and it turned ugly. About 4 assaults took place in Supermarkets over this week and last week as people fought over the toilet paper. A few people were tasered by police to stop them. Women were crying in cards outside Woolworths today because they couldn't get any food for dinner. There's not just no food in one supermarket, there's no food in ANY supermarket. I had a tip off about delivery trucks outside Coles at 11pm tonight and we flew out the door. We scored a packet of meat and 2 bottles of pasta sauce so we're very happy tonight. It's maddness. Things to think about too is whether those relatives will be happy to put them all up is someone gets sick (the hosts or guests). Will the house be big enough for so many people if they're stuck together for months? What would they do for those months and nothing is likley to be open. I really really doubt that this situation is going to be looking good in 2 months in Australia so I'm not sure that staying here would have any advantage. We're talking about closing schools for 4 months so 2 may not be much good.

It sounds awful. I’ll check again with the parents of the boy concerned.

Ilovepuppies wow that is something.

I’m from there reading your post was

ReallyWeird
Read this, it is written by someone who really knows:

trixiebelden77 Sun 15-Mar-20 05:06:30
I work in an Australian ICU. I will give you the same advice I gave my own family members in Scotland.

Please don’t.
........
You can go another time - why not?

Just wanted to clear up a couple of things.

If those who bothered to comment had read when this thread was started, you'll see that it was on Friday morning. The self isolation was announced this morning. On Friday I had no idea that would happen.

It's costing me a lot of money to get there, money that I won't get back because Australia have decided not to close borders.

If I don't go now, it's unlikely that I'll ever be in a position to go in the future, not least because I won't have the money. So I won't get to see my brother, sister in law or my nieces again.

If I have to self isolate for 14 days, then so be it. I have not made a decision yet, but it's not one I'll make lightly.

If I have to self isolate for 14 days, then so be it. I have not made a decision yet, but it's not one I'll make lightly.

Not sure how long you’re planning to be out there, but you won’t be able to socialise with your relatives unless they fancy isolation as well.

Long haul flights are also a massive infection risk right now; I have 2 Australian friends who have caught it flying home.

Nearly all airlines are offering free rebooking or e-vouchers so please do look into whether you can. Cathay & Finnair will refund flights transiting through HK (got a refund for Brisbane flights last week). You will not be able to transit through Singapore within 3 days (not widely publicised yet in UK but broadly reported in local Singapore press). Qantas & BA will give 12 months travel credit. The Arab airlines haven’t quite caught up yet but hopefully soon.

It's really hard living so far from family, isn't it, OP? Mine are overseas and I am terribly afraid I won't be able to visit them for quite a long time, depending on how this thing goes.

Do you really feel you'll never have the money to travel there again? Maybe you could save up gradually?

Good for you. Don't see why you're doing anything particularly wrong.

Eaglejukesk thanks - sadly my friend didn’t make it - she can’t go now because her flight would have landed after the deadline :(

OP, I am so sorry for your situation. Right now, any kind of international travel is very scary because situations change so quickly and it’s unpredictable - the only thing we know for certain is that this will get worse before it gets better.

I have a sister who lives abroad and truly, if our high risk parents catch this and become severely ill, she won’t be able to come and say goodbye. People all over the world are living with this sudden shocking reality that there are loved ones who we may never see again. All of us are losing something - money, jobs, people we care about, freedoms and experiences and it is a bitter and painful pill to swallow.

OP, I don’t judge anyone as selfish or stupid who desperately wants to try to see a way around this terrible new reality we are living now. I don’t blame anyone for hoping and believing that they don’t have to make the sacrifices that are facing us all. It’s incredibly hard to accept. And I am sorry for all of our losses, great and small.

I don’t think you should go. If it’s possible to rearrange the flights for July, do it. If you can’t go then and have to lose the money it’s no worse than losing it now and surely it’s more likely that you can go then than it is at present.

Op you're being silly. You can't mix with your family members for 14 days unless you all quarantine. There are huge shortages of things as you've read up thread and quite frankly you will be able to go again in the next 12 months thanks to you having booked with Singapore Airlines.

[Travel Advisory]

SINGAPORE AIRLINES OFFERS FEE WAIVERS AND FLEXIBLE REBOOKING FOR ALL CUSTOMERS

Singapore Airlines is waiving all rebooking fees for tickets issued on or before 15 March 2020, for travel up to 31 May 2020, with immediate effect. Customers can cancel their existing flight itineraries, retain the value of their tickets and rebook their travel at a later date, when they are able to firm up their new travel plans. The new flight itinerary should be completed by 31 March 2021.

This new policy will allow customers the flexibility to defer their travel plans and applies to all bookings for travel up to 31 May 2020. All rebooking fees will be waived, although a fare difference may apply for the new itinerary.

SIA will continue to review its waiver policy and retains the flexibility to extend the cut-off date of 31 May 2020 as it assesses the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on global air travel in the coming weeks. For all new SIA and SilkAir tickets issued from now to 31 March 2020, SIA will also waive change fees.

Customers may contact us through our online form via https://bit.ly/2TP42OW. Customers who booked their tickets directly through Singapore Airlines may also contact their local Singapore Airlines reservations teams via https://bit.ly/2vmp8uw. Customers who booked their tickets through travel agencies are advised to contact their agents for assistance.

Due to the high volume of incoming requests, we seek our customers understanding that it may take longer than usual for our service agents to respond. Customers are encouraged to only contact us if their flight is departing in next 72 hours in order for our agents to focus on and assist those with urgent flight changes.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Updates on Covid-19 travel restrictions and waiver policy can be found on the Singapore Airlines website here: https://bit.ly/2IQ8Flm

First posted on 15 March 2020 at 2318hrs (GMT +8)

Understood, ReallyWeird.
This virus is one helluva pain on so many levels.
I think it's mean you won't get any money back if you cancel, I think the least the airlines could do is rebook for a later date.

Anyway, keep well.

@ilovepuppies2019

I am in Melbourne and I don’t see this madness at all!! And are you seriously saying a Coles driver gave you food out of his truck?!

@thistimeofyear - I'm sorry to hear that.

Your local news stations are reporting it Cole

Pope no idea where that came from

What the news reports say and what it actually looks like on the ground are two different things, clearly.