A year of closed borders
A year ago today, the government announced they were closing Australia's international borders. A year since we have been able to travel freely overseas – something so many of us took for granted.
A job I love turned from a dream to a nightmare overnight. I have always seen my job as a chance to make dreams come true, and really, could anyone ask for a better job than that? Suddenly, I had to rip all those dreams apart, unpick the careful stitching with which I’d woven dreams into travel itineraries.
I cancelled clients’ honeymoons on their wedding day, I scrambled to get people on the last flight out before borders closed. I booked and rebooked, and then rebooked tickets again as flights were cancelled, and people bumped from their reservations. I woke in the middle of the night to see if my travellers had boarded their flights. I chased refunds, organised credits and spent days on end on hold, trying to get my clients money back. I worked through weekends, school events and everything in between, with permanent anxiety. Tears were never far away.
And beyond work, I worried about my parents, stuck in lockdown in the UK where case numbers were out of control. Happily, they have made it this far with health and sanity intact. I still don’t know when I will see them next (but wow, Christmas 2021 will be a big one if we can all be together!).
I never imagined we would still here, borders closed a year later. I’m now cancelling and rebooking trips that have already been postponed once. I only earn my commission once travel is completed, so I have essentially been working for nothing for a year. Longer in fact, once you consider that most of the trips were booked back in 2019.
There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon now though. In the last month I have had lots of domestic travel enquiries. We are incredibly lucky to live in Australia, with so many amazing and unique places to visit. I don’t have words for how good it feels to be booking trips again, not cancelling them!
I’m looking onwards and upwards now. Everyday is a day closer to our next travel adventure!