Australia’s international border officially reopened in November 2021. But with COVID-19 still sweeping across the world, overseas travel is still risky. It’s also a lot more expensive than normal with fewer flights available, more cancellations and multiple COVID tests required to cross borders. And that was before Omicron.
Even though many Australians are keen to travel overseas soon, a lot of us are waiting for things to settle down a bit first. But is it really as scary out there as some people may think?
There have unfortunately been a few horror stories, such as the story on AFF this week of a person who caught COVID-19 after arriving in Fiji, and then got stuck there for weeks on end because they couldn’t access a timely PCR test. But with the Australian government now removing the PCR test requirement for inbound travel and travel restrictions being progressively relaxed in other parts of the world, the pendulum is now starting to swing towards the rewards that come with international travel outweighing the risks.
Many Australians who’ve travelled overseas recently say it was worth the risk and they have no regrets. They now wonder why they were so concerned about leaving Australia in the first place.
Over the coming months, the AFF on AIR podcast will feature interviews with Australians who’ve recently travelled to a range of different places all around the world. You’ll get to hear from them directly about their travel experiences, so you can make up your own mind about whether it’s worth going overseas this year.
In Episode 76 of the AFF on AIR podcast, released on 22 January 2022, Matt speaks to Daniel Kavan who recently returned from Canada with his family. His trip home on United Airlines was unusually eventful, with a never-ending run of delayed and cancelled flights. This was made worse by the fact he was travelling with a baby! Daniel made it home in the end, albeit a day late and with a huge stack of boarding passes.
Listen now to AFF on AIR Episode 76: “Is Overseas Travel in 2022 Really That Scary?”
You can also view the episode notes.
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