Well peeps, I’m home, two weeks earlier than I had originally intended, but traveling was getting nearly impossible with borders closing and flights getting canceled left and right. I took my opportunity to run home while I still could. I was on a fairly isolated little island, so the journey required a ferry ride and 5 flights, spread out over 96 hours. 

I posted a coronavirus update a while back saying that I wouldn’t mention it again unless something exciting happened. Well, it did, and here we are.  So if you’re curious about what traveling during the times of coronavirus has been like these past weeks, then check out this timeline I’ve put together about how my travels were impacted. Otherwise, normal posts will resume next time. I still have two more country’s worth of content coming your way! 

Jan 21

Koh Mook, Thailand

I hear about the virus for the first time, not because I am so close to China, but from a travel group I’m a member of on Facebook. There are several posts on a new virus circulating, but my favorite one goes something like: “Is anyone on the ground in Southeast Asia NOW and can confirm if the virus has spread there yet?!” Yeah, random Facebook stranger, I’m on the ground now and this is the first I am hearing about it, from you, clear across the globe.

Jan 28

Koh Lanta, Thailand

I notice that on the ferries some Western tourists are starting to wear surgical masks in public. There are only 37 confirmed cases worldwide outside of China. Seems a little paranoid, but to each their own.

Feb 4

Koh Chang, Thailand 

A friend texts to ask if it is safe to travel to Thailand, as he is headed there in a week. I report back that some people are wearing masks as an extra precaution, but besides that, everything is perfectly normal. 

Feb 14

Thailand to Cambodia Border Crossing 

I cross the border into Cambodia and everyone is handed a face mask to wear through the immigration line. Of course then we just have to take them right back off again to speak to the immigration official. 

Feb 16

Siem Reap, Cambodia 

I visit the glorious Angkor Wat temple complex and it is remarkably emptier than it was six years ago. Oh yeah, all the Chinese tourists are gone. This is the perfect time to be traveling!

Feb 25

Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia 

The little bit of time I spend on Facebook illustrates how the media back home is all over coronavirus and is really working up a frenzy, even though the reported cases outside of China are only 1,769 resulting in 17 deaths. I release a post regarding my travels. As soon as I click the publish button, I get the lurking feeling that it is about to come back to jinx me…

Feb 28

Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia 

I receive a whole array of messages and emails from family members begging me to come home. There are enough news stories on the first events and flights getting canceled because of the virus that it seems as though the world is ending. Meanwhile I’m in Asia, watching the world carry on as normal. No concerns in Cambodia anyway. I assure everyone that I’m keeping up with the US government’s travel advisories, the latest updates from the WHO, and keeping track of quarantine policies. At the moment, even people who have been in China are still able to return to the US with just a 14-day self-quarantine. 

Mar 1

Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia 

Due to a decrease in demand, United Airlines suspends service to Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Hong Kong. The twice daily Singapore flight that I plan on taking back to the US, is reduced down to one flight per day. Life continues on as normal in Cambodia. I’m not worried about the virus. The flights getting canceled do have me on heightened alert. My main concern at this point is that I don’t want my family to worry, so I toy with the idea of flying somewhere virus-free, outside of Asia, to sit out the remainder of my travels. 

Mar 3

Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia 

None of the other backpackers around are any more concerned about coronavirus than I am. To the young and invincible, out exploring the world, corona is no more than another story to tell, like the scooter accident or the lost phone. It’s all part of the journey. I’ve befriended two girls and we decide that we’re all going to meet up in Hoi An, Vietnam in a few days. Leaving Asia can wait until after. 

Mar 6

Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

I spend the day sitting at a cafe on the computer, trying to find a place I can go outside of Asia that my budget will allow for. I come up with a rough plan to spend a few days in Hoi An with my friends, then fly to Costa Rica, which doesn’t have any reported cases of the virus. Happy that I finally know what I’m doing with the next couple weeks of my life, I head to a travel agent to request a rush order on my visa for Vietnam. The rush order usually turns it around in a few hours, but it is Friday evening just before close, and the agent informs me that the visa office will not be open again until Monday. I totally forgot about weekends, but it is what it is. I am now stuck in this crowded city for the weekend. 

Mar 8

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Things escalate quickly on the virus front. I learn that Costa Rica just reported its first 5 cases. I learn that Italy put a large portion of the country into full quarantine. And I learn that Vietnam had a new surge in cases, after weeks of not reporting any new cases. My gut suddenly has me on edge with going to Vietnam. Normally it would be a wild stretch to base travel concerns for Vietnam off of something that happened in Italy, but I can’t help but feel that now Italy has taken this bold step, other places will soon follow suit. Vietnam seems pissed enough to fit the bill. 

Mar 9

Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

My gut is telling me not to go to Vietnam. I have to listen to it. I pick up my passport with my visa that I will not be using now. Kelly has joined me in Phnom Penh because they wouldn’t let her board her flight due to her middle name not being on her visa letter. The two of us will head back to Koh Rong Sanloem instead. I will stay there until my visa is up on the 14th, and then find a virus-free pace to go. 

Mar 10

Bus Ride from Phnom Penh to Sianoukville, Cambodia 

Home. I will go home when my visa is up. I protested the idea for so long. “I’m not going home.” I’d find myself saying at least once a day. Now finally accepting it as the best option feels like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I never thought I’d feel so relieved to cut a trip short. 

Mar 11

Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia 

Hearsay: reports circulate like wildfire of backpackers getting turned away at the Vietnamese border. 

Fact: Vietnam took away visa exemption from 8 European countries. 

My gut instinct proved right. I probably would have been allowed to enter the country as a US citizen with a visa, but what if I had gotten stuck there? 

Hearsay: rumors of travelers quarantined in their hostels also start circulating. 

Fact: two British backpackers on Koh Rong Sanloem already booked a flight from Vietnam to Bali, but now don’t know how they are going to get into Vietnam. 

Mar 12

Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia 

The article is a couple days old, but I’m only seeing it for the first time. Siem Reap held an emergency meeting regarding the virus. In it, they discussed a plan to prevent the spread of false information, prepare for the arrival of tourists once the crisis is over, and clean the Siem Reap river. In other words, they are doing absolutely nothing. The knowledge that I am in a place where nothing drastic will happen gives me some peace of mind. 

Mar 14

Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia 

I wake up and go through what has become a routine of scanning the news for the latest updates on coronavirus in the region. (The US media is a useless array of fear-mongering nonsense which I ignore). There is nothing new in the region. I get dressed and walk to the front desk where one of the girls informs me that Cambodia just banned citizens from five countries from entering the country, including Americans. Really?! Cambodia went from being completely complacent, to the first country (of my knowledge anyway) to fully ban Americans, just since I left my room? I look it up and it is true. 

Mar 15

Koh Rong Sanloem, Cambodia 

I take an early ferry to Sianoukville. At the airport, they are scanning everyone’s temperatures at the check-in counter. That is new since Kelly flew out just a week ago. I land in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where everyone is wearing surgical masks, then in Singapore’s Changi Airport, which is a complete ghost town. I must walk past a thermal scanner, but that has always been there for arrivals. 

Mar 16

Singapore

I am flying standby, something I was told never to do from Singapore to San Francisco due to the popularity of the flight. But in light of recent events, there are 50 empty seats. I like my chances. It comes as a shock when the dozen other standby passengers and myself are told that none of us will be allowed to board due to a weight restriction. I head back to the hostel where I stayed last night and check in again. They scan my temperature. I decide to make the best of my bonus night and check out the nightly light show at the Gardens by the Bay. There is a wonderful, 30-min, pedestrian walkway from my hostel to the gardens. People are out jogging the path as though the world is still a normal place. At the gardens, I stand in line to buy tickets for the Flower Dome. Yellow tape marks the ground every meter, and a sign reads to please use it to distance yourself from the next person in line. Announcements before and after the light show also request that visitors keep a meter distance from everyone else. 

Back at the hostel, I stumble across two rather alarming articles. One is that Malaysia is going into full quarantine. I was just there yesterday. The second is that Singapore will start requiring a 14-day, self-quarantine for anyone arriving from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries. Well I just barely dodged that bullet. I suddenly feel like I am walking on extremely thin ice. I need to be on that flight tomorrow. 

Mar 17

Singapore 

I try to check in, and am told that due to what happened yesterday with the weight restriction, they won’t be allowing standbys to check in until 8:30, at which time they will know if there is going to be another weight restriction. This is suddenly getting ominous. If I’m going to get stuck somewhere, I’m glad it’s in Singapore, but I’d obviously rather not get stuck. At 8:30 my name is announced with a few others. We are the lucky few out of the group who get to check in. When I get my seat assignment, I cry big, fat, embarrassing tears of relief. I’m going home. 

Mar 17

San Francisco

We land in San Francisco and I turn on my phone to find a message from Fletch: “Just heard San Fran will make you temp scan, fill out a form, and promise to self quarantine for 14 days.” None of this turns out to be true. Shows you how much misinformation is out there. Customs is absent, I only have to go through immigration, during which coronavirus is never even mentioned. I never fill out any form, or notice any thermal scanner. The airport is an eerie ghost town, and the few workers who remain are in foul moods. I never knew the end of the world would be such an angry place.

I manage to make it to Denver and finally to Birmingham. The rest you probably know better than I do. I haven’t kept up with what’s going on in the US, beyond who the borders are closing to and what quarantine measures are in place. That doesn’t matter because I’m here now, and safely in isolation.