At the beginning of the 21st century, it was predicted that borders would disappear. \u00a0In fact, in Europe you could already travel widely with the service provider changing on your cell phone screen, or the GPS information as the only indication that you were now in a different country than ten minutes ago.<\/p>\n
Friends of mine declared: \u201cExcept for the longer flights, there is no difference between visiting children in Cape Town or Hamburg.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then came Covid-19 and suddenly borders appeared once again. In fact, not just borders, but often relentlessly closed borders of countries in lockdown.<\/p>\n
The only thing we know for certain now, is that the world will never be the same again.\u00a0 However, this week a radio commentator reminded me that this was also what we had said in the days immediately after 9\/11. \u00a0The end of tourism and the aviation industry was predicted, yet travel increased in popularity thereafter. \u00a0We quickly became accustomed to new requirements regarding liquids in hand luggage and march faithfully through each country\u2019s particular safety requirements at airports. \u00a0Here you have to take off your shoes, there your jacket, sometimes your glasses, often your wristwatch … \u00a0None of these measures are questioned and no one is afraid of it anymore.<\/p>\n
I will hazard a guess that this will be the case again. \u00a0New security measures are likely to be implemented at airports in future, but we will still have itchy feet and there will be no stopping us from travelling.<\/p>\n
For the past few months at AfriForum we have been inundated with appeals from South Africans who had been traveling, visiting or working abroad and when borders were suddenly closed, were left stranded there. In the worst cases, they were trapped somewhere with very little access to amenities, communication, protection and even food.<\/p>\n
As we would like to prevent this from happening, we provide some tips for prospective travellers. \u00a0Experienced explorers will know all about this and need not read any further. \u00a0For others, it may help to prevent inconvenience and disillusionment. \u00a0Having said that, we are in no way suggesting that people who got trapped abroad because of the virus could have prevented it. \u00a0This pandemic has caught everyone off guard. \u00a0However, we have to keep in mind that such a phenomenon may happen again in our lifetime and then we have to be prepared.<\/p>\n
Herewith the tips:<\/p>\n
There are many other tips on how to stay safe abroad, but with the above we focus especially on your planning, departure and return.<\/p>\n
Most of us will be at home for quite some time now, therefore this is the perfect time for planning your next trip.<\/p>\n