Traveling Back to the US Soon?
This week I’ve been asked about a dozen times when I think I’ll travel back to the US now that the vaccine is being rolled out. My answer? Not yet, and it is unlikely I will do so until there is no MIQ requirement for travel. There are a few key reasons for this.
Kids complicate things. I don’t feel comfortable leaving New Zealand with my kids still in the country. Even when a travel bubble opens up with Australia, we know that if covid is detected and we end up stranded in Australia, there may not be any getting back to the kids quickly. That causes a logistical nightmare. Who would we feel comfortable watching our kids for weeks on end? How would that impact our kids knowing that their parent(s) were stuck somewhere with covid?
The alternative is to take our kids with us. That means an MIQ stay and spending two weeks in a hotel room with extremely limited exercise options for any of us. And no privacy. That sounds like a miserable two weeks and not something I’m jumping up and down to do. There are no plans to open the border any time soon, and I can’t imagine opening the borders until all Kiwis - including kids - are vaccinated.
Vaccines have their limits. The US is vaccinating as fast as they can right now and many people are getting shots. New Zealand has started vaccinating border workers and their families, and there is a clear plan to vaccinate adults moving forward with the end goal of the whole country being vaccinated by the end of the year. But anti-vaxxers are prevalent in both countries. Estimates say up to half a million Kiwis - most in Auckland - don’t plan on getting it. It is even worse in the US where around 30% of the population doesn’t plan on getting a vaccine, and that number is even higher in Republican-dominated areas. Herd immunity becomes difficult at that point, so would I feel comfortable in Texas - a Republican hotbed - where covid will be for awhile? Not really.
Even if you are vaccinated, that’s no guarantee that you won’t get covid and potentially spread it to others, like with the MIQ worker who was recently infected with the UK variant. And the jury is still out on how effective the vaccines are against all of the different variants out there. The Brazilian variant is one I’ve been watching since Christmas, and I have yet to see anything that shows how effective any particular vaccine is against it. (If you know of a reputable report, please let me know!)
I like living a normal life. I’m not particularly eager to go somewhere where I need to wear a mask, social distance, or be nervous about other people’s covid-prevention strategies. In New Zealand, all I have to do on a regular basis is scan the QR codes for the Covid Tracer App. It’s delightfully low-impact and stress free. Why would I want to take a trip somewhere where that isn’t the case? Especially since New Zealand is really good at tracing where cases come from and how they spread. The list of activities that have resulted in covid spread is crazy and includes things that Americans are doing regularly and would be unavoidable. (Here’s to you, riding in elevators even alone…)
Technology makes the world a smaller place. Using Zoom and FaceTime means that we get to see family and friends in the United States whenever we want. Very honestly, I’m not sure how much we would’ve seen family this past year even if we were in the US. We’d probably still be using these online tools. The distance doesn’t seem as great when everyone is through a screen.
Online shopping means that I’m not missing out on any of my favorite US products that I would normally have my husband bring back with him. Yes, we’ve paid for shipping as opposed to plane tickets, but I’d say it is close to even, budget wise. Many places have free or inexpensive shipping, and there’s always YouShop for the stores that don’t. I have to make sure I really want what I order, though, as its is going to take awhile for things to show up and it isn’t worth it to ship things back if they don’t work out.
If you’re an American in New Zealand, how do you feel about travelling back to the US? Are you/would you do it now?
