Innocent times: When we Thought Coronavirus was just a problem in China
This Coronavirus that has spread through Mainland China has thrown my plans into a tizzy! I'm currently booked on Cathay Pacific thru Hong kong and they won't refund my ticket without a big cancelation fee. (I spent many hours on the phone with them over the last few days.) They will "change" the ticket with no fee, but all their flights go thru Hong Kong and I don't want to just indefinitely postpone my trip to Bali. So I've feverishly been trying to piece together different itineraries routing through various countries (NOT Hong Kong or Taiwan.)
My purpose in going to Bali is to detox from all the poisons that were put in my body during treatment. It's also to seriously chill out and relax. I just need to get myself there and not spend so much time obsessing over itineraries. I'm not worried about contracting Coronavirus -- I just survived cancer and have been around plenty of sick people and not gotten sick. But I don't want to risk getting thrown into a quarantine if one person on one of my flights shows any symptoms. So I'm probably going to have to eat it and pay the cancelation fee. Sigh.
Here’s a travel hack I can share for those traveling to Asia — international flights within Asia can be incredibly cheap — there are a number of budget airlines flying those routes. They tend to charge extra for baggage and you have to guess the weight of your checked baggage and pay in advance when booking the ticket. If you forget to do this they’ll charge you a fortune at the airport to check baggage. One option if you can do it is to just bring carry on luggage. You’ll still have to pay extra for that, but it simplifies some things. My travel buddy always carries a luggage scale to check these things. It may mean shifting some things from checked to carry on or vice versa.
In my case, the best priced tickets to Bali from LA go through either Hong Kong or Taiwan. The next choice was through Australia, which is about $300+ more expensive. After much experimentation with a combination of different routes on Google Flights (the best way to start out your search), I found that one travel date netted a super cheap flight to Singapore via Tokyo on American Airlines. That means I can gain miles, and on the way home on that particular date, there’s a long layover at Haneda Airport, which is just outside Central Tokyo. That allows me enough time to take a train into the city and have lunch with friends! I used to live in Tokyo in the 80’s & 90’s, and haven’t been back for over 10 years so I’m super excited about this little bonus. I will use a budget airline from Singapore to Bali, which is just a 2 hr 40 min flight. The downside is that on my way traveling there I arrive Singapore in the middle of the night and the next flight to Bali leaves around 5am. This means trying to catch some zzzzzz’s at the Singapore airport. Conveniently, I’ll be bringing a travel pillow and a tiny lightweight sleeping bag in my carry-on for this purpose. I used to do a lot of rough travel, particularly around Asia, so this is not my first rodeo. I know I’ll be a zombie by the time I arrive Bali, but that’s OK! Once I get there I can relax big time.
It's fine, I'm so incredibly lucky to be able to do this at all. Ubud in Bali is my very special place on the planet for healing and rejuvenation. I've been so many times, for extended trips, that I've honestly lost track of how much time I've spent there over the last 3+ decades. Bali always delights me and that's a great reward after going through all this cancer treatment.
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Photo by @JanetGreyMatters