Covid lockdowns and border closures mean reality bites

Business-class flights. Five-star hotels. Champagne on tap. Ah yes, the life of the travel editor is so glamorous.

Destinations and deadlines have been flip-flopping almost as frequently as ATAGI’s vaccine advice. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Dallinger

Business-class flights. Five-star hotels. Champagne on tap. Priority access to high-end restaurants. Ah yes, the life of the travel editor is so glamorous.

My designer (Uniqlo) trackie-dacks may be wearing thin after 17 months of international border constraints but just you wait. The minute those departure gates open, I’ll be swanning around the great cities of the world before you can say “vaccination passport”. This job is just one big holiday.

Screech. That’s the sound of brakes being applied to this little fantasy. Thump. That’s me landing heavily back on Earth. Let me take you, readers, backstage, as it were; behind the scenes of this travel-editing gig. There seem to be some misconceptions to clear up.

Even before Covid-19 passed through immigration and customs with a casual wave, most of my time was spent sitting at an office desk, not in an airport lounge. Since March 2020, it’s been much the same, just at a WFH desk. A relative newcomer compared with my colleague Susan Kurosawa, who has 30 years at the helm under her belt, I have been editing The Australian’s travel pages for longer during the pandemic, than before it hit.

Friends frequently inquire: “How are you doing your job?” And well may they ask. Challenges? There have been many, but consider our contributors, who are some of the best in the biz of travel writing. Border closures, lockdowns, Tier 1 exposure sites, Covid tests, extreme weather events – all have contrived to create roadblocks, real and metaphorical, to getting the job done.

Is that the pop of a trans-Tasman bubble I hear? Our writer who arrived in Wellington from Sydney less than 24 hours earlier had better hop straight back on the plane. Fancy some stories from Western Australia? Indeed I do, but best pack for all seasons; your re-entry to fortress Sydney could be delayed by months.

Is that a landslide up ahead? Take off those hiking boots; your walk is cancelled. And by the way, you passed through a Queensland Covid zone en route, so when you get home to Victoria, get tested and stay put. Shame about that Tassie assignment you were going to do. Newly arrived for that luxe winery stay? Victoria just slammed into lockdown again; you’re checking out early tomorrow.

Departure dates, destinations and deadlines have been flip-flopping almost as frequently as ATAGI’s vaccine advice. Meanwhile, state tourism authorities, accommodation providers, PR consultants, restaurants and tour operators, who work miracles to pull together a packed itinerary, rip up the spreadsheets and tear out their hair.

This is a shout-out to all in the travel industry, and the readers you inspire to get on the road or make a booking. Keep rolling with the punches, people. If you need me, you know where I’ll be. At my desk, at home.