😷 COVID | Traveling during Covid-19

So italy following the one-china-policy aside, is anyone else banning travelers from Taiwan? I’m about to book tickets for next month and don’t want any nasty surprises. A quick search doesn’t bring anything up.

4 Likes

Philippines.

2 Likes

Or perhaps not?

Guy

2 Likes

Looks like another opportunity for taiwan to point out independance :slight_smile:

The irony is the Philippines is so much more susceptible to a local outbreak than Taiwan (eg: Philippines has developing world healthcare, developing world infrastructure, more cramped and unsanitary conditions in Manila slums, etc). Very petty and illogical move if they’re indeed banning us.

2 Likes

Only loser countries would be dumb enough to do so and yes that includes Italy.

2 Likes

I think most authoritarian regimes are founded in part on petty behavior on a global stage, so it’s not unexpected.

Honestly I would’ve expected a lot more countries to lump Taiwan in with China. Maybe it’s a sign that fewer and fewer people respect them. Or more likely, maybe people are just forgetting about our little potato island’s existence.

With the Philippines it’s easier. Just threaten to deport the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos here and suspend all work visa application then they’d cave circa. 2013. They are poor af so they have no leverage.

5 Likes

This crossed my mind but it would be pretty ruthless on our part and likely stir up unnecessary animosity…

3 Likes

I’m booked to fly Cambodia 19th Visa jaunt, getting worried they may classify Taiwan/China? and stop visitors.

I have to travel abroad soon. The only reason for not yet booking the flight is the possible travel ban countries might impose on Taiwan if there is an outbreak next week (after the Cruise docked in Japan fiasco)

1 Like

They dont seem to have any issues with the thousands of taiwanese businessmen there …

This stinks of CCP bs. And that country is easily (cheaply) bought by such genoccidal maniacs :frowning:

1 Like

Think there will be a travel ban on Thailand? Looks like things are going supernova there.

Maybe they’ll follow the “we’ll get them before they get us” Filipino model and ban us first!

Seriously, I think it’s 50/50 depending how the next couple weeks go. I certainly wouldn’t feel great if I had tickets booked though.

Fighting dirty could work. Of course, a lot of good (and innocent) Filipinos working and studying here would be hurt in the process. But sometimes you have to break a couple eggs to make an omelette. :fried_egg:

I would be more inclined to do a trip to Japan (Okinawa or Fukuoka) and back.

2 Likes

Booking tickets at the moment, for travel in the next month, seems foolish - there’s definitely a high chance there are going to be a lot more quarantines, or you’ll find yourself on a seven-day vacation in Thailand, needing to spend the first two weeks (interesting math there …) in a quarantine shelter. It’s probably safer to just plan on staying close to home for at least the next month.

More than a month out, impossible to say.

I just came back from a great 10 day trip to Singapore. All the usual tourist spots like Singapore Zoo were ghost towns… if you just put the reason WHY out of your mind, then it’s like you went back in time to a couple decades ago when over-tourism hadn’t destroyed the fun of traveling. My wife said if we had booked it even 2 weeks later, she would’ve demanded we cancel it though. Luckily we left just as things were getting crazy, but not 50 cases crazy.

1 Like

You’re a university teacher too, right? I’ve got an extra couple of weeks before going back to class. I admit there’s a little corner of my brain that’s thinking “Damn, I can probably get some really cheap tickets to a relatively uncrowded Europe at the moment.” I won’t do that - I think the chance of quarantines are too high (and the bank balance too low!) - but the temptation is there.

At this stage I wouldn’t cancel anything out of fears of the illness itself (well, except maybe a package tour to Wuhan), but I would be looking into canceling out of fear of quarantines and hassle.

1 Like

If we’re just talking fear of contagion, I wouldn’t go to anywhere in China including HK or Macau tbh. Plus, it’s mostly shut down from what I hear. I probably wouldn’t do Thailand either, because I don’t trust the government is being honest with the real numbers and I don’t think they’d do a good job of containment. If it was just me (no wife or kid) and travel bans and quarantines weren’t a looming threat, I’d still visit Japan, South Korea, or even Singapore again. But yeah, airline travel is about to get even tougher I think.

When I came back from Singapore a few days ago, immigration gave me a much tougher time than usual.
First question “have you recently been to China?”
Me: “No.”
Second question after eyeing me for a moment: “Have you EVER been to China?”
Me nervously: “Er… maybe like 3 or 4 years ago.”
Him: "Show me the page with the passport stamp.
Me: “… okay, let me try and find it.”
Him: “I see. Okay, you can go.”
Me: “…”

2 Likes