LET ME OUT
With some countries cautiously opening their borders to fully-vaccinated tourists, I d like to leave Australia to travel. I would not qualify for an exemption under the current rules but I m prepared to do the following: stay away for at least three months, pay a bond to cover quarantine costs on my return, and sign a waiver saying that I wouldn t expect the Australian government and its diplomats to help me get home. Is this a possible plan to get us travelling overseas again?
Lorraine Davies, Toormina, NSW
ANCHORS AWEIGH
Under strict guidelines, and changes in on-board operation, cruising has been occurring out of Singapore for many months without incident. These cruises are for locals only and sail to nowhere .
RELATIVELY SPEAKING
There is a lovely upside to the COVID-19 restrictions on overseas travel. For me, and I m sure for many families, travel in Australia has meant a wonderful increase in family visits. Apart from our usual Christmas gathering of my sons and their families from interstate, since July 2020 my home in Coffs Harbour has welcomed a niece and her husband en route to Byron Bay for a babymoon, a niece, her husband and two children quarantining outside Sydney before continuing to the Sunshine Coast, my Queensland nephew and his partner celebrating an early Christmas here with his Sydney mum and his sister and her family, my brother popping up from Sydney for a long weekend and, most recently, my sister and brother-in-law staying over en route to a Byron birthday.