YEAR WITHOUT SUMMER
“LIFE MUST GO ON, AND THERE ARE FEW GREATER AFFIRMATIONS OF LIFE THAN TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE”
Like a thief in the night. That’s how I feel as I tear out of my home in Bali at 10 PM to catch the overnight ferry to the neighbouring island of Lombok. From there, I’ll make a two-hour dash across Lombok and board a second ferry for a 10-day adventure around Sumbawa, one of the least-visited large islands of the Indonesian archipelago.
In the year preceding COVID-19, I chalked up eight rides around Southeast Asia. It’s not just for fun, it’s part of my job, or better said my former job as a travel writer. But since the start of the pandemic, I haven’t ridden much further than the bloody supermarket.
Some may question the wisdom of my decision to travel at this time, given the infection rate in Indonesia was still trending upwards at the time. But after going into cockroach mode at the start of the year, I’ve come to believe like many medical experts around the world that we have to learn to exist with COVID-19. Life must go on, and there are few greater affirmations of life than travel and adventure.
STORM CLOUDS AHEAD
I feel a
