In January 2020, some six weeks before my visit to Manila, Taal volcano blew up. There goes my day-trip from Manila!
Covi-19, a corona-virus outbreak had been brewing in China since late 2019. In February, things started going international. By early March, the world outside of China was significantly impacted. I was still happy to undertake my trip as I’d be going to Palau where there had been no infections, and the numbers in the Philippines was only around 60.
Then came the first of a series of bombshells. On 12th March, twelve days before my arrival in Manila, the Philippines government announced a lockdown of Manila. There would be no domestic flights in/out of the city, and also no land or sea transport. With only around 60 cases in the country, this seemed like an overkill. I thought I’d still go and hopefully it would blow over.
A few days later, came another Filipino bombshell. There would be no foreigners allowed to arrive and leave via Manila airport for about a month! OK, my trip was definitely off now. Just as well, this didn’t happen while I was in Palau as there would be no way for be to return to the outside world. Palau is at the best of times only connected to the Philippines, Guam, Korea, Taiwan … all of which are not feasible in this scenario.
Then came the Filipino flip-flop. The government, realising that Filipino overseas workers still needed to travel, lifted the international (but not domestic ban). But many airlines, including mine, had cancelled their services to Manila. So again, my trip was definitely off.