Ridiculously high airfares
I had been wanting to go see Mum in Malaysian Borneo for a while now. But the need to do hotel quarantine there and also upon return to New Zealand was a deterrent. Apart from that, it seemed best to delay the trip until her helper finishes up in December and I’d be able to help settle the new helper in, or do the work myself together with my brother.
Airfares had also been ridiculously expensive with Singapore Airlines charging about NZD1800 for the journey. To start across the ditch in Australia would only cost about AUD630 which wasn’t far off from NZD630 at current rates. Unfortunately travel between Australia and New Zealand had been suspended because of Covid-19 in both countries.
In the past days, I sensed that she was not in a good state. She had deteriorated since her fall, operation and complications.
Sad day
Today I received news that Mum passed away in her sleep. I had all packed to go see her in a week’s time but hadn’t bought the ticket. While it was sad we couldn’t see each other one last time, it made me really glad I went back to see her last year, enduring a total of 4 weeks in hotel quarantine.