The Russian embassy had been helpful beyond explanation , constantly checking to make sure Alex was alright , if he needed anything or how cold they help . Yet with Russian borders fast closing solid and indefinitely it was an easy choice to had toward Ireland . The bike , a Yamaha FZ800 Fazer was also on its way to the Emerald Isle .
For Alex it seemed two thigs were strange about his repatriation , despite it being on a commercial flight and not one being organised by a government . Sydney airport was empty and felt like something from a Hollywood movie while Ireland required non-mandatory 14-day self-isolation .
“ At the time Ireland had a 30 times higher infection rate than Australia . What was the point ?” he shrugged . “ I chose to ignore it .”
Alex admits that at the time the outcome hit him quite hard , “ for the past year I had been constantly moving and meeting new people . All of a sudden I was essentially isolated for three months .”
“ Yet I was till lucky it didn ’ t hit me in the middle of my trip ,” he continues to explain his feelings . “ I feel really sorry for the travellers who had to abort their trips of a lifetime .
“ And I , of course , feel very sorry for the people who were impacted by the virus and the lockdown , lost their jobs and are struggling financially .”
Like most of us Alex has his own extraordinarily strong opinions on how the pandemic has impacted the international community through the varied ways that governments have approached the handling of the virus and whether their doing has created a greater humanitarian problem .
“ I don ’ t feel like this situation did any good for people socially ,” he explains . “ There are very popular opinions about the right approach … people got very divided over it .
“ Of course , both sides being fuelled by media hype . There ’ s been pretty tense arguments , finger pointing and shaming . I ’ ve definitely lost some friends through this , but I ’ ve made new ones too .”
And while Covid has certainly brought people , communities together , it has certainly been very divisive , perhaps a world traveller can only truly be placed to see how things have panned out , perhaps they only see it through a need to travel .
In the time Alex returned home he was able to continue his passion for travel , albeit closer to home and before European borders closed much harder . A cycling trip through Portugal and Span helped in shedding lockdown calories . Although he ’ s confident that long distance overland trips will be out of the question for an increasingly long time .
“ In my opinion , decisions and actions of such a macro scale , affecting the lives of hundreds of millions are to be driven by data with a cold head ,” he suggests . “ And if the data isn ’ t available or does change , adjust accordingly .
“ I think this is the part where we were let down in a way , a lot of decisions were driven by emotion , extreme fear and an overwhelming media pressure . I feel there were smarter , more effective , and less disruptive ways to handle it .
“ I ’ m not one of those conspiracy theorists , I do believe the virus is very real ,” he continued . “ However , I don ’ t believe all of the measures were driven by the data available or adjusted once data became available .”
As with many who ride motorcycles Alex takes the approach that perhaps we should be able to assess the virus on an individual level , assess the risk based on our own tolerance , “ most carry a certain element of risk . Travelling on a motorbike carries an incredibly significant risk , especially in developing countries with chaotic traffic .
“ Am I worried about the virus with 0.03 % fatality rate ( for my age group )?” it ’ s clear that Alex is passionate with his feelings . “ Not really . There are people for whom even this is too high of a risk - they can stay at home if they wish .
“ Am I worried about people who are vulnerable to the
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