Tauherenikau Friendship Club

Travelling in times of covid

Sue Teodoro is a seasoned traveller who did not let covid deter her from embarking on overseas travel as soon as the New Zealand borders opened up. Speaking at the recent Tauherenikau Friendship Club monthly meeting, she related her experiences travelling through Europe in those early days of living with covid.

The first thing that alerted her to that travelling had changed post-covid was the scene at Wellington airport. At that stage few planes were flying in and out of New Zealand so that the usually bustling airport was virtually empty of people and mask wearing was the norm. However, when she arrived in Europe, she found that people did not seem to socially distance and that masks were few and far between. The first country she visited was Spain, to walk the Camino Santiago. Here Sue found the trail congested with crowds of walkers – so many people had decided that they too needed to get travelling again as soon as they could and would not allow covid to hold them back.

Sue did behave sensibly, for example, wearing masks in planes, and she pointed out that she had family in Europe who would be able to help her should she fall ill. All the same, she stressed that it was quite possible then to travel overseas and that we should not let covid rule our travel plans. 

Do feel free to join the club if you are of retirement age. Visitors are welcome.  Meetings are at 10am the first Friday of the month at the South Wairarapa Workingmen’s Club. However, the August meeting will be a week later than usual, on August 11^th, when Marlene Ditchfield, who has written several books and articles about historical places and events, will talk about historic Wairarapa buildings.