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Tiga bulan pertama hidup di luar Indonesia

Gw kira rasanya akan sama aja. Ada rasa kangen ya wajar karena jauh dari tempat yang selama ini kita sebut familiar. Tapi ternyata ada rasa rindu yang pukulannya berbeda.  Di kasus gw, gw cuma kenal satu orang Indonesia. Beliau bilang kalau mau temen jalan-jalan bisa lah berkabar biar jalan bareng. Tapi karena gw ada kerja dari senin-jumat, sedangkan beliau nggak, jadinya waktu kami seringkali nggak pas. Sedangkan di akhir pekan, gw habiskan bersama suami.  Bulan pertama masih terasa integrasi. Berusaha mengenal supermarket mana yang jual apa. Cari ini itu di mana. Menghafal jalur transportasi umum. Mengenal, membaca dan memahami nama daerah atau tempat dari huruf cyrilic-nya untuk sekedar "kalau nyasar, bisa kasih tau suami lagi ada di mana" karena seringkali online maps dihambat pemerintah.  Bulan kedua sudah mulai mengenal banyak hal. Sudah punya kartu atm untuk pembayaran. Visa panjang juga sudah di tangan. Mulai berhati-hati dengan banyak hal, mana yang boleh mana ya...

Is It Possible to Travel During Pandemic?

Our very first selfie after 10 months.

Possible, but not worth it. 

Not to mention the efforts to fly and hassle in preparing the documents. Took me 2 days to reach my destination. Limited flights schedule and choices. Had to stay overnight in Jakarta. Definitely spent more dime on unexpected stays and flights.

In my opinion, it does not only depend on yourself but people in the places you're going to visit. My last trip to Dubai was chosen because that's the most doable trip to meet my husband after 10 months away. He can't come here without KITAS. Thankfully we've arranged a family visa for him when we're in Dubai.

Mask is mandatory in the UAE. Otherwise, they'll make you pay a fine if you go out without it. That's not cheap. Everyone wears it. Life there seems normal. Like it is seen 80% normal. Sure there are a lot of places closed or changing operational hours, even can't find taxis that easy at midnight. But compared to Bali, it seems normal.

Restaurants, cafes, every public place were busy. Maybe that also caused by the tourists that are allowed to visit. When we asked people how is it going in the hotels and UAE overall, they said "It's getting better, we're getting busier each day and it's slowly going back to normal"

Started to eat something "healthier", occasionally having indomie 😆

They keep building things. Of course, the central bank said that there is a significant decline in economic activity but not as bad as what we have here. 

Every place provides hand sanitizer in every corner. They keep checking on body temperature, most of the time with a thermal detector. Even entering the hotel every day had to pass the temperature check. Even though they know that we're staying there. We had this high temperature once. He had over 37 and mine was 36.9. We were worried then drink a lot of water and stay inside for the next day. Turned out, that day was close to 40 outside and we spent the day out for a whole day, and less drink. 

Why is it working in the UAE? Because everyone is being responsible. They will test people who were coming from the red zone like Indonesia, the USA, Brazil, etc upon arrival. The health protocol was good. It's not only in Dubai but also in some other cities too. I am no expert, but I experienced it for a whole month. Of course, I was worried about eating out. Because we can't cook obviously, so we had to eat outside. Sometimes our favorite spots were full that day and they seem like didn't really care about the distance. We try to avoid the crowds as much as we can. We both are taking this seriously. 

off to park next door to say hi to the cats.

Even though it is possible, but it's not really worth it. My trip was made for meeting my husband after being away for 10 months. If he can come to Indonesia or me to his country, we would choose that option. Luckily, UAE is considered a safe place for us to meet.

If it was for a "fun trip" then it wouldn't be that fun. We meet there because we were away for months. I mean, it's not necessary to have to go out to seize the day. Most of the time we spent time in the hotel, playing online games although most of the time I only collected the weapons and hiding then my husband gonna kill everyone to protect me. LOL, I was addicted. Also, we needed to work at some point. 

our virtual trip most of the time.

You definitely can take a trip of yourself to see whoever you wanna see, or just to enjoy the holiday. But, don't forget to be responsible for yourself and the people around you. 2020 is a tough year for (almost) everyone. So, keep in mind that if you're taking the trip anywhere, with any purpose, just be responsible.

Stay safe everyone 💚. 

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