Window of Opportunity

2 min read

Eighteen months after not having set foot in an airport, let alone an aircraft, I find myself inside a desolate Changi Terminal 3 waiting to board the plane that will take me to Munich. I am a mix of raw nerves and excitement.

Singapore has opened a travel lane with Germany that will not require travellers to quarantine coming back. Naturally, the conditions of this travel lane are far more onerous than what it would have been pre-pandemic. I will have to undergo four PCR tests on the way back including a pre-departure test that puts me at risk of a 21-day delay in Germany should I test positive. While it weighed heavily on my conscience to travel in these inopportune times, the people close to me were far more encouraging. My grandmother – who I thought will be most opposed – was in fact quite supportive. She worried about snacks mid-flight lest I get hungry.

“I will pack some hard-boiled eggs and salt.” I quipped. “Buing”. She retorted amused.

Amid the excitement, nothing quite prepared me for the subdued atmosphere that greeted me upon setting foot in Changi. Once abuzz with life, the airport seems to be in a vacuum, devoid of the usual spirited sounds emanating from passengers and ground staff alike. Most of the shops are closed, large sections of the halls scarce of light. The operations are perhaps what can only be described as skeletal. It feels like I’m in a dystopian, post-apocalypse movie. There are people in PPE ushering passengers to their designated flights and guards roaming around carrying serious looking assault rifles. Everyone is wearing masks. It’s eerie to see. Like if you don’t behave yourself and follow protocol, you’re either going to be shot dead or zombies lurking in the dark recesses of the terminal will snatch you and engorge themselves with your flesh and blood.

I don’t know when Changi will come back to life again. It’s been a tumultuous year and a window of opportunity to see how the other side lives and copes with this pandemic has opened up so I took the chance. Logic dictates to wait until things are more normal, whatever normal means. But the butterflies somersaulting in my stomach and the rhapsodic beating of my heart indicating ache for travel trump all that logic. I reckon the benefits will outweigh the risks.

Auf Wiedersehen!