Re: Hard border, closed border, open border

M. is currently at 105+. M. traveled in over 20+~30 countries in the past 2 years despite COVID. I'm SO happy for him.

T. is now on 70. 30+ since we met. SO awesome.

New Zealand's border will not open until after mid-2022.
It is crazy to think about the implication of this for those who have families overseas.
For those of us who have families in our home countries,
this is a difficult time to stay so far apart for so long.
I myself do not know when I will get to see my grandparents and whether I will ever get to again.

For keen travelers such as myself,
this is particularly difficult.
My soul dies on the inside knowing how long it has been,
and how much longer it will be still,
when I get to travel to new countries again.
It is frustrating for me to recognise how many new countries some of my traveler acquaintances have been since we last met,
and how I've been on a stand-still.
Not that it is a competition in anyway, 
it just boggles my mind the lack of experience I have had in the past 2 years...
How little growth I have made in myself,
the kind of rapid growth you only get when you travel in new countries.

Every trip was a massive self-discovery and revelation,
a huge learning curve about a different place, a different world, 
and learning about new friends and their ways of perceiving the world.
I have been deprived of all of that for 2 years now.
That's what bothers me the most.