It seems like a lifetime ago when we sat down for our annual Wendy Wu Chinese New Year dinner in Dublin.
You can read what you want into this year being the Year of the Rat.
And talked about what then seemed a distant (and Asian) threat… Coronavirus in China.
The city of Wuhan had been put in lockdown and our hosts, of course, were seeing the effects long before the rest of us.
The date, January 23, seemed insignificant other than I was long looking forward to one of my highlights of the year.
When the clock started ticking
And not just because it meant meeting up with old friends and the feast in front of us at Chai Yo Teppanyaki on Baggot Street Lower https://www.chaiyo.ie
But when we chronicle these times that date of January 23, 2020 will mark the day that Wuhan locked down.
Seventy-six days later, on April 7, the region emerged from lockdown.
And from this website’s perspective Travel began its fightback.
Chinese travel
With The Guardian reporting that China Eastern was operating 30 flights from Wuhan to other cities in China.
Like Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, with more than 1,600 trips booked.
More than 55,000 passengers were said to have booked tickets to leave the city, according to the railway operator.
And long-distance buses had also resumed service.
All of which had passed me by somewhat until my daily trawl as to what the rest of the world was doing brought me back to Wuhan.
And talk of further travel from the city on the Yangtze.
Because, and taking into account that no country is the same, 73 days takes Britain from March 23 to July 4.
Now the significance of such a date would not be lost on any of us and we all come from a different starting point.
The West is watching
But it would be great if all of us in the Western World can target that date to get going again.
And while it is unlikely that Donald Trump would follow anything that China does, we can but dream.
I know I am… I had planned the Florida Keys https://fla-keys.co.uk San Francisco https://www.sftravel.com and Dublin https://dublin.ca.gov in the Tri-Valley outside San Fran. As well as Chicago https://www.choosechicago.com.
Alas the American Travel fair, IPW, bowed to the inevitable when the get-together, which was this year to be held in Las Vegas https://www.lvcva.com, was shelved.
Don’t Cancel Postpone
Those trade partners I visit (yes, and hug) every year are suffering just now.
And I can only reprise on how I found them and their venues, Washington DC, Denver and Anaheim in previous years…
At http://Easy DC, https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/culture/go-west-denver-buffalo-bill/.
And https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/29/the-new-pioneers/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2020/03/19/my-weekend-with-marilyn-2/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2020/03/23/stair-wars-4/
And say, once again, as I will. Don’t Cancel Postpone
