DON’T GET CAUGHT OUT ON BORDER CHANGES

ONE of the supreme challenges of life in the age of COVID-19 is dealing with the loss of certainty. In those far away times of February 2020, it was possible to know exactly where and when you could travel, with the only concern about getting home being a delayed flight.

But of course things are quite different today, as exemplified by the case of radiology worker Gemma Mai.

The Tweed healthcare worker has found herself in hotel quarantine after flying from Gold Coast Airport to Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport on January 1.

She was immediately stopped on arrival by health and border authorities who forced her into hotel quarantine for a fortnight at her expense.

Ms Mai lives one street over from the Queensland border in Tweed – so technically in NSW – but had been staying on the Gold Coast since January 1 believing that would avoid the border shutdown installed by Victoria on NSW.

But her NSW address meant she actually could not enter Victoria to visit her friend temporarily or return home to her 11-year-old son and Tweed job.

Given the fluidity of the border situation and constant changes in restrictions as a result of the constantly evolving COVID threat, it is clear that travellers must be incredibly vigilant before taking any interstate flights for the foreseeable future to ensure that you are not caught out.

One mistake and you’ll find yourself with lots of time to think about it.