Nine months after the world shut down because of COVID-19, travel bans slowly started lifting. I took the first chance I could to travel back to England for a personal visit. I thought I was ready. I wasn’t prepared for the new reality of travel.
The first COVID test
The first step was to get a visa in Johannesburg, it was on this trip that I had my first COVID test — a painful nostril swab administered by a clearly exhausted woman at the Maseru border post, who had already tested hundreds of people and still had hundreds to go. The results came back immediately. If you were negative, you crossed. If not, you stayed.
The road to Joburg felt strangely normal. Cars were back on the highways. Street vendors were working again. Most shops were open.
It almost felt like life was returning — except for the masks, and the heat, and the badly ventilated bus I sat in for five hours with my face covered.
The second COVID test
A month later, I took another test for the trip to England — this time an oral swab. No pain, but the results took days. When they came back negative, I was cleared to travel.
This time I took a flight from Moshoeshoe I Airport in Maseru – it was as quiet as always, except now we stood two metres apart in check-in lines.
OR Tambo, though…That place shocked me.
Normally loud and buzzing, it felt like a ghost town. I walked through transfers to international departures, excited to sit at a restaurant with a drink and a book — but almost everything was closed.
Only two restaurants were open. Menus were limited. Staff stood behind masks, looking like they were there out of necessity rather than choice.
An hour later, I didn’t want to be there either. It felt heavy. So I went to wait at my gate.
Travellers sat far apart, wearing strange and wonderful masks. Some looked ready for COVID and World War 3 at the same time.
Seats were marked with red and green tape. No small talk. Anyone who coughed was stared at like a criminal.
Announcements came constantly — not just about security or baggage, but about distancing and safety.
I sat there thinking: How did travel become this? How did the world change so fast? Will it ever go back?
On the plane
Boarding felt the same — empty middle seats, sanitizer handed out immediately, and a long announcement about COVID rules.
Every meal came with a fresh sanitizer wipe. Air hostesses tried to smile through masks, but you could barely tell.
I followed the rules carefully — mask on, sanitizer used religiously. But by the time we landed in Heathrow, I was sneezing nonstop, my nose running under my mask.
Getting sick
Over the next weeks, I went through COVID in stages: coughing, sneezing, losing my sense of smell and taste, and then slowly getting them back — but differently.
To this day, some things still don’t taste the same. Peppers. Milk. Coke.
While I was in England, cases rose again and travel bans returned. I stayed three months longer than planned.
By the time restrictions eased, we were allowed small outdoor gatherings. And eventually, I was allowed to travel home.
The airports felt more alive than before — not normal yet, but breathing again.
I am grateful that the worst of COVID is behind us. We still live with its echoes, but life feels closer to what it once was.
And I will never forget what it felt like to travel through a world that was afraid.
Here’s what I learned through my experiences;
1. Normal can disappear faster than we expect. One year, airports were loud and crowded. The next, they were silent and suspicious. Life can change quickly — which makes ordinary moments worth noticing while they exist.
2. Travel reflects the emotional state of the world. The empty chairs, the masks, the fear — travel wasn’t just about moving places anymore. It showed how uncertain and fragile we all felt at the same time.
3. Even difficult journeys still carry meaning. Getting sick, being stuck, feeling scared — none of it was what I planned. But the experience taught me patience, gratitude, and how deeply connected we are across borders.
Leave a Reply