All our lives we got up every day, went to work, and looked forward to the day when we would be able to travel the world, to see the places we’d been longing to visit.  The day would come when we wouldn’t have to worry about the kids or the bills, and we could just travel.  We had big plans.  We could spend time in Italy.  See parts of Europe we hadn’t been to.  Sail away to exotic locations like Australia and New Zealand.  I wanted to go to South America.  My wife wants to see Japan.  I don’t.  She even talked about an African safari.  The whole world awaited us.  And now that we’re at the point when we can make some of these trips, our world has become dramatically smaller.  The Wuhan virus plague has a lot to do with it.  We love to cruise.  The Wuhan hysteria first broke out on cruise ships, which coincidentally had visited ports in Asia.  Naturally, the fear-mongers found no fault with Asia.  They blamed the cruise ships.  The entire industry was shut down for more than a year.  When the ships came back in 2021, there was no problem, until the advent of Omicron.  Now we’re getting stories of hundreds of positive cases on ships.  People are reluctant to return to cruising.  I understand, but how about a dose of reality?  Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has been in the news.  Positive tests on the ships.  55 on Oasis of the Seas.  110 on Harmony of the Seas.  173 on Jewel of the Seas.  My God!  It’s another seagoing pandemic!  Except it’s not.  Everybody on these ships, passengers and crew, are tested before and during the cruise.  The worst numbers were on Jewel of the Seas.  173 positive tests represents a positivity rate of about 5%.  On the other ships, its between 1 and 2%.  Ships are dangerous?  Care to guess what the Covid positivity rate for testing on dry land was this week?  According to the CDC, 29% of those tested came back positive.  Sounds like cruising is safer than staying home.  No matter.  For the time being, cruising is out.  The Wuhan hysteria has also soured us on some of the places we wanted to visit.  We were planning to go to Australia and New Zealand.  Given recent events, I’m not sure I want to go anymore.  Our view of Australia may have been colored by Crocodile Dundee.  Australians were a hardy, boisterous, independent lot, dedicated to democracy and freedom.  That impression clearly was wrong.  As an isolated island continent, the Australian shut down of tourism in 2020 made sense.  But then, we began to hear alarming stories of repression.  Australians are confined to their homes, harassed for vaccination cards on the streets, and hunted by police if they dare venture outside without permission.  These fascist tactics worked, for a time.  As late as the end of May 2021, there were fewer than 100 Wuhan cases in all of Australia.  It took from February 2020 to late September 2021 (20 months) for Australia to reach 100,000 Wuhan cases.  A good argument for draconian restrictions?  Not so fast.  In the last 4 months, thanks to Omicron, the positive case count in Australia has reached 1.2 million.  Due to the less virulent Omicron, only 0.04% of those infected are in serious or critical condition.  By contrast, in the Obese States of America, the serious/critical count is 0.12%.  For the mathematically challenged, this means for every 1,000 people infected, 988 are not seriously ill.  So is the Australian fascism justified?  Not to me.  I won’t be going there any time soon.  How about Europe?  The travel restrictions change so often, it’s difficult to make plans.  Will they let you in?  Once in, can you come back?  Do you have to wear a useless mask?  Too much uncertainty.  But we can still travel inside the U.S., right?  Not really.  Our own country has gotten smaller.  The Blue States have Wuhan restrictions that rival those in Australia.  In New York City, while no identification is required to vote, you need 2 shots and a booster to eat at Taco Bell.  Go West?  Not that I want to go to Washington State, but try this on for size.  The Washington State Board of Health wants to enact a Wuhan protocol which would allow health officers to hold people or groups of people in isolation or quarantine.  The State could lock up citizens who fail to comply with COVID vaccination mandates.  The proposal only mentions “citizens.”  No mention of the unvaccinated illegal aliens Biden is letting in.  A local health officer could ask a court to authorize the isolation or quarantine of a citizen for up to thirty days at an “isolation facility.”  Washington is trying to recruit strike team consultants to provide “guest” transport to and from the “facilities.” “Guest” transport shouldn’t be a problem.  The Dept. of Corrections has nice “guest buses” with cages over the windows.  Disney might be enlisted to update the Washington State Anthem, “Be our guest, be our guest, don’t complain that you’re repressed …”   It’s reminiscent of the Soviet Union, which “hospitalized” misguided citizens who refused to comply.  So, Washington State is out.  The rest of the West Coast?  Oregon.  They’re crazy.  You can forget California, and not just because of the Wuhan.  There always have been safety concerns in big cities.  But now that George Soros has installed prosecutors who refuse to prosecute, and since criminals don’t go to jail, concern has become calamity.  Crime rates are soaring.  Add to this the public health crises created by armies of the homeless, who are free to shoot drugs and crap all over the streets, and California has become a “no fly” zone.  Where to go?  Chicago, Philadelphia?  They’ve become criminal hellholes.  Well, there was that safari idea.   I guess we won’t have to go to Africa to see predators in the wild.  Want to do some upscale shopping?  Keep an eye out for the smash and grab gangs.  Where are Peter, Paul and Mary now that we need them?  “If I had a hammer, I’d pick up some jewelry.”  The National Parks?  They’re under federal control, so no.  Let’s face it, it’s a small, small world.  Back to Disney again.

It’s a world of crime, and a world of tears
They have dashed our hopes and have stoked our fears
There’s so much we have lost, by the Chinese we’re bossed
It’s a small, small world