So far unlucky with my 2021 travel plans due to COVID-19 outbreaks in certain Northern provinces of Vietnam - and with very little time left before my relocation to Indonesia - I decided to attempt an in extremis expedition to a bucket list item for adventure seekers and trekking lovers: an expedition to Hang Sơn Đoòng - The world's largest cave. The initial intent was to visit the cave with a few close friends. We reached out to Oxalis Adventure - the expedition's adventure company - through their Facebook Page. Out of luck, their tours were fully booked until June 2021. For the sake of preservation, Oxalis limits their amount of expeditions to one hundred (100) groups per year. They only operate during the dry season, defined in the Quang Binh province, between January and August. Outside of this window, the site becomes inoperable due to heavy water accumulation in the rainy season, sometimes reaching 180 millimetres per day, 28 days per month.

We are all aware of the changes the Omicron variant has brought to our lives over the past few weeks, especially if you are a seasoned traveller. I am far from being a travel expert, but I have recently gone through a frustrating travel experience as I was flying back from my holiday vacation in Canada. Five (5) years have passed since the last time I have visited my hometown, so I decided to take advantage of the pre-Omicron thaw to spend some quality time with my family. With this trip, I had finally completed my loop around the world (sorry-not-sorry for the flat-earthers). It took me five (5) years to complete, and I indeed made up for it as I spent loads of time at home with my parents, thanks to a restaurant and bars lockdown as well as a curfew implemented across the Province of Quebec since Boxing Day.

In a typical year, I take advantage of the long holiday that Tết offers to travel abroad. But, life has been everything but ordinary since the COVID-19 breakout in Wuhan and its halo effect around South East Asia. Especially in Vietnam, as the Government took early actions and closed the borders in February 2020. Since then, no one could get in or out of the country. As you expected, this year, it was impossible. Considering the travel restrictions currently applied, I planned to travel domestically and explore more of my country of residence. My first attempt to plan my holiday involved a week-long motorbike trip to Ha Giang - in the extreme North of Vietnam, near the Chinese border - along with eight (8) friends. But, this plain got ditched with serious complications involving a scam from a tourist agency in Hanoi (post coming soon…).