Revenge Travel. Everyone is doing it these days.
After two years of being stuck at home and having any sort of plans quashed by the pandemic, the world has finally opened up once more and the era of revenge travel is officially here.
Everyone who is able and brave enough to travel, or had plans skewered by the pandemic is either already out there or busy planning their revenge. We can see on social media, as friends and family members have restarted the travel flexing, showing us how far you can possibly go by now, especially for those who still have the extra funds despite the economic devastation and uncertainty wrought by the pandemic and the soaring cost of living.
With the world slowly but surely opening up by now, most travel restrictions have already been lifted and the only additional hassle that remain are the health declaration / entry forms that have become an additional form that needs filling out.
For Filipinos, there is also the hassle of acquiring a VaxCert, which based on our recent experience, remains poorly updated, like in the case of my vaxxed and boostered family, whose vaccination records only show the first two doses and not the boosters. To think that we applied for our VaxCert more than a month before our scheduled departure, and yet got only partially updated certificates, speaks a lot of the inefficiency of whatever system was put in place.
Anyway, we are already thankful that at least we had a vaccination record, because that was the most important bit and boosters are just optional. What we ended up doing was just to generate our partial VaxCert and bring along our vaxcards, because after multiple follow ups with the VaxCert people, getting our full and certified vaccination information proved to be an impossible task, even given the generous timeframe we allotted for it.
Anyway, since the world was already mostly opening up, our partial VaxCerts didn’t really worry us so we just printed the QR code with the partial information and took our handwritten vax cards with us to prove that we’ve been boosted if anybody asked.
Our trip was to Singapore and on our way there, which was via NAIA Terminal 1, our VaxCerts plus vaccine card for booster combo was found to be acceptable by the airline staff that checked us in. Immigration at departure was no hassle also and since we had already filled out our online SG Arrival Card with Electronic Health Declaration, entry into SG was no problem as well. Our “missing requirements” worries proved to be unfounded.
After our revenge travel adventures, we headed back to one of the world’s best airports once again. This time though, we failed to do our research properly and didn’t come with our One Health Pass, which is required from international inbound travelers. We hurriedly filled out the form online, and after that bit of hassle that was entirely our fault because we should’ve prepared for it, we were on our way once more. Our VaxCerts were questioned of course, since we weren’t boostered there, but once we showed our vax cards, no more travel hiccups were encountered.
When we got back to Manila, the OHP was scanned just before immigration and as long as you don’t close the browser window you used to get it, or kept a screenshot of it, you should be good to go. Overall, traveling while the pandemic isn’t officially over isn’t as hassle as I thought it would be and if the economic conditions were only better, I’m sure our family would be glad to give it another go before we all get too old and busy to travel together, especially after losing 2 of the peak years for family travel, when our kids are still in high school.
In summary, revenge travel doesn’t seem to be a problem, as long as the funds and savings allocated for it are still available, especially after two years of lifestyle changes because of the pandemic. As long as you’re vaccinated and boostered and the VaxCert contains enough information to back up your claim, going abroad and getting and back in the country doesn’t seem to be a problem.
There would be less stress if our VaxCerts were updated efficiently, but I guess that’s the price we pay for tolerating mediocrity in this country. It’s not a big deal most of the time, but as usual, going abroad often exposes just how far behind our country is trailing from the first world.*
