Vaccinated!

I am vaccinated
I am vaccinated

I received my second Moderna vaccine today. I’m so excited that this may be the beginning of a return to “normal life,” whatever that means. At least I can feel good about traveling again.

Rugby Sevens Is Coming Back (hopefully)

Awoke Wednesday morning to news that the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is scheduled to resume in May, with stops in London, Paris, Vancouver, Singapore, Cape Town, Dubai and Hong Kong in 2021.

Some notable missing stops are Australia and New Zealand, as well as Los Angeles and Glendale for the USA Sevens stops. At least Canada Sevens is on the schedule, though!

Shortly after this announcement by World Rugby, USA Rugby announced there will be a women’s and men’s stop in Los Angeles in June but it will not be part of the formal Sevens Series.

Hopefully, the Southern California area will be clear enough by late June that fans can attend the matches at Dignity Health Stadium. The Super Fans have already booked hotel reservations nearby in anticipation… can you tell we miss rugby a lot?

Also, how awesome is it (for me, at least) that this is the second time in a week that the Hong Kong stop had been mentioned as definitely occurring in November? Not getting my hopes up yet to avoid more disappointment, but if the Olympics take place in Japan this summer I think it will be safe to say that Hong Kong will happen, too.

Orthotic Brace

Fabi received her orthotic brace today. Her right hock collapsed with her last infection and she has a bit of difficulty walking as a result. Hopefully the brace will allow her to have a more normal gait.

Postponed again

I was really looking forward to attending the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament last April. It’s the premiere sevens event and definitely a “bucket list” type of trip. I had it all paid and was eagerly awaiting my trip… when COVID-19 reared it’s head globally. The 2020 tournament was postponed to October initially before the entire 2020 Sevens Series was ended abruptly in July. I adjusted my plans to attend the 2021 edition of the HK Sevens in April… which was just postponed again until November 2021.

Another postponement is disappointing for sure. I am still healthy and employed, so in the big picture I can endure an additional seven months wait to attend. It appears there will be widespread application of the COVID-19 vaccine by summer here in the United States which will help things slowly return to normal.

I feel guilty complaining about something as petty and privileged as having to wait another half year to take my trip, but I don’t have much left to anticipate these days. This Hong Kong trip was my lifeline to a happier future where I could watch rugby in person again and travel internationally. That’s been cruelly kicked down the street again.

The part of all this I dread most is getting United Airlines to reschedule my trip again without even more change fees. Wish me luck.

Happy Colorado Day!

Flag Of Colorado
Flag Of Colorado

We are living through the second major pandemic Colorado has endured in its 144 years of statehood. I hope this is the last one, but that hope is tempered by the stupidity of anti-vaxxers and anti-science morons, and Republicans in general.

I’m Not Going to Hong Kong This Year, After All

As I relayed previously, I was planning to go to the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament back in early April this year. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the organizers to postpone the tournament to mid-October. I will admit that I was managing my excitement for this rescheduled trip pretty well until the past two weeks when I started feeling wanderlust for traveling again. I’m sure that the stay-at-home orders and cabin fever played into that longing, but I am typically the type of person who loves to travel and cannot wait for my next trip, regardless of where it takes me.

So you can imagine the disappointment I felt when received an email from the Hong Kong Rugby Union announcing that World Rugby had abandoned the remainder of the 2020 HSBC Sevens Series, including the Hong Kong Sevens tournament.

No rugby in 2020 for you!

Instead of attending the 2020 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, it appears I will be attending the 2021 edition next April… assuming that the world is not completely on fire by then (COVID-19, Chinese security laws and protests, etc.).

While Keith Prowse Travel has already emailed to let me know they’re communicating with all the involved vendors and will advise me when they know how the transition to the 2021 tournament will proceed, I was already able to change my flights on United to the new dates — online, without talking to a person in a call center, with no change fees.

It doesn’t look like I will be traveling anywhere internationally in the meantime. The U.S. is shunned worldwide for our lackluster control of the coronavirus outbreak and the E.U. has already banned Americans visiting this summer. I can’t even visit my family in Oklahoma for the foreseeable future as it’s one of the current hot spots in the South… plus, it’s Oklahoma. The dogs and I will have to stick to local trips in Colorado, which is fine. Unfortunately, Fabi can’t hike any longer so we’ll have to “car camp” or rent a cabin.

Thanks, COVID-19

I was scheduled to travel to Hong Kong in April to watch the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament.  It’s a “bucket list” trip for me and I was looking forward to visiting Hong Kong for the first time.  I also purchased the trip as a gift to myself for my fiftieth birthday, so I splurged and chose the swankiest ticket package available short of renting out a suite.  I’m staying at a fancy hotel nearby, too.  I enjoy traveling and try not to get too excited for visiting new places, but I have to admit I was starting to become giddy with excitement for this trip.

After the beginning of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19 as it is now officially named, I scoured the news for any indication it would impact my trip.  I was nervous when U.S. airlines stopped servicing mainland China, and when Untied Airlines announced they were reducing flights to Hong Kong to once daily I was even more concerned.  The director of the Hong Kong Rugby Union adamantly announced two weeks ago that they were holding the tournament as planned in April despite the outbreak, noting the tournament went ahead in 2003 during the SARS outbreak.

This past Wednesday evening I was browsing through my Instagram feed when I came across a post from the Dubai Rugby Sevens account consoling the Hong Kong and Singapore Sevens tournaments regarding the postponement of their respective tournaments.

IMG_2276

I could not find any information regarding the postponement on any of the sites I expected (Hong Kong Sevens or World Rugby) to corroborate this information.  Interestingly, that Instagram post was subsequently deleted by Dubai Sevens —  probably because the decision had not been officially released at that point.  I did come across a New York Times article suggesting the tournament would be postponed, though.

It wasn’t until the next morning (in the U.S.) that the official announcement was released by World Rugby and the Hong Kong Rugby Union that the tournament was being postponed until 16-18 October.  This was disappointing news for sure but definitely necessary to preserve the health of the players, staff and the fans.

I had to begin the process of shifting my travel reservations to the new dates.  I purchased my tournament tickets and accommodation package via Keith Prowse Travel out of Australia.  I have greatly enjoyed working with my agent Dave there and was planning to reach out to him regarding the process of rescheduling… when he called me and confirmed everything was going to be handled appropriately. Since my package did not include airfare I still needed to change my flights with United.  I decided to call UA on the phone to speak with someone in person.  UA posted flight waivers for existing booked flights but those waivers only accommodated rebooking into June.  I wasn’t really in the mood to pay a change fee for my fare because the HKRU moved the tournament to October. When I first contacted a representative at United I was informed that because the changed flight date was outside the wavier period it would potentially cost me US $200 to change the dates, but the rep did “get permission” to waive that fee due to the special circumstances.  I am unsure who gave him this permission but I won’t complain.  In the end I was informed the change would cost about US $5 to process… but I have not  yet seen that transaction come across on my AMEX account.

I still look forward to visiting Hong Kong in October and hope that I can contain my excitement until then.  I also hope that there are not many more deaths from people suffering in the region where COVID-19 is running rampant.  This outbreak will have a major impact on travel to the region.