The kindness of friends with the best intentions.. Can we stop writing about it?

It’s fun for us to add this feature during lockdown which once it’s over and we’re on the move again, we’ll return to posting one of our favorite photos of the day. As you can well imagine, we aren’t taking any photos right now. We’ve already posted hotel and staff photos leaving us no options from there since we cannot go outside.

On another note, many of our friends/readers have been sending us links and information regarding how the US State Department is assisting American citizens in getting out of India via chartered flights from Delhi, Goa, and Mumbai.Gosh, we appreciate everyone’s concern and also, we are well aware of the State Department’s efforts to repatriate US citizens who are in lockdown all over the world. We spend all day, every day, watching local and world news and reading copious amounts of news online. No new facts about the virus pass by us in our heightened state.

Beautiful orchid we spotted in our travels from this post.

For us, the fact remains consistent. We have no intention of returning to the US to live while waiting out the virus. There are many other countries we’d head to once the international travel bans are lifted, none of which include the US and its territories.

In many weeks or months away, our goal is to head back to South Africa, a military intervention to prevent its citizens and residents from movement beyond lockdown. Some harsh punishments have been enacted, including imprisonment, impounding vehicles, and being shot at with rubber bullets.

The people of India are also being arrested and jailed for disobeying the lockdown. Of course, this type of punishment is harsh, but the president is determined to keep the virus cases at bay. Only time will tell if these stringent tactics are effective.

We feel safe here. We would not feel safe flying to the US to face the 336,830 cases (as of today) with almost 10,000 deaths. As of today, India has 4314 cases and 118 deaths. India is one-third the size of the US in square miles but has four times the population.

Also, in this scenario, locked down in a hotel, we don’t have to go out to shop or make any purchases. We needed a few toiletries, and yesterday. I placed an order with Amazon India for a May 4th delivery date. We have no doubt we’ll still be here in May.

Suppose the airport opens in Mumbai for international flights and South Africa is not accepting incoming international flights. In that case, we have several other countries in mind that we’d fly to while we wait it out, again, with many fewer cases per capita. 

With the help of the internet, it’s easy to determine which countries continue to keep their borders closed. In the worst-case scenario, if none of the walls open, we’ll stay here in Mumbai until they do. 

Everything is predicated on the fact that we continue to have a place to stay in Mumbai while waiting it out. We’re feeling this hotel won’t “put us on the street” if they close and will find an alternative for all of us remaining here.

It appears that five guests from the UK will be getting out on a UK government-chartered flight sometime in the next few weeks. We appreciate their desire to return to their homes. 

But, with the national healthcare system on dangerous overload in the UK, along with the high number of cases, as eighth-highest in the world with 47,806 points and almost 5000 deaths, we’d undoubtedly stay put here rather than travel to the UK.

Plumeria, found in many tropical locations throughout the world. We took this photo in Hawaii.

For us, the bottom line… One, where are we the safest? And two, where are we the most mentally, physically, and financially most comfortable? For now, it’s Mumbai, India, staying at the Courtyard Mumbai International Airport for as long as we are allowed.