Passports

9/11 was a scary time. For once if something happened to my beloved stepmom in Florida or my daughter in Boston, I could not get to them from Geneva, Switzerland. The air lanes over the U.S. opened very quickly, however and the panic passed.

The pandemic has created a similar situation. Even if we are allowed into another country, we may not be allowed to reach an airport or cross a border by land to get to the airport. For example, many people who live just across the French/Swiss border on the French side would have to change countries to use the Geneva airport. Part of the airport is considered French territory but it necessary to go through Switzerland.

And even if they did cross the border, the number of flights are reduced.

My stepmom has since passed away but my daughter still lives in Boston and if she had a crisis, despite my Swiss passport and ESTA form, I could not get to her.

If I had a crisis, she could not get to me.

She told me there is another layer of potential problems. Right before the pandemic closed the world as we knew it, she sent her old passport in for renewal. She hops across the ocean frequently, but she had no immediate travel plans.

We just read an article that they've stopped processing passport applications, although they said there were some exceptions for emergencies. I suppose if I were in the hospital we could get some kind of documentation, but even if she escaped the U.S. there's no guarantee she'd be allowed into the country nor the hospital.

It's not like we can talk to one another on FB and say, "Why don't you come to dinner tomorrow night?" and we rush to the airport for an overseas flight, but there's comfort in knowing we can. 

Only now we can't.