Then & Now | Like travel in wartime: coronavirus pandemic has normalised quarantines and tortuous journeys
- For those frustrated by travel woes caused by the pandemic, imagine what an overseas trip was like in the 1940s
- Air and sea routes opened and closed almost overnight, while the military took priority on transport
That history repeats itself is a casual truism, and endlessly retailed by those with a sketchy grasp of the subject. For more informed observers, the past tends to rhyme instead, and often in unexpected ways.
One example is the striking parallels that exist – starkly different, of course, but which nevertheless rhyme and chime – between wartime travel and the Covid-19 pandemic as it steadily trudges on through its second year.
For all the optimistic chatter about vaccine passports, shortened or eliminated quarantine in various places, and a steady “return to normal”, numerous questions remain about what travel will look like for the next couple of years – at least.
Examination of the experiences of the past offers insights – however imperfect – into how the coming months and years may be.
In this instance, the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939, and how the broader logistical effects of that conflict rippled out to corners of the globe that were never the actual site of armed conflict, provides some illustrative parallels. So how would one get from Britain to Hong Kong while transport was still possible in the uncertain two years before Japan entered the war, in December 1941?