Am I the only one who finds this kind of scary?

Channel 2, our local PBS, has been showing Rick Steves reruns weekday nights at 7:30 p.m., and I've been doing some arm chair traveling with Rick. 

My vicarious travels have of late taken me to Berlin, Florence, Rome, Venice, Paris, London, the Balkans, Southern France... Like Rick, I'm a Europhile. Almost all of my outside-the-US travel has been to Europe, someimes with a Rick Steves' guidebook under my arm.

I wouldn't mind going to Japan. Or New Zealand. Or Vietnam. But the older I get, the longer those flights start looking. So trips there are only on my small b bucket list, towards the bottom, in a tiny font. 

When I think of where I really want to go on the international scene, it's generally places I've been: Ireland, Paris. 

But mostly, I just want to go someplace. Since covid, I've been to Vermont (twice) and New Hampshire (once). Not that I don't love my New England, but I'm ready to put on my travelin' shoes and go somewhere that involves taking a plane.

China isn't on the someplace list. It's never been a must have to begin with. I'm sure it's fascinating and beautiful and all sorts of good things, but the crowds, the air pollution, the spitting... Not to mention the long flight. So, nah. And if it's always been a nah - of a meh at best - covid has pretty much put the nail in the coffin of my desire.

Not that I blame China for covid. Sure, I'll change my tune if we find out that the cooked up the virus in a lab and deliberately took the cork out of the vial. And, sure, having wet markets is pretty yuck. But, hey, pandemics happen.

And in terms of responding to covid-19, China didn't mess around. At one point, I remember seeing Chinese soldiers welding the doors of apartment buildings to make it easier to keep tabs on who was coming and going - and to make sure the covids weren't going. And it's still not messing around (which is, of course, a lot easier to do if you're an authoritarian country).

As countries around the world reopen borders and loosen coronavirus restrictions, Beijing is doubling down on its zero-Covid strategy. The latest example: a $260 million, 5,000-room quarantine facility for incoming travelers set to open in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou in the coming days.
Comprised of rows of three-story buildings topped with gray roofs in traditional Chinese style, the massive complex spans an area the size of 46 football fields and took less than three months to be built from scratch on

the outskirts of the city.

It will replace designated hotels located throughout Guangzhou to quarantine Chinese and international travelers arriving from overseas -- a move aimed at reducing residents' exposure to imported cases.

Travelers will be transferred on buses directly from the airport, and confined to their rooms for at least two weeks. Each room is fitted with a video chat camera and an artificial intelligence-powered thermometer, with three meals a day delivered by robots -- all designed to minimize direct contact with staff members. (Source: CNN)

China's borders have been pretty much closed to foreigners from the outset of the pandemic. The few who were allowed in, along with Chinese nationals returning home, have been required to hunker down for two weeks in one of those isolation hotels, then another week in home isolation. Now, travelers coming into Guangzhou- whether fully vaccinated or not (and China has a pretty high vaccination rate) - will spend their first two weeks in country biding their time, getting their meals delivered by robots, in this new state of the art quarantine facility.

It's anticipated that other such facilities will be constructed elsewhere in China, which pretty much suggests that China sees that we're going to be in pandemic mode for the long haul.

Frankly, the looks of this quarantine center terrifies me. (And I can't be the only one who thinks it looks like Auschwitz.) 

I know that plenty of countries have required visitors to quarantine. And maybe those lifting quarantine requirements, and generally opening things up, are acting prematurely. What if China's right?

Here's hoping that more people worldwide get themselves vaccinated. That the new Merck pill turns out to be a miracle cure. That the pandemic burns itself out. 

Like most folks I know, I'm itching to get back to traveling. But not so greatly that I'll be knocking on China's door anytime soon, even if they would let me in.

But I probably won't be going anywhere else in a hurry, either.

Best to wait this one out.