Far From Home This COVID Christmas

By Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL. - Published January 28, 2021

By DET Regional

COVID travel lockdowns have frozen the home trip plans for many of our Deltans working abroad this year. Here we’ll find out how some of our expat colleagues are holding up after so long away from home and how they are making the most of their year-end holidays.Jim Wang, Delta Australia

This year I was able to do a lot of WFH during the Melbourne lockdown. It’s nice to spend time with my family, especially my 18-month old daughter, and skip the commute. Although I miss chatting with workmates, I can get more done at home.

At home, I enjoy the freedom to self-motivate and focus as I set up my own working environment. I can easily de-stress by taking breaks to water my tomato plants in the garden. I’ve also become a better cook fixing our family meals.

Although I haven’t been able to fly home for some time, I’m thankful that I returned to see my parents in January 2020 before the lockdown began here in Australia. I do video chat almost every day with my family in Taiwan.

Before COVID we'd spent our Christmas holidays traveling overseas and going back to Taiwan to visit my family, but this year we’ll have more chances as a family to explore outside of Melbourne and travel around the Victoria region.

Hopefully, we will be able to travel overseas as soon as the beginning of next year when we expect travel bubbles between Australia and some Asian countries.

Christine Wang, Delta Thailand

This is my second year in Thailand with DET. I usually go back to Taiwan during the New Year and Songkran festival holidays when we get more time off. Because of COVID, it’s been one year since my last trip home.

Although I miss everyone back home I am using my holidays here to explore Thailand more because I heard there are a lot of beautiful places and different cultures here. This time, I visited Phuket and the impressive Phi Phi islands.

The resorts at Phuket are awesome and relaxing. You can do all kinds of activities from morning to night every day there and feel the luxury of service and hospitality on an exotic tropical island.

If you’d like to go traveling domestically in Thailand (when it’s safe), then why not just go ahead and buy a plane ticket or rent a car to somewhere you haven’t been? But if you’d like to relax then a staycation in town might be good.

You can go shopping in Bangkok during the holidays too because there are always great discounts and everyone is back in their hometowns so you can enjoy the sights and the amazing art without the crowds.