So, I had made plans to visit family in India twice in the last year and cancelled both times.

The first time was in April, 2020. Back in February I had obtained permission from bosses, purchased tickets from United, and was essentially all set. A month to go, and Covid entered USA. An event I was volunteered for - the Miami Open - was cancelled a week or so before it was about to commence. However, I was still all set to leave when, a couple of weeks before my travel date, the Indian government abrogated all visas and other non-citizen instruments that gave permission to enter India. I had no choice but to cancel my trip at the last moment. United Airlines didn't refund my money, but gave me credit that could be used within a certain timeframe (which I didn't really follow, as I didn't have plans of travelling again in the near future, as the visas were still not reinstated).

A time most trying followed (this is Hercule Poirot style of sentence construct for those who is familiar)! USA reeled under Covid for a year. By March, however, vaccinations were starting to get available and I could see light at the end of the tunnel insofar as getting vaccinated was concerned. I volunteered at the Miami Open this year, and it was uneventful (though with a vastly reduced audience). My first vaccination was in Miami during the Open, and my follow-up was scheduled in my home city of Orlando late April.

India had started to open up with over 50,000 spectators - about half of them masked - at a couple of cricket matches. Cases were going down in the USA and so, I bit the bullet and formulated my first 2021 India visit plan. Unfortunately, my United credit didn't really provide me with a good enough option, so I went ahead and purchased a fresh ticket, this time with Air India. I was once again - all set to travel to India, this time during the first week of May. Bosses had once again given me permission to be in India - for a month this time. Not only that, as a credit for "good behaviour" as they say for prisoners, I even got them to grant me permission to work from India, something I had never been granted in the nearly two decades I have worked for the same employer. This is kind of a rarity for someone who works in IT (especially when I read most trip reports on here). As employer doesn't otherwise permit vacation longer than 2-3 weeks at a stretch, I was overjoyed. I had a month in India to look forward to, before the summer started, eating the luscious mangoes - my favourite fruit!

Think again, buddy, said Mr. Murphy! Indians partied too long, too much, unmasked! Covid spread like wildfire :-( It was a time most unfortunate. For the second successive year, I had the mortification of watching patients outside the hospitals trying to get in and being turned away because of limited resources, and/or lack thereof. It was a really sad time.

And - with a week to go for my trip - Biden acted. He put a stop on non-citizens/permanent residents coming to USA from India (this is just a generalization). I didn't focus on the specifics as the rules didn't really apply to me specifically. Though I was not personally impacted, the last thing I would have wanted was to be in an airport in India fighting my way onto a seat in a crowded airplane. Besides, the scenes were not really for the faint of heart.

Keeping all of this in mind, I had no option but to cancel my India trip because of Covid for the second year in succession. Both times less than a couple of weeks away from the travel date.

And for the second successive year, I didn't get my cash refunded by the airline. So, by mid-May, I was the proud owner of two flight credits - one on United and one on Air India, with no definite plans of travelling anytime soon! #facepalm