Crossing the border from downtown Buffalo, New York to Ontario, Canada used to be as easy as driving one mile across the Peace Bridge over the Niagara River.
But that’s now a prohibited route.
In the COVID-19 era, New York residents and out-of-state road travelers are not allowed to cross the border for leisure trips.
Americans have been shut out of their neighboring country to the north and a slew of nations worldwide. The latest travel news affecting US citizens is the European Union is considering blocking travelers from areas with severe coronavirus outbreaks after it reopens it borders on July 1.
And since the United States has more confirmed coronavirus cases than anywhere else in the world, with numbers increasing in several states daily, US travelers are unlikely to be allowed anywhere in any time soon.
“The US’s chances are close to zero,” an EU diplomat told in a CNN report. “With their infection rates … not even they can believe in that possibility.”
Although potential travel bubbles are being discussed worldwide, — Fiji is the latest in talks to join one with New Zealand and Australia — the United States has yet to join or form a bubble.
Where does this new world order leave US citizens?
Nostalgic for the pre-coronavirus days when a US passport promised access to much of the world? Anxious of how they’ll be perceived — and received — by foreign countries when restrictions are eventually relaxed?
The future of travel for US Citizens, and whether they will be welcome again as tourists, is not clear; in many ways, it’s a debatable point for as long as travel to certain regions is forbidden.
As many Americans forgo travel via air and take to the road instead, they will not be taking the road into Canada. Indeed, travel restrictions for US passport holders at this time outnumber the travel possibilities.
And just like for many people, that’s just how it should be.