The Coronavirus pandemic has changed all of our worlds. Entire nations have been ordered to stay home; airlines and travel agents and tour operators have collapsed or dramatically scaled back. When things return to “normal”, a new covid-normal, what will international travel look like? Here are a few of the changes that we anticipate, or are already in place. INFLIGHT Leaving the middle seat empty has been bandied around by the media, and some US airlines tried it for a while, but the airlines have made it clear that that is not an option for them economically speaking. We expect that wearing a face mask inflight will be mandatory for both passengers and crew. Crew will also have some form of PPE such as protective eye wear, gloves and possibly disposable coveralls. You know those times when you snag a flight with lots of empty seats and as soon as the door is closed or straight after take off there’s a scramble for a row of spare seats. With the need to track close contacts it is unlikely that moving seats without the permission of the crew will be possible. The inflight amenity kit has already changed with the additions…

The site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is identified as the place both of the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. According to the New Testament, Jesus was crucified at Golgotha, “the place of the skull” (Matt. 27:33–35; Mark 15:22–25; John 19:17–24). This has been identified as an area of abandoned stone quarries just outside the city wall of the time. About 10 years after the crucifixion, a third wall was built that enclosed the area of the execution and burial within the city, and this accounts for the Holy Sepulchre’s location inside the Old City of Jerusalem today. Roman emperor Constantine I, a convert to Christianity, had the temple of Venus in Jerusalem demolished to make way for a church. In the course of the demolition a tomb was discovered that was thought to be the tomb of Jesus. The first Church of the Holy Sepulchre was approached by a flight of steps from the Cardo, main street of Jerusalem. Then pilgrims went through a narthex; a basilica; and an open area, the “holy garden,” which had in it the rock of Golgotha, finally reaching the Holy Sepulchre itself. In 614, a Persian…

Sisters Rebecca and Vanessa never imagined walking in Jesus’ footsteps. But that is exactly what they did. They left seven kids and two husbands (yes, we’re impressed at the logistics of this too) to travel to Israel and Palestine on a tour led by Bible historian John Dickson.  “The trip exceeded my expectations,” Vanessa said, an Associate Pastor at Roseville Anglican Church in Sydney. Vanessa had just started working alongside John Dickson when the trip was announced. “For me it was seizing an opportunity.”  The first person Vanessa called was her sister Rebecca.  “Spaces were filling fast so within hours we committed and booked,” Rebecca explained. “Our parents desperately wanted to go to the Holy Lands but had to put it off. Instead they offered to fund us. I had a sense of great privilege, going with their shared dream in mind.” “From the moment we landed there was a beautiful feeling of ease and personal safety. I was struck by how authentic it is, it didn’t feel touristy.” The sisters experienced firsthand the sights and smells from the Dead Sea to Lake Galilee, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. Geographical ideas in the Bible became a real, lived…