As the world remains in shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic, there are many tourists who are stranded in different countries. While most of them would want to return to their own countries, Nikolay Timoshchuk Jr, popular travel vlogger from the US, who is in home quarantine in Kerala says he prefers to stay in the state.
Nikolay, who had come to Kerala a few months back, got stranded in the state when the lockdown was declared on March 25.
“My folks back in US have been very concerned about my well-being, but, it is no exaggeration when I say that Kerala is one of the safest places I could be in at the moment,” he said in an interaction with the Instagram page Official Humans of Kerala.
Thanking the people of Kozhikode (Calicut) in Kerala where he has been staying, he said the they have been taking great care of him, and even let him stay in one of the houses there. Nikolay said that the first thing he would do once the lockdown is lifted is have a cup of tea with his Malayali friends.
ALSO READ: Meet the humans who bring you Humans of Kerala
"The first thing that I am longing to do once all this is over is to go grab a cup of 'chaaya' and hangout with the beautiful bunch of malayalis around me. I miss being around people. I have been all by myself in this house in Calicut for about a month now, and I am sure people all over the world are experiencing similar situations or maybe even worse,” he told Official Humans of Kerala.
Nikolay has been putting his quarantine time to good use by posting music videos on his YouTube channel Back2Life. Interacting with THE WEEK, in December last year, Nikolay had said Kerala is indeed God’s Own Country and the best part about India and Kerala was its people. In one of his videos, he had pointed out the littering problem in the country, and hoped it would inspire people to take better care of their beautiful surroundings.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirming on Tuesday that the pan-India lockdown will be continued till May 3, the travel restrictions will also be extended till the new lockdown deadline. "All domestic and international scheduled airlines operations shall remain suspended till 11:59pm of May 3, 2020," aviation regulator DGCA informed via Twitter on Tuesday, just a couple of hours after Modi's national address.