DC ExtraTime: Finally Reunited on Winter Break - A Trans-Pacific Match is Together Again

 FOLLOW-UP  Love Knows No Borders: 

A Fight to Reunite in a Pandemic (May '21)

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

This week marks the start of an epic sporting stretch that rivals the twenty-plus times that America's four major leagues have played regular season games on the same day, or that May Saturday in 2015 when the NBA, NHL, baseball and the NFL Draft shared the stage with horse racing, boxing and many other big events. Today (February 2nd), mixed doubles curling begins the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China two days before the Opening Ceremony, followed in two weeks by Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles between the hometown Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. Add the Daytona 500, All-Star Games, Royal Rumble, golf, college hoops, soccer and more -- and February is a sports fan's dream month.

In Australia, last weekend was championship weekend of the biggest annual international sporting event to take place in that sports-mad country. The Australian Open, tennis' first grand slam of the year, culminated down under in the capital of the nation's sporting obsession of Melbourne, where Ashleigh Barty became the first Aussie woman to win the crown at home since the late '70s, and Rafael Nadal winning his record 21st major title to surpass longtime rival Roger Federer. But before the first ball, the action was overshadowed off the court by the circus surrounding defending men's champ Novak Djokovic when he was deported for refusing to get a shot, and Peng Shuai's ongoing dispute with the Chinese government in the latest high-profile episode of #MeToo.

The situation involving Djokovic and the Australian government is the latest story that's put the world's only island continent in the spotlight... and as those on Capitol Hill start planning their midterm strategy, this spring will see Australians head to the polls for a generation-defining election. As it will be later this fall here, the events of the past few years will act as a referendum on Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government. And it's with this backdrop that we offer a follow-up to a story that's been affected in a way by the goings-on in the national capital of Canberra, and one that now has its happy ending. Here, a multi-national couple separated by thousands of miles by not only a pandemic, but also politics that prevented them from a moment they never thought they would have just months ago: an MTV reality alum and his overseas girlfriend finally being reunited.

DC ExtraTime - Love Knows No Borders: A Fight to Reunite in a Pandemic

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

   Estimated Reading Time: 15 Mins.

All Photos except WBHM Courtesy
Twitter @AleksayShinder

This week marked fourteen months since the start of the biggest health crisis our world has faced in a century, as the COVID pandemic shut down everything in its wake for an entire year. However, the buzz word in America and other nations right now has been vaccines, as millions of people are lining up for immunity shots from the disease and joining so many who have already been vaccinated, as the road to recovery continues on many fronts including Friday's announcement of the relaxation of mask wearing advisories by the Center for Disease Control. But the issue of this ordeal hasn't always been focused on our health, our safety and the impacts it has had on the way of life we're all used to.

A consequence of this has been the effect the pandemic has had on something synonymous with the year's busiest season when it comes to traveling, as we're just two weeks away from the first full-scale summer vacation season in two years. Those who are able to do so will be flying in droves to the destinations of their choosing this Memorial Day weekend, while others will take to the safe comforts of their cars for their travels on the long weekend that begins Summer in America as restrictions ease in cities across this country following the year in lockdown. And as cases have been on the decline, things are looking on the upward towards the much-desired and now eagerly-anticipated return to normalcy in this country.

But there's still a lot to work to be taken care of, as not everyone is hesitant to take to the skies just yet or even to be around large numbers of people as they have not been vaccinated yet. And many nations are still not open to Americans and other residents of nations outside their borders as they try to stop another wave from shutting things down again. It's with the ladder in mind that brings us to this story with roots in what we cover on here: a guy who starred on a largely forgotten MTV Reality show a few years ago is back in the spotlight... not because of him reappearing on a new show, but for a much different reason.

And if you have been seeing his very active Twitter account lately, he has been leading efforts on social media in the past several months to help reopen the borders of a nation that, for the most part, has been closed off to international travel since the beginning of this terrible outbreak. And as the time he and his girlfriend last saw each other in person, Alex Shinder of Winter Break: Hunter Mountain is making his voice heard loud and clear all the way from New Jersey across the Pacific Ocean as he tries to reconnect with his girlfriend as her nation of Australia will shortly enter their winter down under.