The global spread of the coronavirus has reminded us all how small our world is but for many of us living abroad, we've never felt further from home.
The St Patrick's Day period is about celebrating a shared sense of Irishness that connects us around the globe but with travel bans, flight restrictions and social distancing those bonds are being tested right now.
The annual White House visit by the Taoiseach is always a busy time but this year's event was like no other. For a time, it wasn't even clear if the trip would be going ahead at all.
In the end it did, but in a far more scaled-back way. News broke of Donald Trump's travel ban on European flights while we were at the first of Leo Varadkar's US engagements but this shock decision