This was the startling and alarming image I received from my friend Stephen as he and his wife Vera were checking in at London’s Heathrow airport on 17 March. They were at the start of a long journey to Australia. At the time international flights were vastly reducing because of the growing spread of the pandemic. The very cautious passenger in the hazmat suit ended up sitting near Stephen and Vera on the first leg of their flight to Kuala Lumpur.
You may well ask why would any sane person want to take a flight at this time. Why risk getting stuck in another country or even being turned back by Australian immigration? Well, we have to rewind a little to answer that question.
Just a few days earlier, I had managed to sneak in a lunch at a local pub near my home in Bath with Stephen and Vera, who is Norwegian. This was just before the lockdown announced by the UK government. The couple were understandably on edge as they were imminently due to be leaving the UK on a flight to Brisbane.
This was not a tourist trip. It was a long-planned journey to help their daughter Lynn who had just moved to Australia and was due to have a cesarean on 25 March. It was to be her third child. Stephen and Vera were keen to help Lynn’s husband Andrew to look after the other two small children, Christine and Elisabeth.
As we left the pub after an excellent lasagne, Stephen and Vera were understandably jittery as to whether their flight would be allowed, given the increasing restrictions on international travel due to the pandemic.
A couple of days later their check-in experience confirmed the trip was on. Against the odds they managed to get all the way to Brisbane. Of course, due to tightening Australian health restrictions, Stephen and Vera had to self-isolate for 14 days when they arrived at their daughter’s house. This meant their original hopes of being a big help were dashed, at least initially.
Stephen sent me daily updates of their trials and tribulations over the next three weeks or so. There was plenty of pain, frustration and worry and also in the end, hope, joy and triumph. I have put Stephen’s messages together in diary form. You can read it by clicking here or on the diary tab on the menu bar on my home page. I hope you find their intense experience an inspiration.
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