Student Submission- Trip Abroad Mid-Pandemic
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Last summer, my parents pulled me out of school for the second half of eighth grade due to a midlife crisis. Our intention was to go on a trip around the world, hitting a lot of places on my parent’s bucket list. It took quite a while to plan everything out, and we were all very excited and obviously a little bit nervous, because we did not know what to expect in many places, we simply had plane tickets, bags and a few friends we intended to meet along the way. Our first main stop on the trip was Hawaii, where we met some friends and explored the Islands. This was the first time I heard about the virus, because my parents were worried about being around anyone who had been to Asia recently. At that time, there still was not much information out, and we assumed it was nothing to worry about. After Hawaii, our trip took us to New Zealand, where we met some of my parent’s friends and spent two weeks in an RV, missing the flood in Napier by pure chance after we ran out of gas.
New Zealand was the last time I remember where Covid wasn’t on everyone’s minds, but we were lucky to get out of there when we did. We left New Zealand only a few weeks before Covid was officially a big problem and New Zealand went into hard lockdown, people only allowed to leave their homes for groceries. RV parks and Hotels would be closed down, meaning we would have to ask to park our car in someone’s driveway each night, and we wouldn’t have been allowed to leave without quarantining for two to three weeks.
In Australia, at least for the first few weeks before lockdown, we traveled around the country, staying on the east coast for a while before heading to Airley beach. One of the big things we had planned on this trip was to spend a week or so on a sailboat, so we had chartered a boat to spend a week sailing the Whitsunday Islands. At that point, Covid was really becoming a danger, and we considered canceling the sailboat until we realized that a boat is probably the safest place we could be. A cruise ship less so, but we were going to be isolated for a good two weeks or so, and maybe it would loosen up by the time we got back. COVID had not yet reached Australia, but panic buying told a different story. We had to make multiple trips to the store to purchase food, because the stores had set limits to the amount of different items we could buy. After loading up on supplies, we left on our boat and sailed around the Whitsundays for a week, only interacting with other people to check in each morning.
We barely ever saw another boat, let alone people, because there were far fewer people chartering boats than normal. The one time we did talk to someone was a ranger who was patrolling near what is normally the most popular beach to visit in this area. Because of the lockdown, it was practically deserted, which the ranger said was an unsettling sight to see. We stopped back at Airlie to replenish our supplies, because the other port we were considering had closed due to the virus. When we returned, quite a lot had changed. Public restrooms were closed, many private shops had gone out of business and restaurants were shut down. The owner of a restaurant we had been to before told us he was only open to give his cook a job since he didn’t qualify for the government aid, so we did our part and got pizza to go. The supermarket was still open, and after we refilled on water and food, we went back to sea for another week.
Every day of the second week there were fewer and fewer boats checking in each morning, until we were the last boat out. A few days later we went into port, and the entire city was a ghost town. The government was paying small businesses to send their employees home and close up, putting the country into a very effective lockdown. The only people working were the supermarket workers, the alcohol dispensary, obviously, and other essential businesses. We rented a motel, and stayed there for four weeks. There was some hiking, some getting up at 4 in the morning for D&D. All of the public areas were closed, so no pools or barbecues. People were allowed to swim in the netted off area of the beach, but only if they were truly exercising. After four weeks in Australia, our visas were about to expire so we had to head back, and oh boy was it an ordeal.
We couldn’t travel between states without quarantining, so we had to leave from Brisbane on one of the last repatriation flights. On the drive there, we were again told how dangerous Covid was, and how things would be very different than we were used to. When we reached the airport, there were barely any people there, just the security guards and a few other people hoping to leave. Because we hadn’t been around people for the last month, entering the airport was the first time I had worn a mask, and I still find it funny how strange it felt at the time. One woman and her children had been pulled aside by a security guard and were being informed that if they left, there was no guarantee that they would be let back in. The plane ride itself was also empty, as everyone had their own row. I slept most of the plane ride, but that plane ride was the first time I think I actually realized that things were never going to go back to the way they were before the pandemic.
Submission from Charlie D.
