Hello everyone, thank you for reading! The past week has been absolutely insane, as I am sure it has been for most folks. COVID-19 affects all of us in different ways, but it is amazing the humanity I have witnessed since the start of this week.
As most folks will already know or would have assumed, my travels have been grounded at this time. The decision to come back to Canada was absolutely impossible to make in the days between Friday and Monday of last weekend, when the situation really began to pick up across Europe and back home in Canada. The scariest part of being abroad in the era of COVID-19 was the uncertainty of the situation: would I be able to go back to Canada anytime soon if I stayed? Where could I quarantine safely and comfortably in Ireland? How would it feel being unable to get to my family for an unknown length of time? What would happen if I got sick in Ireland? Ultimately, after days of little sleep and countless phone calls back home with family and friends, the only reasonable decision seemed to be to come home immediately. I booked my flight home on Monday afternoon, only three hours before PM Trudeau gave his press release urging all Canadian citizens abroad to return home. To be exact, he said: "if you are abroad, it is time to come home." At this stage and after hearing that Canadian students studying abroad were told to return home, I knew I had made the right decision.
The speed with which the whole thing picked up was incredible, and it gave me no time to steel myself for the end of my travels or the big journey home. On Wednesday, March 11, I was planning my trip to Belgium over the Easter holidays to see a dear friend of mine from when I lived in Scotland. Things were normal. I had booked my flight two days prior, and we were chatting excitedly about what we were going to get up to during my week there.
March 12 (Thursday): Gaelle got in touch with me to tell me that all sports activities, restaurants and other non-essential businesses were closed in Belgium until early April. I would keep an eye on the situation, but at this stage, cancelling my trip seemed too drastic a measure. I was going to wait another week or so to see where the situation was and maybe I would postpone my trip to Belgium by a few weeks if I really had to.
March 13 (Friday): my best friends from home started contacting me telling me the situation was getting a bit hectic in Canada. I assured everyone I wasn't coming home, and was prepared to wait out any brief quarantine in Ireland. The thought of coming home because of the virus seemed a bit ridiculous.
March 15 (Sunday): I was on the phone all day long. I woke up that morning with still no intention of coming home, and went to bed in complete turmoil over what to do. I had had more than a dozen phone calls this day with family and friends. On all counts, it sounded like the situation was getting increasingly unpredictable in Canada. There was talk of borders being closed for not weeks but months, businesses might close, normal life was potentially being suspended. I was told that if I wanted to stay abroad, I might have to hunker down in one place for quite some time and be happy doing it, because I would be on my own. The potential was that I would be unable to return to my own country, especially if the situation in Ireland got even worse.
March 16 (Monday): I woke up and spent the morning working as normal. I was in my own head the whole time soul-searching about what the right choice was. What could I live with if this whole thing blew over in a matter of weeks? Would I regret staying if I stayed? What was I going to do back in Canada, since I had no work or living plans to come home to? Somewhere between the start of work and the end, I had decided that I needed to go home. The thought of being unable to have the freedom of choice to go home at anytime in this incredibly unique and unpredictable situation was too much. It took me ages to find a flight, as they were booking up at insane speed. As I was in the midst of booking a flight I had found, it would sell out in the time it took for me to put in my personal information. This happened three times, and each time I would have to start a new search. Flights also ranged from $450 - $3000 CAD on average, so finding one that I could actually afford was another hurdle. Finally, I found the only flight available for under $2000 CAD within the upcoming two days, and so I booked it. Unfortunately, this flight would force me to go through four different airports and onto three different planes, but I didn't have much choice. PM Trudeau made his series of announcements later that afternoon, with a crowd of Canadian's listening diligently surrounding my computer on the floor of my room. My heart was pounding and I was starting to feel a bit nauseous. Where would you least want to be during a pandemic? A hostel in a foreign country.
March 17 (Tuesday): I had been looking forward to this day since I had started planning this massive adventure a year and a half earlier. St. Patrick's Day in Ireland - what could be better? I remember celebrating St. Pat's in Canada the year prior with friends and telling everybody I would be in Ireland celebrating the holiday the next year. Boy, could I not have predicted the outcome. St. Patrick's Day ended up being my final day in Ireland as I was meant to fly out very early the next morning, and everything in Galway was shut. Pubs had closed down on Sunday due to a government order, restaurants were all shut except for a few hold outs. We played card games, drank some final Irish beers from the corner store and said our goodbyes. We were all in for a long travel home.
March 18 (Wednesday): I didn't sleep as I had to catch a bus from Galway to Dublin at 02:15, which started my long journey home. Galway - Dublin via Bus, then Dublin - Frankfurt - Calgary - Vancouver via plane. Vancouver - Chilliwack via car. I arrived at home in Chilliwack at about half past eight in the evening: 05:30 in the morning Irish time. 27 hours of travel to get home, through airports that were full of people in various stages of panic and sitting on airplanes in tight quarters with travelers from all over. I definitely won't forget those hours... I think this whole ordeal will be quite the story to tell someday.
Flash forward to now, and I have just woken up on my second morning back home. It is starting to feel a bit more normal and more comfortable, but it was a shock to the system indeed! I had a very hard time getting in emotionally - it was a stressful journey, I was very sleep deprived after being up for nearly 48 hours, and I couldn't believe I was staring at my childhood bedroom. After some sleep, some great food (thanks mom) and some perspective, I know I made the only choice I could've reasonably made in the situation and I am just glad to be at home with family. The sun is shining, and I am so lucky to live in a place where self-isolation doesn't mean I have to stay in my house all day. I can still safely go for walks down to the river, go for a drive up to the lake or go for a solo hike. I am going to take this time to finish some creative projects I have had on the back-burner for years and focus on my health. I know I need it after the quantity of alcohol consumed in Ireland these past weeks...
I implore everyone here in Canada and in British Columbia to please listen to health officials and stay apart. The situation in Europe right now is far progressed to what it is here, but not taking advice seriously will put us in their position. I certainly won't be contributing to the problem, and I will be in isolation for another thirteen days.
To keep your sanity, try and make a to-do list for yourself! Checking things off makes you feel more productive, and you'll get things done that you've forgotten about or always put off. Also, call friends and family often... it's good for the soul to know we are all in this together <3
Photo: Black Fort cliffs, Inis Mor