Come home they say, and don’t delay. That’s great advice but probably a bit too late in coming. Government Agencies in both Australia and New Zealand only recently started to tell citizens not to travel and the whole “if you are overseas and planning to head home, then do so ASAP” well, that’s easier said than done.
Until recently government advice was directed towards holiday makers but here’s the thing, not everyone is on holiday. What about those travelling for work or all our young people overseas to study or on scholarships? The reality is unless you are living in a country where you are fluent in the local language you are pretty much living in a bubble. Christ, I’m here through the Auxiliaries de Conversáción programme, I’m 52, well-travelled, pretty bullet-proof, or so I thought, but about now, I’m well pickled and more than a little stressed trying to get home.
Like many others in this situation, I tried to get flights out but, they get scarcer by the minute, to the point of non-existent. It’s not yet possible to fly direct from Europe to the South Pacific, borders are closing, airlines are suspending flights. Forget trying to contact any airline, travel provider or online booking site’s customer support team. Customer call centres are in overload.
Sure, schools were closed on the Friday and yes, I hesitated about heading home, but only for a day, and that was enough! As a dual citizen, I’d already contacted both the Australian and New Zealand Embassy’s, I registered with ‘SafeTravel’ for both countries and only got the same unhelpful advice. DFAT telling us three das ago that if we were coming home, to do so as soon as possible – how?
It’s all well and good for DFAT to tell us to jump on a commercial flight – what flights? Seats are scarce; two major airlines had no seats for at least a couple of weeks, with fewer places to transit. In these days of technology and AI, I don’t get how airlines are still selling seats on planes that aren’t leaving the runway.
Even with Emirates, entering my credit card details, well Albert’s credit card, and hitting the confirm payment button, I’d been lucky to get a flight out Wednesday via Dubai. Wrong, instead of being sent my booking details, I get an email saying they were unable to process my flights because seat availability had changed.
Please get in touch for help re-booking the email said. My first call resulted in a four hour wait for a call back which never came, and my ensuing call advised me of a 17-hour delay for call back, which never came. I rang and I rang, and I rang, however, that is not helpful to the already stress on the industry and the poor folks manning the phones.
Next I booked flights through an online travel site, via Amsterdam and Singapore. This time the tickets were emailed to me so I packed my bags, cleaned out my room and threw stuff away. I’m out of here I thought and yes, a little sad that I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to anyone but hey, don’t delay.
Yep, within hours of booking said flights Singapore closed its borders and the only reason I knew was because Pedro called me from New Zealand to ask if I was aware of this. No, I wasn’t. I would have gotten on a flight from here to Madrid to Amsterdam, none the wiser.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not adverse to the idea of spending time in Amsterdam but it’s not a cheap option, I didn’t know if I would be allowed to leave the airport, I didn’t know if I could find an alternate flight. So, I stayed put, I continuously tried to contact the site that I’d purchased the tickets from only for the phone to keep ringing out. The email I sent garnered the response that they would try to get back to me in the next four days. Four days later I get another email saying that due to high demand, they would get back to me when they could.
Finally, London to Brisbane with Qantas. Veuling were still flying direct from A Coruna to London so things were looking up. Well, just for a moment. Further border closures meant yet another cancelled flight but at least Qantas were offering an immediate credit. With this little gem of a proviso:
“For Flight Credit not used before the expiry date, the Flight Credit value will be forfeited unless the original fare conditions permitted a refund. Flight Credit can only be used towards one-way or return bookings (excluding multi-city bookings) from the country in which the original ticket was issued”.
So, does that mean if I do get home, I have to come back to London to use my credit?
I’ve been following the comments of keyboard warriors lambasting people choosing to go on an overseas holiday or not opting to come home sooner given that this CoVid-19 ‘shouldn’t be a surprise’ and yes, there is some validity to that but it’s not that simple and not particularly helpful at the moment.
Not once have I received any direct contact from the Government about what to do or expect. I emailed the Embassy back home who is responsible for the Auxiliaries de Conversáción program, only to be told to contact the Embassy in Madrid, who then responded by telling me I could still get home and if not, listen to local advice. This is where I mention that I listened to six hours of live coverage on what was happening locally, understanding very little.
My situation is not as bad as some. Yes, I’m in lock down and isolated, but that in itself is not a bad thing. I have resources, local contacts, food and wine. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m not leaving Spain any time soon and as much as the situation here is pretty grim, it’s not dire and I’m not at risk.
To all you Social Media fiends with your unhelpful opinions, settle the fuck down. How about you focus more on self-isolating, keeping yourself and your community safe and less time on giving your ten cents worth. These are crazy times, don’t add to the pandemonium of the pandemic panic.