Flying during a pandemic is not something I would advise. In this article, I will explain why we did it and describe what the experience was like.
In this article
Why we Flew During a Pandemic
The Background
As regular readers will know, Mark and I flew to Tobago at the beginning of November 2019, months before anyone was warning us about a new virus which would turn the world upside down. Our intention was to stay until April 2020, with a short side-trip to St Vincent and the Grenadines in February.
For the last three weeks of our time on Tobago, we were to be joined by our family from the UK. At the end of their stay, we were all going to leave the island together, with them heading home and us travelling on to Thailand with a few days in New York en route. We were all so looking forward to the plans we had put in place!
Then the world was hit by Covid-19! Like millions of others, our plans were thrown into disarray. Writing this a few short months later, it’s hard to comprehend how quickly we were overtaken by events! As nations closed their borders and imposed travel restrictions on their citizens, we soon realised that not only could our family not travel to Tobago on March 23rd, but our onward travel to the USA was in serious doubt.
With normal schedules cancelled, at the end of March British Airways put on three special flights to get their passengers back to the UK. Because we hadn’t planned to return until spring 2021, we were not able to book a seat on these flights and, to be honest, at that stage we still hoped to be able to continue our travels.
So, we waved those aircraft goodbye and found ourselves among a very small group of non-resident Brits left in Tobago.
Staying in Tobago
As our friends and family throughout the world kept telling us when they realised where we were, ‘There are worse places to be stranded’! Yes, of course, there are. We were extremely fortunate. We were in Tobago as Workaway volunteers. Even though the business we were working for effectively had to shut down at the end of March, there were still jobs to be done. Our hosts in Castara were very generous in allowing us to continue to stay rent-free in exchange for a minimal amount of work. I can’t think of anyone I would rather have spent lockdown with.
We were in a beautiful location with lovely warm weather. We were with fantastic people. We had somewhere safe and comfortable to stay. There was no coronavirus on the island. The Trinidad and Tobago government had acted quickly to lock the country down. They had closed the borders and imposed strict restrictions on everyone – even shutting the beaches and banning swimming in the gorgeous clear waters we could almost touch from our deck! (This felt like some kind of cruel torture! 😊)
So, if everything was so good, why did we decide to leave?
The Decision to Leave
As time passed in our Caribbean paradise, the situation around the world continued to worsen. Governments were understandably extremely cautious about opening their borders. Airlines were cutting services drastically with no indication as to when, or indeed if, routes would resume. It seemed increasingly unlikely that our summer plans for Thailand would happen, but if the situation did suddenly change, we would have zero chance of getting there from Tobago.
And also, we were getting itchy feet! Travel is what we do. It’s our ‘raison d’être’. Being in one place, however idyllic, for so long wasn’t doing us any good. Our desire to be on the move and to be closer to family outweighed our trepidation at leaving somewhere safe and heading for a country where cases of coronavirus were still rising.
For these reasons, we signed up to the British High Commission to Trinidad and Tobago’s Facebook page and mailing list and indicated that we would be interested if repatriation flights were to be organised.
The Build-Up to our Repatriation Flight
On 12th May, Camille Spicer, a member of the British High Commission team in Port of Spain, Trinidad, contacted us to say that there would probably be a repatriation flight at the end of May. She was checking that we were still interested and informing us that the cost would be between £600 and £800 each.
After that, we had three weeks of waiting and wondering. At one point, the immigration department called us to ask us to go to their office for an interview about extending our right to remain in Trinidad and Tobago. The appointment was for June 8th which convinced us that we wouldn’t be flying before then.
Camille kept in regular touch which was very reassuring. In all our years of travelling, I’m happy to say that we have never needed consular support from the UK government. This was our first experience. I cannot fault the help we received!
There were not enough stranded Brits on any one island in the Caribbean to warrant an exclusive plane. The evacuation operation, therefore, involved organising several sweeper flights to collect passengers from the islands and convey them to a central point (Barbados in our case) to catch the flight back to the UK. With all of the differing Covid-19 restrictions in place, this must have been a logistical nightmare.
We had to pay for our tickets (£600 each from Tobago to London) without any guarantees we would get a seat on the flight. Luckily for us, we were successful! Once everything was organised, we only had 48 hours notice that we were actually leaving and only found out our flight time the day before. Camille did pass on very detailed information about what to expect though, so we were well prepared.
Our Flight Home
Leaving Castara
After seven months, leaving our second home was gut-wrenching. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone. Plenty of tears were shed! It was more difficult because we didn’t know what we were flying back to. We still didn’t know if we’d made the right decision. To be honest, we were both a little scared! Also, who knows when we’ll be able to return to Tobago?
We had been advised to arrive at ANR Robinson International Airport three hours before our 3pm flight to Barbados. This seemed excessive, but we understood that there were extra checks to be done. We had been told to take refillable water bottles with us as nothing would be available at the airport. They had also said that we must wear masks from the minute we arrived at Tobago airport until after we’d left Heathrow and that these masks must be changed every four hours. This had involved a last-minute dash to the local shop to buy up their remaining stock!
With all rules and regulations followed, we booked our friend Roachee to take us to the airport along with another British couple who had been due to leave Castara in early April.
ANR Robinson International Airport, Tobago
When Roachee dropped us off at the airport, we were surprised to be greeted by a team of four from the British High Commission including the Commissioner himself, Tim Stew MBE. It was definitely a first for us! The Union Flag was proudly displayed and there was a real sense of occasion – albeit with all the participants socially distancing and wearing masks!
Things went a little awry when we found out that they couldn’t actually check us in for our flight. Under normal circumstances, there are no flights between Tobago and Barbados. Therefore, the route is not programmed into the airport’s computer system! After a very long wait in the heat, we ended up with hand-written boarding cards for the first leg of our journey!
After checking-in, we had another wait of more than an hour before we could go through security to the departure lounge as there was a private meeting going on in there. This was all very typically Tobago and made us smile!
Social distancing was rigorously observed. In the departure lounge, alternate seats had been blocked off. We all had our temperature checked before being declared fit to travel. Many of our fellow passengers were unsurprisingly nervous.
The High Commission team stayed with us throughout, recording events on their mobile phones, answering queries from jittery passengers and even venturing onto the tarmac to take selfies in front of our plane.
Eventually, we were allowed to board. We said our thanks and goodbyes to the consular staff and walked to the plane. There were only 37 of us so we were spaced quite well. I think we were all rather surprised to learn that our delayed departure was due to the fact that we were waiting for Tim Stew to come on board to take a selfie with us all in the background! When that was done, he got off and we were cleared for take-off.
This is the video the High Commission had already shared on their Facebook page by the time we landed in Barbados an hour later!
Barbados
On arrival in Barbados, we had our temperatures checked again before going through security. Our British Airways flight to London Heathrow was the only one leaving that day. We joined all the other passengers who had arrived from other Caribbean islands. From the number of people, it was clear the flight as going to be full. The mood was sombre. Most people were sitting quietly.
The authorities in Barbados had opened a bar for us so we were able to buy refreshments. Can we count Barbados as a country in our ’60 to 60 Challenge’ seeing as we were there long enough for Mark to try the local beer? I don’t think so! 😊
When Camille had been sending us all the information about the repatriation flight, she had warned us that we could have many hours to wait at any stage of our journey. Fortunately, this was not the case for us. We spoke to a lady who had arrived into Barbados on a sweeper flight from Grenada. She had already been there for 10 hours when we met her. In contrast, we only had a couple of hours before boarding the London-bound plane.
Barbados to London
After all the social distancing and temperature checks, it was a bit of a shock to board the plane, squashed together as we were with our fellow passengers. There were no empty seats on the flight. Mark and I were disappointed not to be sitting together.
As soon as she sat down, the lady next to me took a disinfectant spray and a cloth from her handbag and proceeded to clean her entire seat area including her screen, her drop-down table, and the ceiling above her head! She didn’t answer me when I said hello. She looked terrified. A glance around the packed cabin told me that others were feeling just as afraid. It made for a very nervy flight!
The crew were courteous and professional whilst doing their best to keep their distance from us. An impossible task as you can imagine. As well as giving us the usual safety briefing, the chief steward asked us all to keep our masks on even when we were sleeping and to try to remain in our seats for the duration of the flight. For the most part, people complied.
Shortly after take-off, we were served a very soggy roasted vegetable sandwich and a bottle of water. We wouldn’t get anything else. Nobody complained. Once the debris from the ‘meal’ had been cleared away, the cabin lights were dimmed and we were left to sleep or watch movies.
Mark and I never sleep on flights. It was a very long night. I’ve written before about my love of flying. I’m sure in the future I will love it again, but this flight was not a pleasant experience. We were anxious and uncomfortable. We were very glad when we began our descent into Heathrow!
Arriving Back in Blighty
We landed at 8.45am and quickly disembarked into an eerily quiet Terminal 5. I’ve never experienced anything like it! The people from our flight passed silently through passport control to the baggage reclaim area. Apart from a handful of airport staff standing at a distance, there was no-one else around. Nobody spoke to us. Nobody asked us any questions. Nobody took our temperature or reminded us to keep our distance. It was surreal.
Having spoken to no-one, we exited the airport and made our way to pick up our pre-arranged hire car. We were the only customers. Being unused to the restrictions in the UK, we fell foul of the rules in the car hire office by not staying behind the yellow line! Doing so made it very difficult to stretch across and pay the deposit for the car! All the perspex screens and full-face shields made it feel like we’d stepped into some low-budget sci-fi movie!
Now that we’ve been back in the country for a couple of weeks we’re getting used to the ‘new normal’. I’ve learned to walk around looking down at the pavement to make sure I stay within the boundaries marked by yellow tape! 😊
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