The race home from London to beat the Covid-19 lockdown
Rebecca Jarrett, daughter of Debbie and Blair Jarrett, owners of the River City Press, has been working in London as part of her two year OE.
She was employed full time as a nanny for two families, who just happened to live next door to each other. So one week she looked after the 10 month old baby along with the 16 month old toddler in one house and the next week she looked after them in the other house.
She found a flat with three others – two from Scotland and the other from Northern Ireland. And then COVID-19 hit the UK. A workmate of one her flatmates was presumed to have the virus and then a workmate of a friend was tested but fortunately the test was negative. They were only testing people for COVID-19 in London if they ended up in hospital or were over 65 years old, so they are estimating that possibly over 200,000 people in London have COVID-19.
When our Government called on all New Zealanders to come home while they could, Rebecca and her family decided to act. Debbie and Blair booked a flight from London to Auckland via Los Angeles but 24 hours before the flight leaving, USA banned flights from the UK except for returning Americans. Back to Air NZ, and they were put “On hold for hours without getting clear answers.”
They were able to re-schedule for March 24 but by now Rebecca was getting freaked out. She says, “I was stressed because I thought flights would stop by then or we would be in total lockdown. Sounds like I was right.”
The alternative flights weren’t great. They were able to get an Emirates flight London to Bali, back to Dubai and then to Auckland. But then Bali shut its borders. Fortunately, another flight to Auckland via Dubai became available and Rebecca got the last available economy seat for March 20.
This flight involved an 18 hour wait in Dubai. The good news was Emirates would pay for an overnight hotel. The bad news was – the hotel closed. Rebecca and her friend Tahlia, from Auckland, were on the same flight and when they arrived in Dubai, asked whether there were any other earlier flights – there was and it was leaving in two hours. The flight from Dubai to Auckland is 17 hours. They stayed the night in the Novatel airport hotel the night where they were not allowed out of their rooms, then the two of them caught an Air Chathams flight to Whanganui.
The trip was memorable to say the least. Rebecca says, “We got Uber to the airport in London to reduce contact with others on the bus or trains. Everyone at the airport was wearing masks and gloves as was the case on the flight with the crew. There were lots of people wiping down all surfaces with antibacterial; some people were in full hazmat suits and goggles.
“In Dubai it was very quiet,” she says. (The airport is the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic standards). “There were lots of people trying to change flights, lots of people very stressed. Most people were wearing masks.”
“At Auckland airport there were officials doing spot checks of people’s temperatures, lots of police telling people off for standing too close to each other. You had to fill out forms asking about travel over the past month, including any contact with confirmed cases, where we plan to isolate and so on.”
They informed Air Chathams that they had flown in from London and were “seated in the front with others who had come from overseas. We also had to wear masks.”
Blair’s mother offered to leave her house and stay with Debbie and Blair allowing her house to be used by Rebecca and Tahlia for their time of self-isolation. Tahlia is from Auckland but her family circumstances did not allow for self-isolation.
Their plan to survive the self-isolation includes, “Trying to stick to some routine with getting up early, doing puzzles, colouring, painting, cooking at home, work-outs, yoga, reading, binge watching ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ and trying not to be on social media too much.”
As for their futures? Tahlia was doing temp HR work in London and would like to go back. Rebecca’s employers are keeping her job open and her visa doesn’t expire for another 14 months. She is still paying rent for the London flat. When it is possible she would like to do some temp work here, either babysitting or relieving in a childcare centre.
Doug Davidson
River City Press 26/3/20
