As we were boarding our flight back to the mainland from Rapa Nui, we received notification that the next part of our journey was cancelled due to the developing Covid-19 situation. We had intended to take a cruise ship from Chile to San Diego to get us most of our way home. However, it seems that the Chilean government refused to let the ship into the port at San Antonio so the passengers who were on board were not able to disembark. So, for us it meant having to find another way home. For the folks on board, it meant a slightly longer voyage than they were expecting….

After arriving back in Santiago, we considered our options and regrouped at the Holiday Inn at the airport. Air Canada had a not-outrageously priced flight available in six days so we decided to book an Airbnb on the coast and enjoy a bit of beach time while we waited for our flight home. Things were still quite calm and there were no signs of panic buying or any restrictions being contemplated locally. The number of Covid-19 cases in Chile were still reported to be in the single digits. So much can change in one day though. By the time we drove to the coast, got some groceries and were settled into a really lovely apartment with fantastic views of the ocean, we heard that the Chilean government was closing its borders at midnight the following day. What?!? OK, forget Plan B! We were now on to Plan C!

We spent out one and only night at the beach frantically trying to find flights home that weren’t thousands of dollars. Each time it seemed we had found something, either the system crashed, the payment failed or the price went up exponentially before we could complete the purchase. Air Canada was not answering their phones as they had too many callers to even put us on hold. Finally, we managed to get a couple of seats on an American Airlines flight the next day to Dallas then onward to Vancouver. Under normal circumstances, we try to avoid stopovers in the U.S. if possible as it just adds one more level of customs to clear but this time it seemed to be our only option.

The next day we packed up, checked out of our Airbnb and headed back to the airport where we sat on pins and needles for a few hours until we could check in. By this time we were hearing stories from friends and in the news of airlines just abandoning passengers in Morocco and elsewhere as borders were closing. So even though we had tickets in hand, nothing felt assured. To make matters worse, even after we checked our bags and cleared security, the airline still did not have confirmed seats for us. Fortunately about an hour before our scheduled departure time, we went to the gate agent (again!) and this time they could actually assign us seats. Phew! We departed just before 10:00 p.m. on what ended up being the last American Airlines flight out of Chile since.

We arrived in Dallas very early in the morning and were expecting line ups, temperature checks and assorted delays between flights as we had seen news reports of terrible crowds in Chicago and other hubs of people returning from abroad. What we got was a sleepy customs agent asking us if we felt ill – no – and if we had been to Europe or China in the last 14 days – no. That’s it?!? Thankfully the airport was all but deserted so we had no issues with our connection to Vancouver.

Vancouver airport was also eerily quiet. I think we were one of two flights in that morning. What is usually a bustling baggage claim full of people, suitcases and loaded luggage trolleys, was all but empty. Coming out of the airport, we were definitely thankful to be back on home soil. We didn’t know then how Covid-19 would challenge the world in the coming days but did know that we were very fortunate to be home in a safe country with excellent healthcare.