-
Travelling From Sweden To South Africa During A World Pandemic
My daunting travel experience getting back to Cape Town during the covid-19 pandemic
In this blog, I talk about my life in Sweden pre covid-19 and how I managed to get home travelling during a pandemic, with all the emotions involved. The good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between.
Travelling internationally before Covid-19 was quite something, especially being South African. We need visas for many countries and the process is rather intense. In December 2017 we travelled to New Zealand for a friend’s wedding, and I remember completing visa forms and gathering all the documentation. It felt like I was giving them an open entry into my life – and this applies to other countries where you need visas too.
If you are thinking of planning a trip to New Zealand, read about our Top 5 places to visit in New Zealand to find out a few of our favourite spots in New Zealand.
The good, the bad and the ugly
Find out what went down by reading my blog, in which I talk about my daunting experience travelling from Sweden to South Africa during a world pandemic. Something I don’t want to have to go through ever again.
Life in Sweden
Life in Sweden is so simple, laid back and stress free. My job was good (parts of it), I lived in cute apartments in Vallentuna/ Täby and Danderyd. Yes, I had to move to three different apartments during my time in Sweden. Shortage of accommodation is a real issue in Stockholm. If you are planning on moving to Stockholm, your main priority is to find a decent sized apartment, which doesn’t cost half your salary. Might be a little tricky and stressful.
The small towns that I lived in were +-40 min from the capital Stockholm and very convenient to commute to and from work.
I mainly travelled via bus and train, which was amazing! Always on time and transport frequent, so if you missed one mode of transport, no biggie, there was another on its way.
Sweden has a small population of 10 160 169 according to the UN and has thousands of coastal islands and inland lakes.
Earning a decent salary, I was able to explore more of Sweden, by taking weekend bus trips to sightsee small towns. I loved the fact that I could travel frequently to our brother in Norway and travel back home for our South African summer break.
A world pandemic? The unknown of this virus
During my time in Sweden, the wearing of masks was not compulsory and we all continued with our lives. What is a lockdown? Some of you may not be aware that in Sweden, we weren’t in a lockdown.
Schools didn’t close, and we were advised to “follow the government’s guidelines”. People were encouraged to work from home, use their own mode of transport and social distance.
How do you social distance when you have 30 children in a class, all wanting your attention and the only mode of transport, was public transport.
“If you are booking with these two reputable travel companies, you’ve made a good choice.”
I did try to keep my distance where possible and drank orange juice like it was water to get my vitamin C in. Another thing that really worried me, was that I went to a couple of shops to purchase face masks, but none sold any… I will never forget the way the staff looked at me confusedly, as if I was the only weirdo citizen wanting a face mask!
At the early stages of the virus, I didn’t know how crazy things were and how things would end up. None of us did. Not once did it cross my mind about the struggles of me travelling home during a pandemic. I had my flight booked, so I will be sorted. That is what went through my mind, but what made it worse is that I’d call home every couple of days and my parents would stress me out. They would worry because I wasn’t wearing a mask, couldn’t social distance, nor sanitise my hands. The three things I now find myself doing automatically being back in South Africa one year later.
What now? Travelling home during a pandemic
It was June 2020, my flight was already booked for me to return home and it was summer break in Europe. Just a heads up, summer break in Europe is everything! Having long dark winters with very cold weather and hardly any sunshine for 8 months of the year, summer is the time where everyone comes alive.
Summer break, that’s cool. However, I wanted to get back home to South Africa and this virus was causing me major anxiety. My contract was up and so was my rental agreement. Luckily, my landlord was amazing and understood the challenges I was facing. There were days that I had to consider staying on another year contract, only because there was no definite of me getting home.
So many people were giving me different stories from Stockholm and South Africa, and that was the most frustrating part. No one had answers and no one had the answers that I wanted to hear! It was tough. Tough, because you feel absolutely hopeless being stuck in another country and you just want to travel home. At the time, I read articles about so many people being stranded at airports, with flights being cancelled last minute. So many people trying to travel home during the pandemic sometimes felt impossible. Having nowhere to go, and most importantly they were running out of funds to support themselves. Some even cut into their savings just to get by until the next flight. Was that worth risking? Many thoughts went through my mind
Find out what our “3 reasons to book with a travel consultant” are
Travelling from Stockholm to Schiphol
I was eventually able to get a repatriation flight from Stockholm to Schiphol in Amsterdam, but the main issue was getting from Schiphol to Cape Town. Did I really want to be stuck in Amsterdam? I even reached out to old school friends out of desperation and as a backup plan, in case I wasn’t able to depart Schipol.
After many days of communicating back and forth with a travel company that were in charge of repatriation flights, I secured a flight from Schiphol to Johannesburg. There were no available flights directly to Cape Town that worked with my connecting flight from Stockholm to Schiphol.
This meant that I had to have a compulsory quarantine in Johannesburg for two whole weeks and then make my way to Cape Town with 3 x 24kg bags & 1 x hand luggage…. nightmare. In my defence, the one big bag was Lauren’s and one had amazing IKEA bedding, which I refused to leave behind.
Departure day
My bags were packed and ready to get home! They were probably packed two weeks prior to my departure, just in case there were any chances of getting an earlier flight or some miracle was going to happen.
Luckily I had my mom and Lauren on standby if anything went wrong. What more could go wrong? Welllll…. It was a long three weeks ahead of me.
The night before my departure date, I decided to check in a the Good Morning Arlanda Hotel which is located near to the airport and had complementary shuttles. I didn’t have the energy to deal with airport transfers, nor struggle with my bags so early in the morning with already too much anxiety about the trip home.
Firstly, I had Lauren on a call, so that she could hear me go through the gates and if anything went down, she was able to assist. Secondly, being in the travel industry, Lauren knew the ins and outs and constantly communicated with the travel company based in South Africa for me. This made my life easier and took a little inch of stress off my shoulders.
“The airport was like a ghost town and I had my 3 x 24kg bags…”
One flight down, on to the next
Arriving in Schiphol Amsterdam, I was so excited to be one step closer to home! But I knew that I had to get over the biggest hurdle yet.
I had to overnight in Schiphol Airport because of the timing of my flights. Luckily I was able to secure the last spot & book myself into the Yotelair Hotel for one night, just to get some rest. There were plenty of South Africans everywhere, desperate to get home. Some having slept in the airport chairs/ floor for days, waiting to board this flight.
Standing in the line to board, I overheard others talking about having an embassy letter in order to board the plane and I didn’t have this letter.
This really stressed me out, however, the South African Embassy in Amsterdam reassured me via Whatsapp that everything was going to be fine.
Another thing that freaked me out was that the first time I purchased a decent mask, was in Schiphol Airport. Having not had to wear a mask at all, to now having to wear one for 15 hours on my journey home…
Flying in the plane during a world pandemic, was most definitely an unusual one.
- The food was all pre packed on the seats and we didn’t get served by the air hostess like usual. It was tough rationing meals over the 15 hours of travelling.
- Spacing on plane – I could get used to that… the closest I will get to business class spacious seats. I was the last few people to board the plane and was really hoping to have open seats next to me – my luck was granted! Three open seats = sleep!
From Sweden to South Africa during a world pandemic
My flight landed in Johannesburg at 11pm and I was so excited to be on South African soil, even though I wasn’t in Cape Town. Our bags were neatly placed next to the plane where we had to collect and place into our allocated trailer. We were police escorted in convoy to various quarantine hotels. The hotel that I was scheduled to quarantine in for two weeks, was The Capital Melrose. Usually I get excited when checking in at hotels, but this time was very much different.
Quarantine is not easy. It’s challenging. You are in your room alone for 14 days straight, with no human interaction. The only people that you see are the hotel staff that deliver your food 3 times a day and morning temperature checks by the nurses. Yes, there is Netflix and you can camp out in bed all day, but that gets boring after day 2.
The food was good, but all I wanted was a hearty home cooked meal. That is all I wanted. Some days we were able to order food for delivery, the next day the rules were changed. Everything was all up in the air.
Post Isolation
After isolating for 14 days in Johannesburg, I was ready to get back to Cape Town. But there was one more mountain to climb, actually two – I just didn’t know of the one just then. The one was getting my 3 x 24kg bags back to Cape Town, with no assistance. Just a heads up, I did a lot of research and it works out cheaper to check in extra baggage than using third party baggage companies.
The second hurdle was that one day prior to my departure, my mom was tested positive for covid-19. This was devastating. I just wanted to be back home. I remember calling home and sobbing on the phone to the family after hearing moms results. The nurses at the hotel advised me not to go home, as I had just spent two weeks isolating, it would simply be silly. Arriving in Cape Town was weird. The airport was like a ghost town and I had to somehow manage with my 3 x 24kg bags on the trolley, alone. Driving from the airport back home was strange too and I couldn’t hug my family! Thankfully we have amazing neighbours that allowed me to stay in their flat across the road to be able to quarantine.
Should you travel now? What to do?
If you have experienced trying to travel home during a world pandemic, I feel for you. And if you are planning on travelling, perhaps you might want to be aware of the circumstances of being stuck in a foreign country, before booking anything.
Should you postpone, cancel, or wait it out? Who knows how much longer this pandemic will continue for. I totally feel for those who just want to book a trip to escape, because I feel the same and I am sure many feel the same way too.
For those that are really craving a getaway, why not consider travelling to one of our neighbouring African countries? Just as much as South African tourism needs support, they need support too. Tourism is a huge factor in countries such as Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Namibia, Kenya and Uganda and is a main source of income for many families. We highly recommend the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe or Zambia. Both sides of the falls are unique and I would say equally magnificent. Have a look at our exciting 5 day travel itinerary to the Victoria Falls if you are looking for some travel inspiration.
Why you should support your local travel consultant?
The uncertainty for those in the travel industry is really heartbreaking. For those who aren’t aware, most travel companies work on a basic and commission structure. Read more about Lauren’s experience as a travel consultant in our blog about why these three pillars are our main focus in our blog.
There are times when you can 100% book your own itinerary, but there are also times when you should consider booking with the professionals. If you are planning on travelling, I would highly recommend booking your travel plans with a reputable travel consultant. Now, more than ever, is the time to support the travel industry and especially because there is so much uncertainty when travelling during a world pandemic.
3 reasons to book with a travel consultant
- Keep up to date with the latest flight changes:
- Receiving 5 notifications can sometimes be rather annoying, but when it’s got to do with your time, they mean everything! Especially when you have a busy schedule where being in the air eliminates you from being as productive.
- Tourism companies use programs like Amadeus that are linked with airlines, which communicate any flight changes to the travel consultants. The travel consultants can relay messages onto the clients and are trained to make alternative arrangements on the spot if it is required.
- Delays and cancellations:
- Nothing worse than waking up for those early morning flights, or as a matter of fact, any time of the day, to only get to the airport and find out that you have to sit around and wait for your flight to depart.
- Lockdown changes:
- With the way things are currently going, changes can be made at any moment, sometimes leaving you feeling panicked about how to get home and the changes to your flight ticket. Luckily most airlines are allowing free of charge flight changes when there are lockdown level changes.
- Lift airlines are a new player in the game and are definitely on the ball. Perhaps consider them on your next flight between Cape Town and Johannesburg (when we are allowed to fly to and from Gauteng again).
Research your travel company
Always do a little homework if you do decide to book with a travel agent. There are some scary stories out there and some pop up out of nowhere.
Don’t worry, if you are booking with these two reputable travel companies, you’ve made a good choice.
If you need to get in contact with either of these two companies, you will find their contact details on their website, or pop us a message and we will put you in contact with the best in the business.
Have you been stranded in a foreign country? Let us know if you are planning on travelling during a world pandemic.
Julia
xxx
