coronavirus

Made it Back to NZ

Published on March 26, 2020March 27, 2020 by kiwisdofly27 Comments

Just in time! NZ – Total Lock Down from 2359, 25 March 2020

We woke in Breezy Point, New York, on the morning of 20 March to fog. I remember my offshore days when it came to your “get up and go” day and you wake to the sound of the fog horn! That meant that you would not be going anywhere that day, might as well just get up and go to work, and hope for the best for tomorrow. This morning was like that! My heart sank, no planes will fly in this I am thinking. But we better try. Diane came to pick us up and we made our way to JFK. The fog is not lifting, lets just hope they do fly. We have factored in some time between flights, our flight from LAX – AKL is not until 10pm, we have some time up our sleeve.

So many flights cancelled, this is just 1 terminal at JFK

The flight board has many flights cancelled – but our flight looks like its still on! The man at the check in was so lovely. He knew that LA would not be our final destination today ( he guessed we were Australian – we wont hold that against him!) and assured us that our flight to LAX would go – “lets get you guys home” He said – almost brought tears to our eyes!

The flight did in fact fly and right on time. Taking off through the fog was so scary! The pilot must have great faith in his instruments, and we are very thankful for that! Its lunch time and New York is still totally blanketed in fog.

We arrived in LA with 7 hours until we take off to Auckland, so we start to relax. The young woman at check in was also very nice. You can see that everyone is feeling a bit of the pressure with whats going on. She visibly relaxed when she saw our NZ passport. We are checking in at the Air NZ counter but the NZ boarders have closed to all but NZ citizens. This flight will continue to Australia so there are a few non-NZ passport holders on the flight. She was saying that for any other passport there has to be a phone call to immigration and it seemed to be very stressful for everyone. A few raised voices at the counter beside us.

SO we are the lucky ones, no problem, straight through. It is so quiet here, JFK was as well, very few people, most of the shops closed, most of the bars closed. I love airports, there is always something to see, so many people coming and going, it’s a great place to people watch and guess what their story is. People are generally happy and excited, today it feels very different. We see some sights! One girl in a white disposable chemical suit, a couple in diving masks. We too have our masks and gloves.

When its only a couple of hours to go we decide to get a glass of wine at the bar near our gate. One of the few still open. Its always expensive to eat/drink at an airport but it is part of the fun and you always do it anyway. I think this has to be the most expensive glass of wine we have ever had at USD$14+tax each! We sat down and within 10 minutes they started packing up the bar. They had just been told they need to close – NOW! So we sat all alone, drinking this (have to admit) delicious wine, I guess we wont be having a second!

The flight was great! all 12 hours 55 minutes of it! The plane was only about half full and we were right at the back. We managed to get the four seats in the middle and were able to get some sleep. The crew were awesome. They are in one of the most vulnerable places for transmission of the virus, they are very brave and we are so thankful that they are still coming to work which is allowing people like us to get home. We have never boarded and disembarked a plane so easily, no scrum like tactics as everyone tries to stand up first to get off the plane first, great flight.

Landing in Auckland we were asked a couple of questions – Have you had a cough? Have you been feeling unwell? We were given a sheet on how to self isolate and that was that – through – home!

Tayla picked us up and we were very restrained with no hugging – just an elbow bump in way of hello. This is so strange. So wonderful to see her, we have been away for a year and it feels nice to be home.

We will be isolating at Guy and Melanie’s holiday home in Whakatane. This is a beautiful spot, right on the river. We will be able to go for walks but no visiting anyone and no visitors. This is how we started off, then within days of us being home NZ has escalated through level 3 to level 4 – total lock down for 4 weeks. The prime minister has declared a state of emergency which turns us into a country under Marshall Law. They will use police and military to enforce the rules if needed. OH Boy! It is still so hard to believe that any of this is happening.

So now the rest of the country have joined us in isolation, our 14 days will be up in 10 days time and then we just fall into place with the rest of the country, which will be no different to what we will have been doing. I feel it will be a long 4 weeks for a lot of people. Both our girls have been put off work. We will all have to get creative and find ways to spend time together without actually being together, thanks goodness for the internet eh!

Even the kids playgrounds are off limits

Quite bizarre for us to be back in NZ but unable to see family and friends. We are treating this part as another house sit, landed in a town where we don’t know anyone, contacting friends and family back home via Messenger or WhatsApp, exploring a new place on foot. The only difference is that we are not meeting new people, and that is a bit sad, but this whole situation is a bit sad.

This is our story and it is not an unusual one. There are so many people who are affected by this crisis and we know we are not alone. We also know we are lucky to have a roof over our heads and food in our cupboards, our families and friends are safe, we are truly thankful for this. We just hope, as everyone does, that this is over soon with the least loss of life possible.

Take care everyone! Try to keep smiling! XXX

A Race Against Time

Published on March 19, 2020 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

Things are changing so quickly! 2 days ago we were coming home in 10 days, today, we are coming tomorrow! After advisories yesterday from NZ government saying for “All Kiwis – please fly home” we came to an agonising decision to leave our house/pet sit and change our flights to this Friday, a week early. 10 days is a long time in this rapidly changing environment. New York are threatening a “shelter in place” order, San Francisco has already implemented this. If this comes in then there will be no public transport. It is so hard to imagine a city as big and vibrant as New York coming to a grinding halt.

This morning we wake up to the news that NZ has completely closed her borders to everyone except for citizens. First time in history this has happened. So now we just hope that our flight which is still a day and a half away, will still fly. The good thing is is that we booked with Air New Zealand, of all the airlines, this should be the one which will still get through. What times we are in! You could never imagine this could be a thing, but it is. We have booked a separate ticket to LA from New York, We have given ourselves an extra 7 hours for the connection and hope this is going to be enough.

So now not only are the cafes and restaurants closed but the shopping malls and many shops. Our lovely friends in Thure keep on smiling, though we know it must be hitting them so hard. These ladies are the life blood of that community, how will they survive this? All the small businesses out there who don’t have multi million dollar back up, where will this leave them. So many people are going to be out of work, it will take time, when this is all over, for small businesses to recover. It really is a nightmare of the biggest proportions. We made great friends with 2 café owners in Leros, both of them, along with the rest of the island, have had to close their doors also. I don’t think there is 1 person in this whole world who is not being touched by this virus in some way or another. They might not be getting sick, in fact, very few will, but they will be totally knocked to the ground with it.

We have met a wonderful lady here in Breezy Point, Diane. She has offered to take us to the airport in the morning, and take over feeding the lovely Mac and Jack. We feel so blessed and humbled to have met so many amazing people during our travels. I have said this many times during these wee stories, that it is the people that make the place, it is the people that we meet that endears us most to a country/town/city and I cannot express enough of the love and friendship we have received, its hard to find the words. Thank you. Thank you for being part of our life, which is so much richer for your presence in it xx

We arrive back in NZ on Sunday morning 0700. My wonderful daughter Tayla will be there to pick us up and take us to our isolation spot. It is a relief to be going home!

Keep safe everyone – wash your hands!

And keep smiling, it will all be OK!

These Kiwis are flying home

Published on March 17, 2020 by kiwisdofly24 Comments

Every day new information comes out, new advice, new alerts. What to do, what not to do. We have had a very exhausting few days with all these questions and not so many answers. Since my last story – only 2 days ago, seems like weeks!! We have come to a decision and we have booked our tickets home! So we fly to NZ in 10 days time, when our lovely home owners come home. We feel some relief at this, here is an answer.

Just looking at how things are changing and how quickly, we are wondering what things will look like in 10 days. Will more borders be closed? Will NZ have closed the door completely? Will our home owners be able to return as planned? We just have to do what we can with the information we have at the time. At this stage most airlines are still flying with a few disruptions and restrictions. We have a commitment and we intend to fulfil that obligation.

It’s the most crazy thing. Would you ever believe that we would live through a situation like this? There is no other topic of conversation at the moment, facebook, TV news, people on the street, we are all talking about it. Some taking it more seriously than others, some panicking, some don’t care. I don’t mind admitting that I have had the full range of feelings about this. But we have to keep our heads and as I said, do the best we can with the information we have at the time. We have booked our tickets home, that’s the best we can do, if things change, well, we just re assess at the time and work it out.

We spoke with all our up-coming home owners and the consensus is that we have made the right decision. Puerto Rico is under Curfew now. They have to stay in their homes and are not even allowed to go to the beach, this is both Vieques and the Big Island. I am so heartened by the things I read on the Vieques community page and the way that lovely community comes together in these hard times. We have some very dear friends there and we are very sad that we are not going to be able to get there this time.

In the lead up to a house sit, we generally have many email conversations. We form a relationship with the home owners and when we meet, we often feel like we already know each other. This is true for the house sits which were coming up and it is really sad to realise that we are not going to get there and meet these people, that, even though we haven’t actually met, we would call friends. Everyone has been so wonderful and understanding. They have had to cancel their holidays as well, they have had to endure restrictions on everyday life too.

So here in New York, in our little corner of Long Island, all restaurants and cafes are closed, NYC is like a ghost town, we feel we are already in “Self Isolation” As far as I know the public transport is still running. Some supermarket shelves are still empty, or they empty as soon as they are stocked, either way, there is still food there, just some lines are going very fast. This is America! Surely food will keep coming…….

So we are going home, this part of our adventure is coming to a pre-mature ending. Well we didn’t see that coming!

We will have to “Self Isolate” when we get back. We have been doing research on what this actually entails. We can get a family member or public transport or a taxi to our final destination, but once there we have to stay there. We will have to get someone to bring groceries, but no visitors. That is going to be very tough! We have been away for a year, we are going to want to see people! We can go for walks or bike rides or even go for a drive as long as we stay away from everyone else. We have been offered several places to go for the isolation period, Our friends and family are wonderful, we DON’T have “nowhere” to go! So amazing how people pull together.

But you know what? We are not the only ones in this situation and I know that we are so much better off than some. My heart goes out to all who are having to lose their jobs, the ones who are sick, the ones isolated from their families and CANT get to them. This is a shit situation for the whole world and this story is just a tiny tiny paragraph of this massive novel.

Keep yourselves safe!

So Many Questions

Published on March 15, 2020 by kiwisdofly24 Comments

Coronavirus

So here we are, sitting in New York, hearing every day more and more the issues around the world about COVID-19 – Coronavirus. We were not so worried at the start, we are healthy and not too old yet (HA!) we are not going to die, so lets just carry on and continue with this adventure. But as the days go by, more and more travel restrictions are being put in place. Ok so now, what does this mean for us?

We have 2 weeks left of this house sit in New York then we have 3 more sits lined up almost back to back. Our current home owners got away to BVI days before they shut the borders, but will they be able to come back? I believe that US citizens can return so that’s good. Ok next up – Charleston and Fajardo, both home owners traveling to UK and Ireland – not going to happen – travel cancelled. Ok, What do we do now? Both of these wonderful home owners have asked us to still come, they will go on a local holiday instead. Great news, we will continue on with plans.

BUT, we have flights to Charleston with Delta, they announced the other day that they are cancelling 40% of their flights, will we be flying? Can we get to Puerto Rico? – will we, as tourists, be able to enter Puerto Rico? We are already worried about getting from there to Vieques as they have stopped all non-resident people from coming onto the island. Even if we can get to the island, will our home owners want to go back to the states where the virus is more threatening? So many questions and not so many answers!

Ok so plan B, we go back to NZ when the current home owners return. Not as easy as it sounds, flights are hard to find! Oh crap, and we will be in 14 day self isolation when we get back. More crap – We don’t have a home to go to to self isolate and we have been away for a year, does isolation mean we cant see anyone? It will be a case of so close yet so far! And, dear I say it – arriving to the start of winter!! We have had a year of winter LOL, we so need the sun!

Our current home owners have offered for us to stay on here when they get back, so its not like we have Nowhere to go, its just the big question – where can we go from here, what should we do? So for now we just watch each day and see what happens.

This mornings news is they are closing all restaurants, cafes, cinemas and nightclubs in France. This is going to cripple the small community of Thure where we house sat for 3 months. The local Cafe, which will have to close, have come up with a wonderful initiative. They will do deliveries of groceries from their store, with volunteers doing the deliveries. It is times like this that you see some amazing humility, people helping people is so heart-warming.

The ferries have stopped running to Leros from Athens, not sure about the planes but what does this mean for food and fuel supplies, we are thinking of all the wonderful people we met while there and what this means for them.

Vieques, the small community which is only just recovering from Irma and Maria, dependent on tourism, are having to close their doors, what will this do to an already stressed economy?

Here in New York, schools are closed, towns are being closed off, Broadway is shut down, sporting, ceremonial events and parades are being cancelled. I went to the supermarket of Friday, so many shelves empty, no bread, no milk, eggs, meat, rice and pasta – all gone. There was the most awful feeling in the store, an energy which made me feel panicky! People are panicking, people are worried. There is so much on the news here, it really does sound bad.

We were not so worried at the start, but are starting to be a bit more concerned. We don’t feel threatened by the virus, as I said, we are healthy and feel that if we did contract the virus then we would be able to fight it. But it is the whole knock on effect that we are starting to worry about. How long will it be? When will this end? If we do go back to NZ, can we afford to come back out again? Oh boy, so many questions!

Meantime we are safe and well here in this lovely home, with two beautiful cats who need us! We have lots of food and plenty of wine! We will sit this out for now and see what happens……….