Coronavirus is on everyone’s lips these days, and I think it’s just the beginning. I hope everyone is inside and enjoying the quarantine. What a time to reflect on the craziness of 2020. Three months in and we’ve narrowly avoided World War III, people believed that brooms only stand up once a year, and now we’re in the midst of a pandemic. What a time to be alive.
We left at a point where the hotspots were China, South Korea, Japan and Italy, but our luck changed for the worst. The day we left for the Philippines the president, Duterte, closed down the main city of Manila with a 48 hour warning. We proceeded with the incorrect assumption that any other city would also have a 48 hour warning before shutting down. They did not. Day two into our lovely vacation we made the decision to abort and get to the nearest airport, and that’s when the fun started.
Flights were booked. Flights were cancelled. Alternative flights had been booked, and the dominos of flights, bus rides, and car journeys had to be arranged and rearranged. That being said, after the 60 hours of travelling, we are safe and sound even if we’re on the wrong continent.
We went through some hell, and have come through fairly unscathed. Here are some helpful tips to get you home while travelling through a global crisis.
Tip 1: Contact Your Consulates
As an American travelling with a few other UK citizens, it made for some complicated times. Do you contact just your country or do you contact the country you live in? The short answer is contact everyone you can. Here are all of the one’s we contacted as soon as we knew we may not make it home:
The most important thing to do is to get in contact with any authority, and preferably in person or on the phone. We found the facebook accounts quite responsive, though they tend to give blanket responses. They’re quite useful for getting phone numbers and email addresses for moving forward and contacting more people. Get your names into any databases and sign up for any mailing list that gives you updates on policies such as STEP (USA) or the Smart Traveller Program (Australia).
These emailing lists give the ‘latest’ information on border closures, bans, or policies that have been enacted such as the 72 hour deadline on getting out of Manila/the drop on that deadline. They’re crucial in making a plan to get out of where you don’t want to be.
We learned in the end that they notices were great, but a little late. Find people as close to you as possible, so within the city, county/state, country for the latest information as they can do the most for your situation at hand. There’s very little anyone can do for you in your home country unless you’ve got some help higher up.
Lastly, talk to your airlines directly as they have some of the latest information including border bans, visa requirements and flight opportunities. Be nice to them as they’re working their butts off in this crazy time!
Bacolod Police lining up along side the hand-written flight check-in by ‘Miss Jenny’.
Tip 2: Think like a detective
Find a lead and follow it. We got a tip from a James at the American Embassy phone number saying to check with the Department of Tourism. We tried calling and emailing, but headed over in-person and received a wealth of information. While still contacting the other embassies, we pressed hard on the Department of Tourism, and ended up getting on one of their ‘sweeper’ flights made for expats. Seeing a list of hand-written names as the official security list for the airport opened my eyes, and made me realise that they were as desperate to get us out as we were to leave. This flight we got on was an unofficial flight organised by the government and once of the last airlines willing to keep flying.
Tip 3: Make A Plan & Keep Moving Forward
Even before getting the sweeper flight we outlined a simple plan: get to an airport, get to an international airport, then get out of the Philippines. It sounds stupid, but when under pressure giving yourself yes or no questions to answer makes it easier to answer. “Will this decision take me closer to an airport?” If yes, take it. If no, find another solution. Time is precious in these situations, and hours make a difference when it comes to immigration as I’ll talk about later. Here’s how we actually got out:
4-hour van ride to a bigger city: Sipalay > Bacolod
Regional flight: Bacolod > Angeles
A 1.5 hour bus ride to international airport: Angeles > Manila
Flight out to a major hub: Manila > Singapore
Sweeper flight getting expats out of the Philippines organised by Cebu Pacific Airlines
Tip 4: Be Flexible
Working with the plan we made we moved forward by purchasing flights that would get us where we wanted. All of the regional flights and even our flight to Singapore was cancelled at some point or another, some with less than 24 hours notice. After the third flight was cancelled we started getting used to it, and weren’t too crushed after the little glimmer of hope. Things move quickly and being attached to any one plan will make things more stressful.
In the end, we missed our window to make it into Australia by about 8 hours due to the availability and spacing of our new flights. Our final decisions were based on what countries we could go to, and what would be best for us in terms of working and living for an indefinite amount of time. California? Devon? Singapore?
Tip 5: Communicate
Tell other expats you meet in the hotels or online. The more you share, the more you receive. Be sure to have a working SIM card so that you can call foreign and domestic numbers. Alternatively, use Skype to make cheap calls internationally and locally.
I know there are plenty of expats around the world trying to get home still. Good luck to all of you and feel free to reach out if you need any help! For the rest of you safe at home, enjoy your time of introspection and quiet time. What an incredibly stressful time we’re living in; many of us will lose our jobs, food is becoming scarce due to panic buying, and our health is at stake. We’ll make it out of this with the help of friends and family. We’re physically distancing ourselves, but I’ve never felt emotionally closer to the ones I love now.