Love in the Time of Coronavirus

It seems like years since we were in Cape Verde, given all that has happened since we returned to Malaga just over two weeks ago. I still have other posts about Cape Verde that I will put up eventually, but today I want to write about what life has been like here in Spain as we are over-run with coronavirus infections, quarantines and border closings.

At first we stayed calm. Like most of you reading from North America, the danger seemed remote at first. We looked at the stats and concluded it was better to stay in Spain than to try to get back to Edmonton right away. I mean, the odds of catching it, even now that the numbers in Spain have skyrocketed, is only 212/million (0.02%). So why panic, right? (While I wrote this post it increased in Spain to 239/million. But still…)

We had originally planned to be in Malaga until March 28. Then we had a bike trip in the mountains near Ronda, in Spain, scheduled for the following week, followed by a 2-week tour in Morocco.

Morocco closed its borders to Spain, so that trip was off. We got a full credit (but not cash refund) from the tour company. They have tours all over the world, so I’m sure we’ll be able to use it within a year.

Then the Spanish government imposed a country-wide lockdown. So much for Ronda. They also offered a full credit. Guess we’ll be back here next year to use up those credits!

We stayed calm though. We’ve got a lovely sunny balcony here in Malaga. Great, quiet beach nearby, and hiking trails behind the house. We can stay here till our flight home. (We later discovered that the rules of the lockdown do not permit us to go out for walks anywhere, unless it is to buy groceries or meds. Or unless you have a pet, which seems unfair to me. Surely it is not just pet owners who need mental health breaks? And what about toddlers? They cannot understand the rules any more than pets can. But I digress…)

Meanwhile, the Canadian government issued its first statement encouraging Canadians to come home before it was too late. We looked at flight options. Had to rebook anyway because our original flight to Edmonton was from Marrakesh in Morocco. But how soon should we plan to leave?

The big question was, does it make sense to try to fly back to Canada ASAP and brave the elevated infection risks of travelling through multiple airports crowded with potentially sick people? Didn’t seem like a good idea. So our goal in booking flights home was to find something with the fewest airports possible. We managed to book flights from here to Amsterdam to Edmonton on March 30.

Then, like a parent to a kid who wants to stay at their friend’s house beyond dinnertime, the Canadian government said, “Come home now!” And insurance companies started saying they’d cut off international travel health insurance if you weren’t back by March 23. Talk about causing a stampede of panic!

While we were investigating options to move our flights to earlier, even if it did mean risking more airports, and many more hours in travel, the Canadian government announced that it was closing the Edmonton airport. (Among others.) Yikes!

At the same time, there were debates raging in expat Facebook groups about “should I stay or should I go”. People accusing us of being selfish if we travel now. Others pointing out that the Spanish health care system is unlikely to give us the priority it would give its own citizens if we get sick. There’s my elderly mother who wants us safely back in Canada. But will getting there be safer? It would mean leaving Spain as its infection rate is super-high, and probably arriving in Canada as it starts to hit the sharp upward part of the infection curve. Our travel health insurance plan, through my husband’s work, has not told the employer that it will stop covering us, but we know that it may do so at any minute…. Ackk… What is the right thing to do?

If we stay, it could turn into months instead of weeks. After all the hoops we went through to be able to extend our Schengen visas by leaving Schengen for several weeks, now we’d again end up in violation. And can we even afford to stay here for months more, while still paying for a home in Canada? Mind you, it looks like it wouldn’t cost much more than we’ll end up spending on flights to get home earlier! But there’s still that fear about what would happen in the unlikely event that we do get sick. DH and I both have asthma and are at the edge of the high-risk age category.

We decided to try to get out of here now. We sucked up the price and the multiple hours and airports, and started investigating earlier options even before Prime Minister Trudeau announced airport closures. We doubled down on the effort from the moment he spoke. Like thousands of others, we tried to contact KLM. They normally have excellent customer service, and I know they are doing their best. But their My Trip app didn’t work, so we couldn’t make changes ourselves, and it is impossible to reach them by phone or social media. I was on hold for three hours last night and then the line went dead. This morning it didn’t even take 3 hours to crap out. I’ve left messages on various social media channels, but I don’t hold much hope of hearing back from them soon.

Since the flight was partnered with Air France, I tried to make the changes through their site, but it wouldn’t allow it. It would, however, let us book fresh flights, this time partnered with WestJet, going from Paris to Calgary on March 22. We got it booked just as West Jet announced that midnight March 22 would be their last international flights.

(Mind you, they did say that their focus after that would be on repatriating Canadians stuck abroad. I can’t help wondering if waiting to be repatriated would be a better idea. Maybe that way we could do it more directly?)

The flights we’ve booked go Malaga >Paris > Toronto > Calgary. Because of the way their partnership with Westjet works, we cannot book directly from Toronto to Edmonton on that ticket, even though Westjet does fly that route, and we will already have had our health screening at the Toronto airport. I’ve sent messages to both Westjet and AirFrance to see if they’ll let us make that change. But if not, at least we know we’ll get back as far as Calgary. Will likely have to overnight there and then fly on to Edmonton.

Meanwhile, back in Malaga, we sit in our apartment listening to the birds chirp and noticing the lack of traffic and human noise. It is eerie. We are allowed to go out (one of us only) to buy groceries. There is still some food in the stores, and I assume supplies will be refreshed. Supposedly the governments will keep the food chain going. DH is experimenting with baking new (for him) types of bread. We exercise a bit in the apartment or on the rooftop. We do some Spanish practice. I have taken advantage of the time to move this website over to a more flexible platform. Hope you like the new look.

Through all of it, I can’t help thinking of what it must have been like (and is like) for people trying to escape wars and famines. Compared to them, we have no right to complain about this minor inconvenience.

(Continued: Flight Cancellations & More: The Roller Coaster Ride of Fleeing Coronavirus)