‘It was chaos:’ Edmonton-area couple struggles to return from South Africa amid Omicron discovery

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An Edmonton-area woman who struggled to return from South Africa after the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant is warning travellers leaving Canada to do so with caution, because they may have to find their own way home.

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On Nov. 26, Parkland County couple Sonia Poulin and her husband Carsten Brehm arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, to begin their return trip after wrapping up a walking safari in Kruger National Park for Poulin’s 50th birthday.

While in the bush for about three nights, they were unplugged from the latest news surrounding the discovery of the Omicron variant until that day, Poulin said, when the United Kingdom had suspended flights from several south African countries and both the U.S. and European Union (EU) were working toward similar measures.

Unsuccessful attempts to confirm their return flight with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines prompted the couple to rush to the airport in an effort to ensure their flight to Amsterdam the following day was secure, Poulin said, but the scene they encountered at the airport was far from reassuring.

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“It was chaos — real chaos — at the airport,” Poulin told Postmedia in a phone interview. “People were going from one airline counter to another trying to see if there was a spot left. People were crying and screaming. I have never lived this in my entire life, and I’ve travelled to more than 100 countries.”

At the airport, Poulin added, a KLM representative informed the couple that while their flight was due to depart, boarding would be limited.

By noon, the Netherlands government imposed a travel ban on incoming passenger flights from eight countries, including South Africa, except to repatriate groups such as Dutch passport holders as well as EU citizens, and KLM obliged .

Looking for another way out, Poulin said she called a Vancouver travel agent who could only find a flight as early as Dec. 5. So Poulin took it upon herself to hunt down and secure two $1,700 seats on a Nov. 27 Kenya Airways flight from Johannesburg to Nairobi with a connection to New York.

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But even with tickets in hand, the two travellers were still in a race against the clock as U.S. travel restrictions were set to take effect Nov. 29.

The Kenya Airways flight arrived in Nairobi around 5:45 p.m. on Nov. 27, Poulin said, and after clearing their COVID-19 tests, they made it to the next gate just after 10 p.m., about 90 minutes before the flight to New York, and with less than 26 hours to make it stateside before the U.S. activated its own travel ban.

It was around then that Poulin learned that the flight to New York would be delayed due to “technical problems.”

“I crumbled in tears because I thought this is our only chance to get home,” Poulin said. “The thought of being stranded somewhere and not being able to get home is not a thought that I want anyone to experience. It’s just awful.”

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But the hitch would only last a few hours, Poulin added, and the flight finally departed about 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 28, arriving in New York later that morning. There, after clearing another round of COVID-19 tests, the couple checked into a hotel to sleep for the first time in two days.

The next hurdle lay over the Canada-U.S. border, during a three-night stay in a quarantine hotel.

After flying out of New York on Nov. 29, the couple landed in Calgary, the site of another COVID-19 test (this one performed at their own request), Poulin said, just after 8:30 p.m., with only inflight snacks to tide over their hunger.

When they were finally shuttled to the hotel at 11:30 p.m., Poulin was famished, but the food supplied on site didn’t agree with her dietary restrictions and allergies.

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Poulin said a Canadian Red Cross representative told her the kitchen was closed and that, besides two small bags of snacks provided, there was no other food available for her.

According to its website , the Canadian Red Cross is supporting the Public Health Agency of Canada by providing returning travellers with “care and comfort services” at sites in Calgary and other cities across the country.

“The only thing that I could have is two juice boxes,” Poulin said. “We asked if we could order food and have it delivered to the hotel, and they said ‘No, we can’t allow you to do that.’”

While the hotel manager cobbled together some eggs and fruit for her that first night, Poulin said she was directed to a toll-free number for future needs, and told to expect a 24 to 72 hour turnaround for requests.

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In an email statement to Postmedia, a Canadian Red Cross spokesperson said the organization provides a range of services at quarantine facilities — from reception to the provision of prescription medication — and has a designated team to support individuals over the phone, but referred questions about facility operations to the Public Health Agency of Canada, which manages the sites and was not available to comment before publication time.

After receiving negative COVID-19 test results on Dec. 2, Poulin and her husband completed the final leg of their trip, and finished their quarantine in their Parkland County home on Dec. 13.

While Poulin said she supports public health measures designed to protect others from COVID-19, she is concerned that there seems to be “no common sense” surrounding some quarantine conditions, especially when quickly changing border rules during an already unpredictable global pandemic can leave international travellers high and dry.

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“Any travellers that want to go outside of Canada during this pandemic need to know that they can be left on their own to find their way home,” she said.

On Saturday the Canadian government lifted its own travel restrictions on 10 countries including South Africa, but in a press conference the day before, federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos still advised Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel outside the country.

“We do not want you to be stranded or to be sick abroad,” Duclos said. “Once you have left the country, once you are stranded, once you are sick, there is little the Canadian government can do to help you.”

– With files from Bloomberg

hissawi@postmedia.com

@hamdiissawi