‘If I’m stuck here I will die’: Traveller’s warning after holiday nightmare

Stranded in Samoa with no idea when she was going to be able to get home, Haulwen Turner-Lines broke down crying in a pharmacy, telling the staff member: “If I’m stuck here, I will die.”

Turner-Lines, of Cambridge, and her family were among thousands of travellers who had an extended stay overseas after flooding at Auckland Airport saw international flights temporarily paused.

Air New Zealand sent a recovery flight to Samoa last Thursday, which Turner-Lines and her family were on. The airline said with 9000 disrupted customers around the world, it was one of the biggest rebooking events in its history.

But until that point, Turner-Lines had faced an agonising wait to find out how they would get home, with some passengers told there was no availability on direct flights from Apia to Auckland until the end of February.

For Turner-Lines, it was a particularly serious predicament as she is on six medications a day to manage two serious conditions affecting her liver. Twenty years ago, she was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis.

“I’ve done really well, but I’ve done really well because I’m on a strict regime of medication,” Turner-Lines said.

“If I were to stop those drugs overnight, I would very quickly get into trouble, and eventually, liver failure.”

Their flight home had been cancelled on the Saturday night, and on the Monday, the family went to the Air New Zealand office in Apia, having not heard anything about their new flights. Turner-Lines said staff confirmed there was no flight availability for three weeks.

Turner-Lines said she would always carry two weeks’ worth of extra medication when she travelled, but in this situation she would have been at least a week short.

“My brain went into survival mode, ‘I’m going to have to get drugs’,” Turner-Lines said.

She took her medications to the nearest pharmacy and asked if they stocked them, or an equivalent. The pharmacist said they didn’t, but called up two more pharmacies and the hospital.

“They all came back with, ‘no, we don’t have this medication on the island’.”

Turner-Lines said the pharmacist got her an appointment with a local doctor, but he wasn’t familiar with her diseases or medications. He put her on the phone to a relative at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, who suggested trying to find someone who was flying from New Zealand to Samoa who could bring her the medication.

Turner-Lines contacted her GP, who suggested she contact the New Zealand High Commission in Samoa. But the High Commission was also unable to help.

“It was literally, how was I going to stay alive?”

Turner-Lines’ stress was alleviated when her husband managed to book the family of five flights to Auckland via Sydney with Qantas, departing that Thursday – though at a cost of $9000.

Then on Wednesday night, they found out they had been booked on Air New Zealand’s recovery flight the next day. Qantas cancelled their booking, and they expect to be able to claim the cancellation fee for those flights back on travel insurance.

But while it all worked out in the end, Turner-Lines said the experience had “frightened” her, and she wanted to use it as an opportunity to remind travellers who were similarly reliant on medication to ensure they always had “more than enough” with them.

“I will not leave this country now without three months’ worth of drugs, having gone through what I’ve gone through,” she said.

The experience had also made her rethink future travel destinations, as she had realised Samoa wouldn’t have been equipped to help her – though she noted everyone had been “so welcoming and so caring”.

“It’s made me realise a family holiday can turn disastrous very quickly.”

Travelling with essential medication

While consular staff can provide advice when Kiwis get into difficulty overseas, they are unable to secure access to medication for them, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said.

Kiwis should be aware that costs, access and availability of medication and services overseas could vary.

“Before travellers depart, they should check that their medication is available in the country they are travelling to in case they lose it, and leave a copy of their medical documentation with a family member in case of an emergency,” the spokesperson said.

Worldwise medical director Dr Marc Shaw said they suggested travellers take double the amount of medication they would need for the duration of the trip, and separate some into their carry-on luggage, and some into their checked luggage.

It was essential for travellers to carry a doctor’s note listing their medical conditions, and the medications they were on, preferably referring to the generic medication.

“Often whilst a medication may not be available in some of these countries, there may be other generic medications they can substitute for that period of time.”

Travellers should also consider their destinations carefully, looking at what would be available if anything went wrong. Specialist travel doctors would be able to provide advice on this.

“If you are going to certain areas, you need to do your homework.”