By Michelle Fallon
Sunday, 26th April
Today I woke up in my own bed, in my cottage, at home, and I can honestly say I have never in my entire life felt such happiness.
Home. Such a small word, but right now, just saying the word and typing it out – H.O.M.E. – I am physically shaking and my heart is actually bursting. Why? Because I have just spent two days travelling through five airports to get home from Malaysia, where I got stuck due to Covid-19. I can honestly say I have never in my entire life been this happy.
Rewind to Tuesday, 14th of January where I was beyond excited packing my case to head off on a long overdue holiday to visit an old school friend in Malaysia!
I’m trying to remember if I was even aware of Covid-19 when I initially travelled, and I honestly can’t recall. I think the first time I became aware of it was in January when we travelled to Johor for the Chinese New Year, with my friend and her family. We had arranged a day trip to Singapore and tried to get masks everywhere, but there were none to be had. I remember feeling really anxious about travelling, and we were all very conscious about washing hands, using sanitiser and not touching things.
I don’t think I gave it much thought until we returned to Kuching. That was when things really changed. Notifications were appearing on social media and at local schools and churches, advising people to wear masks, ‘notify us if you have travelled to China’, etc.
Then it seemed to settle down again and I travelled to Australia in February to see my brother and his family. I did wear a mask, but looking back I don’t think I was overly concerned. Well, apart from the man in the aisle opposite me that coughed and sneezed for the duration of the flight, and the crazy guy in front of me, who halfway through the flight told me he had drugs in his bag and didn’t know how he was going to get it past immigration. Seriously, this only happens to me!?! Bridget Jones, eat your heart out!!
I arrived in Sydney to torrential rain but eventually the sun came out and I had a lovely normal holiday with my brother and his family.
Then, as it got closer to the time for me to return to Malaysia, there were more and more reports of Covid-19 and talk about travel being affected. On my flight back to Malaysia I wore a mask again – this time the majority of people on the flight were wearing them too. I returned to Kuching and things went back to normal.
Then I got sick! My flight home was on March 14th, but I was so sick I couldn’t even get out of bed, let alone to the airport. I have no idea whether it was Covid or not. I had all symptoms apart from shortness of breath. I did go to see a doctor, who said it was viral and prescribed antibiotics and medicine.
It was nothing like anything I’ve ever had before. All I can say is my entire body ached and I had extreme fatigue. I didn’t leave my bed for several days.
So, I missed my flight home. I thought, no problem, I’ll just book another one. Yes, it was an expense, approx. €400 for a single flight, but little did I know then that was peanuts in comparison to what I was going to pay.
Then things changed. On March 16th, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin, made a televised speech and announced that the country would be under a Movement Control Order (MCO) from March 18th. Lockdown.
Nobody was allowed to leave their homes, only the head of the household for essentials. All travel was banned and a curfew was implemented. There were police-guarded roadblocks and constant news reports of people being arrested for breaking the MCO.
Whilst it sounds scary, I will honestly say I felt safe. Then lockdown was extended twice, and with each extension my window to get home got smaller and smaller.
March 16th was the last day I left the house I was staying in until Friday, 24th of April, when I started my journey home.
I was anxious about flying and felt I would be going from the safety net of lockdown to the eye of the storm. My mum is a severe asthmatic and I did not want to risk ‘getting it’ and bringing it home. It was a hard decision.
On top of all that, I was petrified about being put in quarantine. I had spent weeks on lockdown in my friend’s house, and to be honest, didn’t have enough hours in the day to do all the things I wanted. I was painting, sewing, recording content for my YouTube channel, doing online courses. I filled each day, no problem. Thoughts of quarantine genuinely terrified me, so I stayed where I was.
The last week is a bit of a blur. One minute I was sitting outside my friend’s house enjoying the sun on my face, and then I was in this whirlwind of phone calls with the Irish Embassy, airlines and my family, making the decision to try and get home. A few weeks ago I had so many choices, whereas now there was only two options, both costing over €2,000.
Another issue I had was getting from Kuching to Kuala Lumpur – there was only one flight a week and the flights from Kuala Lumpur to London were on different days. I had to wait until I could fly into and out of Kuala Lumpur on the same day to avoid quarantine, so it was like a game of chess.
Eventually I found my move, booked the flights and had less than two days to get things arranged. Very stressful.
My heart is racing because I’m now getting to the part about the actual journey home. I was petrified. I know that in the big scheme of things being put into quarantine isn’t the worst experience perhaps, but for some reason that was my biggest fear.
On the morning of my first flight (Friday, 24th of April) my friend drove me to the airport, where we were stopped by armed police. It was like being in a movie! Thankfully, I had all my paperwork (from the embassy) so we were okay to get to the airport. Once we got there I checked my luggage in and got all my boarding passes except the London to Dublin one, which they told me I could collect in Kuala Lumpur.
It was a very tearful goodbye. We had just spent 37 days together in a house. I have been promising my friend for 26 years, since she moved to Malaysia, that I would visit. I will never forget it, Edel. I had the best of times with you during the worst time.
Kuching Airport was eerily quiet. Everyone on my flight was wearing a mask and/or gloves, and a few people were in hazmat suits. It was very strange. On arrival in Kuala Lumpur I made my way to the transit area, only to be met by darkness and armed police and told to make my way out via the baggage claim area.
I had visions of being escorted off to quarantine, but I wasn’t. The whole area was empty. It was 1.30 pm and my flight wasn’t leaving until 02.25 am. I explained my situation and they told me I had to wait until 11 pm for the airline desks to be open before I could do anything. It was then that I went to the toilet and had a panic attack. I have never in my life felt so scared and so alone and so helpless. Thank God my brother rang me and talked me out of it (and my sister too). So lucky to have the best siblings. Thank you John and Tara.
To say the wait in that departure lounge was agonising is the biggest understatement ever. There were no restaurants open, no shops, nothing. I felt very unsafe, but I had no choice but to sit and wait. I started sewing! All the times I have posted on my social media about mindful making and how relaxing sewing is, how good it is to calm the mind, etc. I always meant it, but I can now confirm one hundred and fifty per cent that it does. Eventually it got to 11 o’clock. Even after all that waiting I still didn’t get my boarding pass from London to Heathrow, so I had to just do it. I had to face immigration. You guessed it…it was a breeze! They just asked me where I was travelling to, looked at my passport and that was it. The relief!
The rest is just a blur of desolate airports, eerily quiet, walking through empty spaces, shops boarded up, not a sound, no laughing, no excited people going on holidays. You could feel the tension in the air.
Eventually I got to London and finally got my boarding pass to Dublin. I was exhausted – mentally and physically. Before I knew it we had landed in Dublin. You guessed it, I cried.
At the airport, there was no interrogation or any questions about how I was getting from the airport, or anything like that. I hired a car and am self-isolating for two weeks at home, on my own, in my cottage.
So I drove home. It was the most beautiful evening. The smell of the air, the colours of the fields, the sounds of the birds, every little detail is just an explosion to my senses.
It was so hard calling to my mum and talking to her from the car with the window half-down. Not being able to hug here after all this time.
Then…driving down the road to my cottage! I kissed my pink door and I went from room to room like a kid at Christmas. Happy is just not enough of a word to describe how I feel right now. I am overwhelmed with relief. I know so many of you are sick to death of being at home, but for me home is more than a place – it’s a feeling – and right now it’s the best feeling in the world! #stayhome #staysafe
