Back in Melbourne

Sixteen hours in economy is never a pleasant experience, especially when it follows almost three days of sleepless transits. In normal circumstances, I would be dreading the whole ordeal, but this was different. I really was just relieved to be on board. In my mind I decided that, once we were in the air, we could not be turned back.

I normally find it almost impossible to sleep on planes, but in this case I was just so completely exhausted that I could not possibly stay awake any longer. Even though the plane was overheated, I wrapped myself in the blanket, lay back the seat and fell asleep. In fact, such was level of sleep deprivation, that I never watched any movies like I normally would, I just wanted the world to leave me alone. I had to sleep.

Somehow the long flight over the Pacific went by in a blur of sleeping interspersed with short periods of wakefulness. From time to time I checked the little flight map to see how far the little plane icon had crawled across the map.

Due to the mysteries of crossing the International Date Line an entire day disappeared into the ether and I finally found myself landing at Tullamarine at around 9 am on Friday morning. I was finally home. Almost. Of course I still had to get from the airport to my house, but after what I had been through, that seemed like a trivial matter.

I did not know exactly what to expect when I got off the plane, but I thought that at least we would be thoroughly debriefed about what it meant to undertake 14 days of self isolation. I thought that we might also be supplied with a mask and hand sanitizer. What I actually received was a sheet of information. I wondered how the many non English speaking people on the plane would make any sense of it.

I was somewhat horrified to then discover that the passengers were then all free to exit the airport and catch taxis, buses and the like. If such incoming travellers are a high risk of infection, there was no control whatsoever at limiting their exposure to the population.

Considering the number of flights I had undertaken and the changes of plans along the way, I was expecting that my luggage would not have made it to Melbourne with me. I was wrong. My familiar blue case was soon reunited with me and I made my way out of the terminal.

Maggie and I had previously worked out a system whereby she would drive my car to the parking lot and then leave the key on the boot lid. In that way we did not need to contact each other at all. Soon I was driving home. I could not help but feel that I was still in some sort of dream. So much had changed in the very short time since I had departed from that same airport, that my head was spinning.

I finally pulled into my drive, parked my car and collapsed inside the house. Now I was really home. It was a somewhat hollow feeling to be back and have no one to share my experiences with. I now begin my 14 days of self isolation, however the very first thing I needed was a shower and a proper sleep in my own bed.

We are all now in uncharted waters.Read more