Spain (March 17, 2020)

Well, how quickly things change! 

In order reduce our exposure to the coronavirus we moved, earlier than planned, from the busier, more touristy, Costa del Sol. The little town we regularly call home when we are in Spain is located about 90 minutes by car from the coast, on the edge of the tourist zone.  Our plan was go there and self isolate to a reasonable extent. We felt that we could comfortably reduce contact with others and still be active cycling and hiking.  The plan worked for a few days... 

Over these days the coronvirus cases in Spain grew exponentially. To the point that the government implemented a state of emergency.  Sever restrictions have been instituted over all Spanish territory in order attempt the limit the transmission of the virus.  Everyone's movement restricted.  You must stay in your house. You can only go out for limited reasons...  To buy food, to go to a pharmacy or to seek medical attention, to go to work (although many businesses are closed) or to by gasoline.

All store except for grocery stores are closed. The supermarkets and smaller stores limit the number of people who may enter the store. Everyone remains 2 metres from each other.  The staff and many customers wear a mask and gloves. The shelves and carts are cleaned with disinfectant after use.  Schools are closed and evens, including church. Semana Santa celebrations have been cancelled.  Everyone is quite calm and so far they are complying with the restrictions.   The restrictions are in place for a 15 day period but we feel that they are likely to be extended.

At this point there are no known case of the virus in this area.  Hopefully, it will stay that way.   We get out every day for a walk. We carry a grocery bag from the supermarket so if we are questioned we can say that we are going to get groceries. We do go to the grocery store most days anyway.

We have a flight booked back to Canada on April 28th.  The flight is booked with TAP, the Portuguese national airline.  We have tried through all possible means to contact them to see if we can change or flight dates.  Either they don't answer phone, Skype, Facebook, website inquiries or they have a recorded message that says that they are unable to take any calls at this time. They are not the only airline that has introduced this policy.

We started looking at the possibility of booking another flight. We did find some options but we weren't ready to pay the exorbitant fare.  After a couple of days of mulling over the options we finally booked a couple of flights that would get us home.  Yesterday evening we booked seats on a British Airways flight to Gatwick and a Westjet flight to Calgary.  We were concerned that even these flights might be cancelled or more travel restriction would be put in place to prevent us from getting to Gatwick.

This morning we turned on the computer and one of the first things we saw was the CBC report that Westjet was withdrawing all service for 30 days.  We found a copy of the Westjet press release to confirm the report. Westjet has yet to contact us with the news that our booked flight will not be going!  On the Westjet site there is  the ability to change or cancel our flight.  When you select change, their calendar indicated that no flights are available. We were able to cancel the flight because we were still within the 24 hour window.  Other  may no be so lucky.

I know that the airlines have been overwhelmed by the coronavirus issue but they have not been helpful to those who need to change their plans and get back to Canada.   The Canadian Government issues an urgent statement to Canadians abroad to return, but many of the airlines took advantage of the situation.  Several of the airlines only offered their premium price for all seats.  They advertised that they would drop their change fee because of the emergency but you still had to pay the difference in ticket price. Which in our case, was more that 3 times what we paid for a return ticket in the first place.

Bottom line now is that we are here for the duration. Borders are closing and travel is highly restricted.  On the upside, we are safe, comfortable and we have a very nice house to live in while we are here.   There are lemon trees with fresh lemons on them all over the neighbourhood.

As they say... When life gives you lemons, make lemonade....