Hasta Luego Part 1
It’s the day after what would have been my mother’s 92nd Birthday and we are spending 7 hours in the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport.
It’s not quite that day we had planned.
Our 12:15 EasyJet flight from London Gatwick to Málaga was cancelled just as we had dropped off our bags and made our way to security to be prevented from passing any further. The poor EasyJet staff seemed not to have been informed about the cancellation, although there had been an earlier flight cancellation, so it seems it might now be a regular occurrence. A part of me expected this, given the recently imposed quarantine on all passengers entering the UK from Spain; I doubt if many people are travelling to Spain for their holidays right now.
As you may know, my Mother and Brother died within 9 days of each other in April, during Spain’s tight lockdown. Unable to return to the UK for funerals and associated grieving processes, we booked a return trip as soon as lockdown measures were relaxed and we felt comfortable enough with the idea of air travel. We travelled out on 29th July with a view to returning a week later.
On the Saturday before our outbound flight, the UK Government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to quarantine anyone from Spain travelling into the UK. 6 hours’ notice was given of this new requirement.
I spent what remained of Saturday 25th July and all of Sunday 26th trying to get information from the British Embassy in Madrid. Our journey was our opportunity to go and say goodbye to my brother and mother, to scatter mother’s ashes, to be with my family and just spend a little time trying to get closure on a chapter that has been emotionally very difficult. I had already had to deal remotely with the death of two members of my family and I suddenly felt that the chance to grieve with my children, my niece and nephew and my sister-in-law had been snatched away, and it felt as though I was hit by the death a second time around with no opportunity to grieve.
The advice I was given that weekend was to get in touch with the ‘self-isolation help desk’ which was, helpfully, not open over the weekend. They operate from Monday to Friday. There was a sense that this announcement came as a shock and a surprise to everyone involved, and everything appeared to be geared to the thousands of holidaymakers who had been actively encouraged by the UK Government, in June, to proceed with their summer holiday plans. It has always been inevitable that spikes in the numbers of coronavirus infections would surface, and the aim has always been to be in a position to control such spikes as quickly as possible, and isolate any sources. Spain is a huge country, and it seemed a rash decision to impose FCO non-essential travel advice to every part of the mainland. The Canary Islands and the Balearics were initially exempted from the FCO advisory, yet anyone traveling to those areas would still have been required to self-isolate for 14 days on their return to the UK. This was widely criticised as being ill-conceived and ludicrous. Clearly the Government listened and decided to extend the FCO advice to the Canaries and the Balearics as well, sealing the fate of Spanish tourism for this summer. The Spanish Government, understandably, was not best pleased. The cynic in me questions the speed with which the UK Government reached this decision and, indeed, thought it necessary.
On Monday morning before we were due to travel I called the Immigration self-isolation help desk’. Expecting to be on hold for an eternity, I was surprised that my call was answered shortly after 09:00 following a weekend of uncertainty.
I explained our circumstances and the reason behind our planned trip, and asked for an exemption from the self-isolation requirements. For a start, we were told that we would have to self-isolate for 14 days but I explained that we were only going to be in the UK for a week. The FCO website lists lots of exemptions from self-isolation, most of which were for key workers including fruit pickers! (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules). People attending funerals were not included in this list, but the help desk informed me that funeral attendees would be exempt.
The help desk is run by the Home Office, and the staff were very sympathetic and sensitive. I explained that we had been unable to attend the funerals and that this trip was, to all intents and purposes, our funeral attendance - an opportunity to say goodbye and remember the people we loved. I was put through to an advisor and explained again the purpose behind our trip. The advisor stated that we would be fine on compassionate grounds and I asked him to repeat this just to make sure I got the message loud and clear. Our trip was going to be tough enough, and the last thing we wanted was to have a tap on the shoulder and a fine for not self-isolating. I outlined our itinerary and informed the advisor that we would be travelling to Cambridge, London and Kent and, although we were told again that we would need to self-isolate we reiterated that we wouldn’t be able to. Once again, I was told that we’d be OK on compassionate grounds. I asked, naturally, for something in writing but was told that the Home Office wouldn’t provide anything in writing but that all phone calls were recorded and I could have the date and time of my call, as well as the name of the advisor.
I was also told that we’d be alright as ‘no-one would check’. When I asked for that to be repeated, I was told that no-one would stop us; no-one would check.
Based on that, we felt more than satisfied that we would not be forcibly quarantined on arrival into the UK, and we would be able to say our farewells without the added stress of breaking any regulations. The experience, though handled as well as we could have hoped, did surprise me in that it reinforced my belief that the imposed quarantine was an ill-thought-through measure with no real possibility of its being monitored. How on earth would the authorities check 100,000s of returning holidaymakers who could not afford to stay off work for another 2 weeks following the end of their holiday?
Waiting at one of the few cafes that were open in Malaga Airport
Málaga Airport, when we arrived, was very, very quiet; not the airport that is normally rammed to the rafters with holidaymakers during peak season, Through security, the concourse was a sorry sight, with only two eating places open. Shops were largely locked up; some had been denuded of stock, and the few passengers travelling drifted around aimlessly waiting for their gate to be called. On the whole, passengers wore face coverings and there were few signs of the rebellious individuals thinking they could buck the advice and travel without a mask. It incenses me to read social media comments from people who boast about sitting through an entire flight making their drink last so they don’t have to wear something aimed at protecting the people around them.
The flight was not full; probably around 75% capacity, and most people were respectful of others and abided by the airline’s regulations for safe travel.
Gatwick was a surprise; never have I seen the airport so empty. I have taken night flights from Heathrow in the past, and the terminals do take on an eery quality as passengers traipse to the last of the day’s flights, but our arrival this time was in mid-afternoon. There was hardly anyone around, apart from the passengers on our flight. Passport control was queue-less, and the forms we were asked to complete before travel were not checked. No questions were asked, no-one seemed even remotely interested that we had just arrived from Spain when just a day or two earlier we had been made to feel like pariahs.
As journeys go, it was seamless if a little strange. We caught the train to St Pancras International and were joined by some passengers who had decided that face masks were not essential on public transport. The carriage was, fortunately, underpopulated.
Our little journey of remembrance had begun and we couldn’t wait to see the family.
