Preamble

Finally, 20 years in the making, my dearest brother booked his trip Downunder to come and join us with his daughter, my niece. Us, the 2 travelling lads, were ecstatic. My brother and niece were to join us March 2nd, 2020 and stay till April 8th, 2020 (6 weeks). During one of the travelling lad's trip back home, we discussed final details in preparation of their visit. We booked leave from work to be available during their stay. To surprise my niece we booked a secret Bali trip, for 1 week, for all of us and unbeknownst to them, we planned our legal wedding to happen during their stay in Oz, followed by a honeymoon week in Nusa Lembongan just us, the 2 travelling lads and them joining us in Seminyak for the second week. Christmas 2019 came and went, summer 2019/2020 was ticking along nicely, preparations for their arrival were coming along nicely, when COVID-19 hit. At first it didn't really seem to impact THE trip, but slowly things started to change... China put their epicentre into lock-down: Wuhan. Australia restricted arrival onto its shores for anyone coming from Wuhan. Australian citizens were sent to Christmas Island for a forced quarantine, once a flight was finally arranged to repatriate Australian nationals. A cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, got put into quarantine in Japan having had a positive case of COVID-19 onboard, with many of the passengers slowly but surely getting infected one by one. At work discussions were held on how to react should a student present with symptoms or there be suspicions of contact with the virus? This never eventuated, as Australia finally locked its borders for anyone travelling from China. This locking of borders expanded to Hong Kong till reaching South Korea, as COVID-19 infections spread from country to country, till finally reaching Lombardy, Northern Italy, which quickly became the new epicentre of the virus, gradually shutting down a city, a region, a nation. This is when COVID-19 reached OUR trip... We started monitoring the situation very carefully, as my brother and my niece were flying via Milan airport (our closest airport from Southern Switzerland). As days progressed, the situation escalated day by day, hour by hour. Our patience was put to the test as the departure date of March 1st, 2020 came closer and closer with border crossings becoming stricter and stricter. Finally, they left, via Milan, just in time. Arrived into Perth being let in without any hesitation, as Swiss nationals only having traveled through Milan, not stayed there. The Australian adventure could finally being, or so we thought...

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