Voyage Express

Although our trip was cut short, it was well worth it the gut wrenching thrills and frills. We began five months ago and didn’t expect this to be a break. But COVID-19 hit everyone, everywhere in different ways.

First things first we had to get home leaving Peru and cutting our trip short.

Cusco in particular was a full of highs and lows more extreme than anywhere we had experienced prior. Full of anxiety ridden with emotions and rolling with the ups and downs. And after all this, we still would love to come back to Peru. But we would love to be honest with you and ourselves during times of trouble, you should surround yourself with family, friends and loved ones. So sending all our love and support to all the people stuck around the globe but specially to Canadians still stuck in Cusco, Peru.

Getting home is priority number one, to be close to those who matter to us. Five months was better than nothing at all. We wouldn’t have given up this opportunity for anything. We want to get back to travelling as soon as possible, once all this is over. Maybe it will help us decide how and where to travel next, and learn from our first mistakes.

After 5 hours from the airport lines in Cusco and the anxious waiting in line for every single step (getting in buses, entering the airport, getting our bags checked by dogs, check-in, migration, more security, waiting on the gate) we arrived in Lima.

After that, we stayed on our plane to do our check-in sitting on our seats (yeah that was a first for sure) then we took a bus (still on the runway) that took us from our Avianca airplane to the Air Canada plane but before that, yeah we waited to get on the plane.

Meli got really emotional and happy when she saw the airplane, but she also said she started laughing with the rest of the people in her bus, as we were separated since we left Cusco. The Air Canada flight to Toronto from Lima was packed, with other Canadians waiting to be repatriated. We waited almost 2 hours since we sat on the plane till the moment we took off, which we ended up sitting and waiting for almost 9-10 hours, at least we were together by now. We where greeted with snacks, lots of them! and a in flight meal within the first hour. Really grateful for this as we did not have any food other than 3 granola bars, it was amazing, all the shops were closed in Cusco Airport.

We arrived in Toronto, it was freezing! and we were complaining about the weather in Cusco! Did customs, then voyaged into the airport to wait five hours or so the get to Calgary. Met an awesome couple that was traveling like us, from Cusco all the way to BC. Shared some experiences and made our wait of 5 hours fun and light heartened with an extra set of eyes.

Oh boy we were tired by now.
The flight from Toronto to Calgary was a bit different, only half of the plane was full and we started to see and experienced all the effects of COVID-19 in Canadian airports. Calgary was cold and it was snowing, it was the perfect welcoming to this two Canadians with no winter clothes as we left most of our clothes back in Colombia (we never though a global pandemic was gonna happen)

And then we waited again, for our flight to Prince George. Once we made it into our small plane, we figured out it was pretty much a private flight as it was only 4 passengers, us included.

At this point, and after 35 hours of the “hurry up & wait” game, as we called it, we are happy to be home. With friends and family, support, friendly faces and for me some English. It was awkward seeing our loved ones and not giving them a hug, especially after being so long apart. In the airports I was speaking Spanish of force of habit. I plan to continue my Spanish practice as this trip is far from over and patiently waiting for our next opportunity to go explore the world we live in.

But for now, let’s survive the next two weeks in quarantine.

Cheers,
Meli & Me

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Here’s what we enjoyed of Cusco before the lock down