SAM The Great Getaway
This post comes from our friends Sam & Kat. Some of you may know them already but for those of you who don’t - Sam, a designer by trade, is the son of Stuart’s university friend-cum-family vicar, Michael Johnson. Kat is a solicitor for the Helen Bamber Foundation. Last year they packed up their turreted London flat and escaped the UK for a travel adventure. I’ve been following them on polarsteps as they tucked into the Trans-Mongolian Express, China, most of SE Asia, Burma, Malayisa & then….
Over to Sam.
SAM JOHNSON
At 6.30am on the 18th March Kat wakes me up. We’ve spent the night in an almost deserted apartment block on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur airport. By contrast next to us is a shopping centre packed with Malaysians stocking up for the lockdown ahead.
In the past 24hrs we’ve arrived at a remote island off the coast of Borneo, watched an address by the prime minster of Malaysia and then been told we have 24 hours to get out of the country. We’ve aimed for Melbourne as we have friends there and the inflation on the flights back to the UK are more than we can stomach.
Anyway, back to 6.30am and our flight to Melbourne that is due to take off in four hours is cancelled (thanks AirAsia), which is another thing to add to a long line of headaches of the past 24hrs, but is hardly surprising.
Changing plans has become a theme of the past few days so within 15 minutes we have a new flight and in 25 minutes we’re in a taxi to the airport. We tensely watch flights get cancelled at the airport, but somehow cut a break and sail through check-in, security and after staring at a plane for 20 minutes (with the hope it will improve our chances or departure) we are called onto the plane and take off for Australia. Hurdle one of the day complete.
First time crossing the equator and first time in the Southern Hemisphere are checked off in the first hour of the flight, but today’s flight doesn’t have a party vibe to it. Most of my time is spent trying to consider all the possibles when we arrive in Australia. Im trying to work out what we might do in the following events:
Someone on our plane is showing symptoms and we get rejected.
Australia has passed new laws whilst we’re in the air, and we get rejected.
That our visas get rejected for an unknown reason.
After careful consideration I come to the conclusion that if any of the above arise I’ve got no idea what our possible actions are beyond looking at flights to the UK, if there even are any.
Fortunately we find refuge rather than rejection in Australia with (bizarrely) almost zero checks on the way in?! Apart from being handed a leaflet about self isolation we don’t even talk to a person and go straight through the E-Visa queue.
The important thing is that we’re in. We have been traveling for three days straight and the term exhausted is an understatement of a description. But, we have a bed, a place to stay and we’re not stuck in Malaysia, So let’s call it a win.
Stay tuned for the next instalment of Do Sam & Kat Come Home?
Sam Johnson supplied the images and owns them