A Tour of World Airports During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Stephanie L. Beverage, Huntington Beach, California, U.S.

On March 10, my husband and I flew from Los Angeles to Tromso, Norway, for a ten-day adventure. We had been planning this trip for over six months, and though we were watching the news, things seemed to be OK. So we rolled the dice and decided to head out. We landed in Tromso late on Wednesday, March 11, and were looking forward to our next day of exploration, which included a husky dog sled outing.

We woke up on Thursday morning to the announcement that President Trump was closing the U.S. to all outside travel, and to a world turning upside down. After consideration, news checking, and anxious discussions, we agreed that it was probably best to turn around and fly home. We were lucky– we found a flight to Oslo that afternoon, and then a flight from Oslo through Paris back to Los Angeles, on Friday, March 13.

Once we arrived in Oslo, the Norwegian Prime Minister announced a fourteen-day stay at home order for the country. We knew we had made the right decision to leave, and we were able to get home. We had few lines to navigate when we arrived in Los Angeles. We went into a self-imposed quarantine at that point, staying at home with minimal contact with anyone, to make sure that we hadn't been exposed or infected while on our trip.

We essentially spent 72 hours in a variety of airports. Our passports have multiple stamps, and we can say we were in Norway and Paris, even though it was only for the briefest of visits. Throughout our whirlwind of a trip, everyone was polite, considerate, and helpful. Looking back at the beginning of this crisis and our experience with our interrupted vacation, I realize that we were SO lucky. We didn't catch the virus, we didn't bring it back to anyone in our family, and we were able to make it home. The following weeks really put the whole “vacation that wasn’t” into perspective.