Moving to a COVID free island in the Indian Ocean
A dream destination: Mauritius
In January 2020, Félix received a new offer from his company to relocate to Mauritius sometime in the first half of the year. Mauritius was on our wishlist to move once we have enough of living in Kenya – I believe that would take a few more years. Anyway, he didn’t have a chance to say no, so he happily said yes. Whereas, I was angry at his company for relocating him before even finishing two years.
As you all know or guess, it takes time to settle in a completely new country. Finding a place you can call home or turn it into a home, making friends not meeting only people but building a relationship to call them friends, building your social life and habits. These take at least six months. And in my case, I had to find the right job for my career, which took some other months. I was not ready to leave my work or my social life.
We decided for Félix to move first. I was going to move when my project ends and when I find a job in Mauritius. It would probably require 6-months of a long-distance relationship, that would be all right. However, a pandemic happened. And none of us was expecting it. I lost my job in April. So at least we didn’t have to go on a long-distance because I was already unemployed so that I could fly to Mauritius at the same time as Félix.
Mauritius closed its borders in March, and they went through a period of strict lockdown. A few months after, the news from the island was telling that there are no people who tested positive. Mauritius became COVID-free! Great news, but this did not mean that they will welcome us with flowers in their hand. We had to wait and wait, without knowing when we will fly.
As Félix was done with his work in Kenya by the end of July, we packed our life into boxes and left Kenya without knowing when we will have a home again. We ended up having two months of holidays. I know it's not bad. And honestly, considering what millions of people went through this pandemic, ours might be counted as nothing. But still, everyone has his challenge, right? So this was ours. August and September passed by with some traveling, some waiting, some testing, some homesick feeling without having a home, or having too many. It was emotionally complicated.
October brought change. And I was extremely happy and excited about it. We finally got two seats booked on a flight to Mauritius, our long-awaited new home. And once we set foot on the island, we were going to take another PCR test, and get locked into a 20 sqm hotel room for the next two weeks. Challenge accepted!
THE FLIGHT
Our plane took off from CDG on October 3rd, Saturday at 10 pm. As it was written in the flight rules on Air Mauritius’s website, they were only going to serve water. It said, “bring your food that doesn’t require heating”. So we had McDonald’s at the airport – not very healthy!
On the plane, to me, everyone seemed Mauritian. Define Mauritian. Anybody can look Mauritian since the island is a huge mix of all colors, races, ethnicities. So, I felt like we are the only newcomers on this plane. It didn't matter though. Anyway, they were supposed not to serve dinner but they did! It was a huge dinner and they even served alcohol. So we even got a glass of wine. Paris – Port Louis is an 11-hour flight, I slept most of it. And on a beautiful morning, we landed at this tiny island that soon we’ll call home.
ARRIVAL
The airport was like a ghost town. Our flight was the only one that landed on that day probably. The airport staff was well organized. First, they checked our temperature. Then, all the passengers went in different lanes depending on the first letter of the surnames for the passport control. Once we passed the control, we filled two forms for the PCR test and took the test right after that. Following that, we picked up our luggage and went out to find our shuttle to the hotel. We stayed at the HolidayInn – it’s the airport hotel so I believe that the shuttle was only for 700 meters. Since there were a few hotel choices, the shuttles to the hotels located far were escorted by police so that people don’t try to escape the confinement. Our 700-meter drive took like 2 minutes, and we arrived at the hotel. All the employees were fully equipped with gloves, glasses, masks, full suits even. At the hotel, they checked us in, gave us the room key, and said that the keys will be deactivated within an hour. That was the official start of our confinement.
Our room was on the first floor with a pool view. The room didn’t have a balcony but only a small window. Two people next to each other would not be able to look out from the window. It was a window for one. Before we locked us in, we made a tour of the hotel. In the room there was only one chair, so we took one from the common area on the terrace.
Confinement in the hotel room meant that we cannot exit the room for 15 days. Knowing that, we bought skipping ropes, a lot of card games, books, and we downloaded so many movies considering a collapse of the WI-FI at the hotel. We were warned that we might not like the food all the time, so we took dried fruits, nuts, and cheese in our luggage!
SETTLING IN THE ROOM
It was a regular business hotel room. A bed, a working desk, an armchair, two chairs, a TV, and a small corner for a minibar. Nothing was movable, but there was enough space for two people to exercise. Once we were locked in, we unpacked. Since there was not enough wardrobe in the room, we took only the food, games, and a few pieces of clothes out.
In each room, there was a pair of gloves, some trash bags, cleaning materials, a mop, and a broom. There was also enough shampoo, shower gel, soaps, toothpaste, and extra towels and bedsheets. No room service guys. We wanted to get ice once; they didn’t even provide that.
Every day we received breakfast, lunch, teatime, and dinner. They were all big meals, wrapped in plastic and served in a paper bag. Our duty was to open the door wearing a facemask when they deliver. The first time I forgot to put my mask on, and they warned me to wear it next time.
The food was provided by a catering company to the hotel. The hotel kitchen was closed. Each meal-bag had paper plates, plastic cutlery, and napkins. That was a lot of waste. I wonder why they did not put a set of cutlery in each room and a sponge and soap to clean. That would save a lot of plastic waste. After a few days of our confinement, a colleague of Félix did grocery shopping for us, and we got it delivered to our room. It had two sets of cutlery, a sponge, washing gel, some more junk food, instant noodles, and crackers. So we stopped using the plastic cutlery. The food overall wasn’t bad. There was enough variety, mostly veggies, chicken, and seafood. Since I put on a lot in the last two months of vacation, I didn’t eat half of the food they serve most of the time. I probably lost some grams during this confinement.
One of the employees delivering food told us that the Ministery of Health is managing the confinement trash. So our trash probably didn’t get recycled. I started to collect all the plates, napkins, cutlery. At the end of the confinement, I made a big collection of all these.
EVERYDAY LIFE IN CONFINEMENT
A few days before the arrival, our confinement hotel sent an e-mail about the confinement rules, which mentioned that the WI-FI might fail from time to time if all the guests stream or download at the same time. Therefore, we downloaded many movies on our computers. Knowing that there is a TV in the room, we bought an HDMI cable as well so that we have a bit more comfort while watching movies. We took books and a few games that won't take much space such as cards and mikado. Another rule we knew that we would not get alcohol at the hotel. So, we bought a bottle of Ricard and Talisker in our luggage.
Here I share the hotel confinement rules:
We knew that we had to create a daily routine to not get mentally lost during this confinement. The first day we settled in and took it easy.
As the meal timing was managed by the hotel team, we kind of had to suit ourselves to their plan. They brought breakfast at 8 am lunch at 1.30 pm, tea-time at around 4 pm, and dinner around 6.30 pm. The first week we woke up at 8 am with breakfast. But the second week, we started to wake up around 10 am though. Waking up early is difficult when you know you have nothing to do for the day.
Since you’re stuck in a room, you don’t get to have a physically active day in general. For that reason, we did exercise almost every day about 30-40 minutes. Besides exercising with youtube videos, we both did skipping rope. In the beginning, I was terrible, but I improved fast. It is very tiring and sweating! I highly recommend it.
During the day, we spent a lot of time separately on the computer. One of the important things for us was to find a temporary house to stay in once we are out of the hotel. This was a challenge because we were going to rent a place without visiting it. It was our first time on the island, and we looked at all the houses for rent – we had enough time sure. It also helped us get an idea about the neighborhoods. We ended up renting a cute little place close to the beach in the North of the island.
Every night we watched at least one movie. We read some pages every day and very rarely played games.
Félix worked from time to time. He had a few work calls. Oh, and we had a lot of calls with our families, close friends, and friends we didn’t talk to for a long time. It was an opportunity to catch up with people.
We dreamt about our new life, our new home, friends, dog. I contemplate a lot about my unemployment situation. The idea of not getting a job freaked me out. I wasn’t getting any response to my job applications. Completing the confinement and being in the outside world scared me a lot.
We survived two weeks without a fight. So I believe that we are perfect for each other. I think that this confinement alone would be much more difficult.
THANKS TO THE TEAMS
There were two teams in this organization, the hotel team and the ministry of the health team.
The hotel team welcomed us, brought us food, took our calls when we had questions, and made sure everybody stayed in their rooms.
The ministry of health team came every morning and evening to check our temperature, the first few days they asked if we have any symptoms as well. On the seventh day, they came and did another PCR test. The next day they brought the results. And on the fifteenth morning, they came at five am to test.
All the members of the two teams were helpful, friendly, and smiling – even though the masks are on, you see when the eyes smile. They were all confined in the hotel as much as we were confined in our rooms. So by the end of day fifteen, we were all excited to leave, be free again.
FREEDOM
On the fifteenth morning, we took the test. They served breakfast late that day because they planned to release us around lunchtime. Félix and I packed during the day. It was the longest day. Time didn’t pass. I got very impatient. I called the reception a few times after 3 pm. The receptionist didn’t know when we’ll get the results but the only thing he could say was that he was sure we will be out before midnight.
We could see the entrance of the hotel from our tiny window. During the day, I’m not sure about the timing, an ambulance came. I didn’t see who walked in or out. Someone was positive, and it wasn’t us.
We didn’t get lunch, we didn’t get results. I was losing hope that we will leave that day. The instant noodles were gold that day. After 6 pm, I lost hope, so I poured myself a Ricard. Félix said he doesn’t want it because he will drive. I was thinking of how optimistic this handsome man was.
Around 8 pm, they came and told us that our test results are negative and we can leave the hotel. We had a short conversation where the health employee explained to us that there were a few people who tested positive. Since they took them to the hospital first, once they left the building, the hotel staff disinfected all those rooms and common areas before we got to be released. Anyway, the fastest departure of my life! At 8.40 pm Félix started the engine; we hit the road! Mauritius, here we come!
A new life has started!
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