Woman Gets Stuck on Vacation For 18 Months Because of Pandemic
On a weekend vacation, a British traveler named Zoe Stephens traveled to the small South Pacific island of Tonga. The problem was her weekend getaway was scheduled RIGHT before the pandemic really began. And all of a sudden, Zoe was stuck within the borders of this small Polynesian kingdom.
And the 27-year-old is still there! She initially booked the trip to get away from worldwide talk of a spreading virus. But shortly after arriving there, it seemed like the whole world shut down. And Stephens knew she was stuck inside the borders of the archipelago.
With a population of less than 100,000, Tonga is still one of the only places in the world that is completely COVID-free. Stephens says she may be one of a few select people that haven’t had to wear a mask the entire pandemic so far.
Although it may seem like just an extended vacation for some, Stephens says it’s actually been very hard because she has been isolated away from all her friends and family. She tells CNN, “There’s not many people that can relate to being stuck on an island without your friends or your family, in a country that you didn’t deliberately end up in. Or being locked out of the country that you live in, and then not being able to get back. And being scared to go back to your home country because of a weird virus that’s going around. So it’s pretty isolating.”
Stephens has posted about what her extended stay in Tonga has been like on Instagram and YouTube.
She says she spends typical days waking up, walking her dogs on the beach, then keeping herself busy by studying online. She is very happy to hopefully be going home to the UK finally at the end of this month.
What would you do if you were stuck on vacation this long? Would you love it or hate being isolated away from loved ones?
Source: CNN
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