From TLS to YYZ: Returning Home During a Pandemic

Article and Photo by Kyra Talampas

“Let me be clear: if you are abroad, it’s time for you to come home,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau through my phone screen. Though he would never know that his words would echo in my ears until I did just that.

It was a cloudy day in mid-March. The sun was down, but I was still wide awake as I sat anxiously with my carry-on in the near-empty airport in Toulouse, France. I was waiting to board my flight to Paris, in hopes of catching a flight back to Canada. Racing the clock to avoid closing borders was not how I expected my exchange term to end. However, this is not where my story starts. It begins earlier this same day with me waiting to board a different flight – one that was also supposed to take me home.

Goodbye, Toulouse. Hello, Where to Next?

With the word “pandemic” now looming on the news, the first problem I faced was that I had to find a way home. But this would soon prove to be more complicated than I had expected. To begin, the airline which my friend and I had previously booked a return flight with was not replying to our phone calls nor approving ticket changes. With the high urgency of the situation, we made the decision to just purchase a new return flight, one from Toulouse to Toronto with two layovers, one of which was in the US (this will be important later). It was going to be a journey indeed, but our options were disappearing before us as citizens everywhere scrambled to return home. The last few days of my exchange consisted of sad conversations by the Garonne, a river in Toulouse where people like to gather and watch the sunset. After a few days and a handful of rushed goodbyes, we left our residence for the last time to catch our morning flight.

But this wouldn’t be a good story if we boarded that plane, right? Well, at the bag check-in we were told that we could no longer board since the US-EU borders were officially closed. To say we were upset would be an understatement. We were devastated. Our only ticket home was compromised, and border restrictions were now changing by the literal minute. We decided to consult airport employees about alternative flights that would take us home; but with the overwhelming number of people trying to do the same, patience ran thin on both sides. There was little they could do other than offer us flights that costed thousands of euros or give us a few phone numbers that led only to a voicemail. Frustrated, we continued the flight search on our own by searching online.

So… Now What?

During our rush to find an alternative, we were faced with two main issues: the first being that there were no direct flights from Toulouse to anywhere in Canada, meaning that a layover was unavoidable. The second, and highly more concerning, were the closing borders around the world. This narrowed our already short list of options as we could not risk booking a flight with a layover outside of France as we may be stuck in a foreign country if our connecting flight was suddenly cancelled. After numerous long-distance calls to our parents, we decided that our best alternative would be to purchase a flight to Paris, where we would stay for 2 nights before boarding our final flight to Toronto. We concluded that purchasing two separate flights rather than relying on a connection would be less risky in the event one flight is cancelled. So, we did just that.

Once we purchased our one-way tickets to Paris – which was comically not as happy of an experience as it sounds – my friend and I waited for a few more hours before departure. Though we had already booked our flight, there were still ones being cancelled by the literal minute and no guarantee that ours would not join the collection of red on the airport screens. Fortunately, after hours of disappointment and anxiety, our flight was finally called. We checked in our baggage with relief, mostly because this meant our plane was on its way and partially because we were nearly the only ones with 3 giant luggage bags each (apparently Europeans know the secret to packing light). We made our way to security and later, our gate. There, we continued to wait and soon tuned into our phones to watch Prime Minister Trudeau’s announcement.

More Lockdowns

Though my exchange term was the first time I travelled intercontinentally, I rarely felt homesick nor experienced any culture shock. But with the unfortunate turn of events, the reality that I was an ocean’s distance away from my home was starting to sink in. As I watched Trudeau hint that Canada’s borders would start to become more strict, home never felt so far away. We then waited until French President Macron began his statement, during which I managed to piece enough of my broken français together to understand that the country would begin its lockdown the next day. After his speech, I was just relieved that we were on our way to a city that had direct flights to Canada before the lockdown. Though we were a few days off our original schedule, we definitely had more options in Paris than we did in Toulouse.

After more hours of waiting, our gate finally opened and we flew a few kilometres closer to home. Two days later, we arrived in Toronto. But of course, as if I hadn’t already gone through enough, it would not be a messy flight story if I didn’t lose a luggage bag, right? Well, that’s a story for another time.

A Wild Way to End

Despite my exchange term ending in a rollercoaster of relief, disappointment, stress, hope and relief again, the memories I made and people I met in the months I spent abroad will forever outweigh all the negatives that happened in these few days. I am also very grateful that I had a friend alongside me through these events, as I would not want to be stuck alone in an airport for a day.

When people come from exchange and describe it as something you can’t put into words, I now understand what they mean. But I tried my best to do so here, and though it may not be the exchange story I was expecting to tell, it’s something that will remind me to be thankful of the things I did get to experience before my long journey to return home. As for all the things I did not yet experience, well I guess I’ll just have to visit again someday.