ST. ALBERT — Lisa Hillas’s parents have finally made it back to Canada after being stranded in Malaga, Spain, for 10 days.
Hillas, who lives in St. Albert, said on March 25, after more than 10 days of trying to return to Canada, her parents Angus and Mary Wilbur arrived back in Moncton.
“It was a relief,” Hillas said.The couple goes to Spain for a couple of months every winter, and left Moncton in the middle of January before the pandemic broke out. The family continued to monitor the news as COVID-19 spread and the duo had flights booked to leave the country at the end of March.
As the pandemic progressed, the family started to worry their parents needed to get out of the country more quickly. On Sunday, March 15, the family decided they needed to come home.
As of March 19, the World Health Organization reported more than 13,700 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 600 related deaths in Spain. By March 25, the day the Wilburs returned to Canada, the deaths in Spain had climbed to almost 2,700. The latest numbers available at press time on March 31 put the number of deaths in Spain at more than 6,500.
On March 15, the couple went to the Malaga airport trying to get on the first flight out of the country, as the country was about to go into a full lockdown.
Hillas, her brothers and sisters-in-law worked around the clock and hit dead end after dead end. Their parents made it back to the airport on Sunday, March 22, hoping to get on a flight but instead were given a standby ticket for the following Tuesday.
While the couple waited in the packed airport for their standby ticket, a fight broke out when someone tried to cut in line.
The Wilburs went back to their rented apartment and then came back to the Malaga airport on Monday, March 23, 12 hours early for their flight, not knowing if they would get on the plane. They sat on the crowded airport floor playing cards and waiting to find out their fate.
On Tuesday morning, March 24, when the ticket counter opened, the Wilburs were confirmed to be some of the lucky few who were able to fly out that day.
Hillas said the only flight flying out of Malaga was Air Transat, and anyone who was not able to get a ticket on the flight would have been stranded in Spain, as the government was not sending rescue flights for stranded travellers.
During their time at the airport, the Wilburs met many Canadians desperate to get home, including one person who bought an $8,000 ticket back to Canada through Frankfurt, only to have their flight cancelled with no money returned.
Another man tried to get home via a flight stopping over in France before it made its way to Canada, but as the man landed in France the police met him as he got off his flight and sent him back to Spain.
Although tensions were high and the airport was full of desperate and scared travellers, the Wilburs said Canadians were still supporting each other.
As the airport employees would call out the names of passengers who would be allowed to board the flight, everybody waiting would cheer for them.
“Everybody would cheer. They were happy for the people getting to go. And they would clap and cheer for them, at the same time disappointed that they're not going,” Hillas said.
“The stress of that and knowing that your government is not sending you a plane. They knew that the rescue flight was only going to Barcelona and the three flights that were available from Malaga to Barcelona are cancelled.”
- COVID-19 UPDATE: Follow our COVID-19 special section for the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic, as well as resources, FAQs and more.
Hillas said her parents getting their names called was a bit bittersweet.
“They’re happy to go, but they felt some kind of a feeling about leaving all these people behind.”
The parents flew from Malaga to Montreal, where they were put on the earliest flight to Moncton. When they arrived at their destination, they went immediately to their house to self-quarantine. They arrived home on March 25.
The couple has one son who lives in Moncton, who dropped off groceries for the duo, and they decided to add an extra day to their quarantine time, for a total of 15 days, just to be extra cautious.
When Hillas asked her parents if they would go back to Malaga next winter, if it is safe to do so, as they have for many years, her father was a bit reluctant.
“My dad said it's too soon to tell. In my opinion, him saying that was kind of an indication that he was probably a lot more stressed than he was letting anybody know,” Hillas said.
