BOW VALLEY – The chaos across the world created by the COVID-19 pandemic has proven challenging for those returning to and leaving the Bow Valley, as many countries have called on expats to return home before international borders are closed.
Canmorite Brent Bowman and his girlfriend were in Laos when Prime Minster Justin Trudeau called on all Canadians to return home on March 16.
Bowman said he had been planning to return to Canada on March 20, but the plan changed after the announcement. Bowman spends his winters in Laos running a bar and bungalows with other Canadians.
“Working in the tourism industry we’ve been affected with Chinese and South Koreans being our major tourists, we were affected quite early,” Bowman said.
“I’ve been living in Laos for many different seasons and I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s a ghost town.”
He said he began to be concerned in February when Korean and Chinese tourists stopped visiting the town. He became terrified watching COVID-19 sweep across Italy.
“I made a choice of coming to Canada because worst-case scenario at least we have a good health care system,” Bowman said.
He booked a flight for March 19 and began a harrowing journey that took them six days to reach Canmore safely.
It was a mad dash to book flights before borders were closed, he said, explaining his travel plans were repeatedly changed during his journey.
When they finally arrived in Vancouver, Bowman said they had been travelling for more than 50 hours. They decided to rent a car and drive 12 hours back to Canmore arriving home in the early morning of Sunday (March 22).
As of now, Bowman said he has not been tested for COVID-19, but is concerned he may have been exposed to the virus in the bottleneck of international travellers he encountered in multiple airports.
It has been a culture shock returning to Canada, he said, because in South East Asia COVID-19 has been dominating the news for months and has been taken incredibly seriously.
“We’ve been taking this very seriously for months now, we’ve been taking a lot of precautions and then we get here [Canmore] and everybody is treating it like a two-week vacation,” Bowman said.
“We know that we have months before this over, so were a little worried for people here now.”
Bowman added it has been nice being back in Canmore because it has been inspiring to see how people in the community have rallied together to support each other during the pandemic.
Ashlee Reid was living in Canmore for almost two years before being forced to return to New Zealand early due to the pandemic.
She originally planned on returning on April 30, but felt it was prudent to return earlier given the crisis.
“My life was in Canada – I wish I had a chance to actually say a proper goodbye to people,” Reid said.
“The decision [to leave] got made for me.”
Reid departed Canada last week. She said it was an incredibly stressful experience returning to her hometown Rangiora because she did not know if she would get home before lockdowns were put in place in New Zealand. The country declared a four-week lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic Thursday (March 26).
The hardest part of leaving the Bow Valley, Reid said, was that she was unable to say goodbye to most of her friends and not knowing when or if she will see them again.
“It doesn’t even feel like you’re really saying goodbye,” Reid said. “It’s crazy – I didn’t want to leave.”
She was forced to leave some of her belongings in Canmore because of the rapid transition she made to return to New Zealand.
She said It was striking returning to New Zealand because in Canada people appeared to be listening more to the government in regards to health measures put in place to slow the spread of the virus.
“We’ve only just started shutting stuff down as of now,” Reid said. “Everything was still running before.”
Reid said she was happy she was able to make it home, but worries that it will take time to see any semblance of normalcy return to day-to-day life after the pandemic.
Reid said she has been in self-isolation since she arrived back in New Zealand and is wearing gloves and masks and sanitizing all surfaces she comes in contact with in case she is a carrier.
“I kind of feel like I’m imprisoned in a way,” Reid said. “But, it’s precautions you need to take.”
After living in the Bow Valley for almost two-years, Kahlia Scholtz said it was incredibly scary seeing how quickly her life, like many others, was uprooted by the virus.
In an email, Scholtz said she decided to leave the Bow Valley on March 16 and return to Australia because her visa was almost up.
Scholtz said it took four days to connect with an airline to set up a flight home to Adelaide.
“At first, it seemed like ‘rushing’ wasn’t necessary, but then in one week everything had changed and there were talks of borders closing. My partner is from New Zealand, but she’s lived in Australia for 12 years, and we weren’t even sure she’d get let back in as she’s not a citizen,” Scholtz said.
“In the end, we got back OK, but it was very stressful. We got a ride from our friend to the airport.”
It was sad to leave the Bow Valley, she said, describing the experience as being “ripped” from her home.
She said there was an added stress of ensuring she had a place to quarantine when she arrived back in Australia.
Scholtz said she arrived home safely and is now in limbo waiting to see what happens in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The closing of the border forced Georgia Taylor to change her plans to move to the Bow Valley
Taylor, who hails from Adelaide, Australia, said in an email she was living in Sun Peaks, B.C. before changing her plans.
“Within five days our plans to stay for summer, travel to Mexico and Cuba had completely changed to panic booking flights home, and forfeiting our car which won’t sell,” Taylor said.
“I’d rather be safe in my home country, living with mum and dad until this blows over. [This is] absolutely devastating. This isn’t how any of us planned our 2020 to go.”
It was stressful watching the cost of flights home jump from $1,400 to $1,900 in a span of 30-minutes, she said.
Taylor was able to make it back to Australia safely, but said she is worried about the lasting ramifications of the pandemic and if she will ever have the opportunity to live and work in the Bow Valley as she hoped.
Unlike Taylor, Canmorite Jose Espinoza has been separated from his family in Chile due to the protocol put in place to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
In an email, Espinoza said he lives and works in Canmore with his wife and two-and-a-half-year-old son. The family went on a holiday to Chile in early January and he returned to Canmore on Feb. 25.
“Everything changed drastically in three weeks,” Espinoza said. He added that he works in hospitality and the company he worked for closed all attractions, restaurants and hotels due to the pandemic.
“Everything has been very hectic for me – plus my wife has had to suffer with the situation back in Chile, curfews, lack of supplies and also being isolated at our place,” Espinoza said, explaining that he decided to return to Chile as soon as possible to ensure his family was safe.
Espinoza said he flew home to Santiago, Chile on March 22 with glasses, a face mask, gloves and hand sanitizer and was greeted with full COVID-19 protocol when he arrived.
As of now, Espinoza does not know when his family will return to Canmore, their home of ten years. He said it is a stressful feeling, but it helps that they are together.
“I arrived safe and sound, but I am completely self-quarantined in a room of our house and I did not want to see my wife and son on my arrival,” Espinosa said.
“The sad part is my kiddo does not know I am at home ... I continue to Skype with him regularly, but dad is just in the other room – but he thinks I am still in Canmore.”
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