What happens when a global pandemic strikes the world and borders close down? Travelers get stuck. Below are 21 real travel quarantine stories, from people around the world caught by the pandemic covering the globe in 2020.

While the coronavirus began in 2019, travel restrictions came into full force in 2020, with countries all over the world going into total lockdown.

So what happens when you’re in a different nation when the borders shut? What happens when all flights are ground and land borders stop stamping passports?

That’s not something I can answer personally, so I asked some travelers of their first-hand accounts on being indefinitely stuck in a foreign nation as the whole COVID-19 situation plays out.

21 travel quarantine stories – Travelers around the world stranded due to COVID-19

Before we get into the travel stories of lockdown due to this pandemic, I want to stress that COVID-19 is serious. These travel quarantine stories are in no way substitutes for proper medical advice, they are stories of travelers being stuck overseas as borders close down around them.

Please take your government alerts and advice to stay safe in these scary times.

These stories are from travelers stuck away from their homes in uncertain times. While I personally may not share certain viewpoints, I wanted these opinions and experiences to be honest and unfiltered.

I hope some of these tales of being quarantined in a foreign land can help some feel a little more comfortable in their situation, or at least feel a little less alone as the lockdown continues through 2020.

Coronavirus is definitely shaping the future of travel. We might encounter new measures or stages of culture shock once borders open – but for now, all we can do is try to survive as best can.

Let’s get into these travel stories of quarantine due to COVID-19, and if you’ve got your own story, feel free to share a comment at the bottom of this post.

1. Jade Laurenza – The Migrant Yogi

I am currently under (a relaxed) lockdown in Sibiu, Romania.  I left the U.S. on January 29 of this year after having quit my job and given up my apartment.

I’d planned on spending a month in different European cities, accompanied by my dog, Andre.  The first month was spent in a small village in Italy, about an hour outside of Rome.  When I left Italy by train, the situation was only dire in the north.

I was interrogated at the border between Hungary and Romania and had to fill out some forms giving my address and contact information once in Romania.  I arrived in Sibiu on March 4 and have been here ever since.  I had no desire to return to the U.S. where I had no health insurance or place to live.

We are required to have declarations completed when leaving the house – only allowed out for trips to the market or pharmacy.  Restaurants are delivering. We are allowed to go outside to exercise and to take care of the needs of our pets, but I stay close to home.

Overall the situation here is good.  People are following the rules.  No one has checked my declaration thus far, despite being outside often.  Andre and I walk about 8km daily, winding through side streets to ensure we don’t go too far.

The president here has stated that we won’t need the declarations after May 15, so, fingers crossed!  My visa-free stay will expire in June, but I have to wait for the borders of neighboring countries to re-open, so I anticipate overstaying a bit.

Traveling with my dog makes things more complicated, as he can only fly when in-cabin with me and is slightly over the accepted weight limit here in Europe.  Meanwhile, I’m planning some domestic trips once restrictions are lifted.

Thankfully, there’s no shortage of things to do in Sibiu.  We are hopeful for the coming weeks and months and a gradual return to some semblance of normal.

2. Maria Aardal – Both-Paths

When Covid-19 became a reality, I was on a road trip in northern Argentina. When it started to get really serious, we cut our road trip short and figured we would make our way to Buenos Aires. We wanted to get there before a possible lockdown because it would be the city it would be easiest to fly back to Europe from.

Getting to Buenos Aires was a lot more difficult then we could imagine. We went through a ton of police controls, got kicked off a bus, got kicked out of a hostel, and had to be on standby for a flight before we luckily made it to Buenos Aires just hours before the nationwide lockdown started.

Now it is five weeks later and we are still in our hostel in Buenos Aires. The nation is on lockdown and we cannot get home. We can go to the grocery store across the street while wearing a mask, but that is pretty much it.

Being stuck here is not great, but we are very lucky to be in a hostel where we are safe and taken care of. We are also a few people all in the same situation, which definitely helps. We are patiently waiting for a rescue flight from Europe that will have room for us.

3. Mark – These Foreign Roads

Everything happened so fast. The entire situation went from perfectly normal to borderline chaos in the span of a few days. And we were the lucky ones.

Our time in Colombia was coming to an end. We’d just finished exploring and eating our way around Salento. The situation evolving around the world was on our minds, though the reality of it all hadn’t sunk in.

Colombia, at the time, had only a handful of cases. Even when we arrived back in Bogota for our final days in the country, everything appeared as normal.Four days later, everything had changed.

All non-essential businesses in Medellin had closed. Beaches in Cartagena were closed, and a curfew had been put in place. Foreigners in Bogota were being deported for breaking new-arrival quarantine. Rumors of a country-wide shutdown were swirling.

Arriving at the airport, we learned our flight out of the country had been canceled. Thankfully, there was another option later that night. For the next 15 hours, we sat on a concrete floor, anxiously watching as flight after flight flashed from ‘On Time’ to ‘Cancelled’.

At one point, a group of passengers began protesting at the booking desk of one airline that canceled all flights indefinitely.

As flight options dwindled, and airport services became more limited, we waited. By the time our flight finally departed, it was one of only a handful to fly from Colombia that day. And we were incredibly lucky to be on it. Flights all but stopped after that day and the country went into isolation.

Many of those people who’s flights were canceled that day remained in the country, stuck inside for many weeks to follow.

4. Kelsey Frey – Sights Better Seen

My situation is pretty good compared to others I’ve heard about. I’m currently in the Austrian countryside, about an hour west of Vienna. My daily life really hasn’t been affected so I consider myself lucky. I can still go for walks in the surrounding fields and forests without seeing anyone.

I arrived at the beginning of March from Bansko, Bulgaria. Things still seemed relatively normal then – only a handful of people were wearing masks at the airport, and my biggest concern was finding the best way to get to Colorado for a family reunion in May (which, of course, has been canceled).

I only notice a difference when I venture into nearby cities or towns, which only really happens to buy food. Then it’s clear that Covid-19 isn’t just a figment of my imagination – people are wearing masks, there’s hand sanitizer before you enter a store, and a general sense of wariness in the air.

Overall, I think the Austrian government did a pretty good job with the whole situation. They locked down pretty quickly and most people seem to be taking it pretty seriously.

There’s also the looming end date of my Visa approaching on June 1st. Austria is being pretty lenient and allowing people to overstay, but since this looks like it’s going to be a more long term process I’ve been debating whether or not I should try and go home to California (especially since I haven’t seen my family in over a year!).

However, with the high prices of flights, multiple layovers, and high possibility of one of them getting canceled, I’m very tempted to stay where I am in hopes that things will be better later in the summer.

5. Jeff – Life of Y

When we arrived in the small village of Bukit Lawang, in Sumatra, we never expected to still be here six weeks later!

A few months ago, we set off on our adventure around South East Asia, with Indonesia being our last stop before returning to the UK. We arrived in Bukit Lawang mid-March and had planned to stay a few days to see the orangutans before exploring the rest of the country. In the days that followed, every single country had closed its borders and went into lockdown!

Indonesia has yet to enforce a full lockdown although the government has recently canceled all public transport, including all domestic and international flights, until the 1st of June to coincide with the Ramadan and Eid celebrations.

We had to make a decision. Stay and wait it out or go back to the UK, where lockdown rules have been enforced across the country. We didn’t want to risk getting the virus, or spreading it to our family, so we decided to wait it out.

The owners of the guesthouse we’re staying in treat us so well since we’ve been stuck here. We are part of the jungle family now! The word “stuck” seems pretty harsh in our situation though. Bukit Lawang is a jungle paradise where the weather is mostly sunny and hot.

Families of monkeys play on our terrace every morning and we are free to walk around the village and relax by the river where we’ve seen a variety of animals including an orangutan with her baby! We’ve even adopted two cheeky cats!

Honestly? We love it here! It has now been six weeks and with no chance of leaving Bukit Lawang until at least the 1st June, we are very happy to be stuck a little longer!

6. Vicki Viaja – Vicki Viaja

When we reached the Galápagos Islands during our honeymoon, everything was still calm. Except for a quick fever check, there have been no genuinely exceptional safety regulations, and there were only known to be fewer than 10 cases of Covid-19 across the country.

We spent a wonderful ten days in the Galapápagos Islands, in which we were able to admire a lot of incredible destinations and the unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands.
And then suddenly everything happened very quickly.

The closure of Ecuador’s external borders was decided on Sunday. On Monday, the first shops, restaurants, and beaches were already closed. We decided to move our return flight to the mainland forward because domestic flights should no longer run from the end of the week (our actual flight would have been on Thursday – but we didn’t trust it).

There was no way to contact our airline. Hundreds of tourists had already gathered at the airport on Tuesday. Those who didn’t have a ticket were not allowed to enter. As of Wednesday, all flights were canceled. No emails from the airline – nothing. We didn’t receive any useful information for days; our airline had disappeared.

On Saturday at 3:30 am we received a message in a WhatsApp group that there were two flights. Luckily, our names were on the list. We had to be at the airport at 7 am. At the airport, $242 had to be paid in cash for the flight. Those who could not pay or didn’t read the message in time had to stay on the island (there are still people stuck there as of late April).

From the capital Quito we went to Paris the next day and later to Amsterdam. Since we rented our flat in Spain to someone else until the end of May, we are staying now with my family in Germany until we are able to return to Spain.

7. Stefania – Every Steph

It was the end of February, and we were really excited to fly to Brazil. I had meticulously planned a 2 months and half trip that was going to bring us all the way from Rio de Janeiro to Manaus in the Amazon.

After a few amazing week in Rio de Janeiro, our Brazil itinerary brought us to the small town of Buzios – and while we were there, everything changed. My country, Italy, went in full lockdown, and we understood that our plans were most likely going to change.

Brazil has never really taken the epidemic seriously, and we felt in danger if we were to kept traveling, so we decided to rent an apartment in Brasilia as we figured that this is where all the diplomats and embassies are, and good health care was available.

Going back home wasn’t an option. I’m Italian and my boyfriend is Argentinian, we aren’t allowed in each other’s country and we don’t want to separate. This is our 2nd month now here in Brasilia – there’s never been an official lockdown but we do stay in the house, and only go out for groceries twice a month.

Unfortunately, the Brazilian government has decided that this epidemic shouldn’t stop the economy, and no one respects social distancing or wears masks, so the only place we feel safe is home.

We plan to stay here until the end of May or maybe more if we will be allowed to extend our visas, and then move to some other country where we can stay until the situation goes back to normal – maybe Georgia or Thailand.

It isn’t easy to be away from our families at this time, but we are safe and that is all that matters. We can still work online, and the Italian government has been sending me a monthly grant, so we’re not worried financially. We are spending most of our time working… well, and watching tons of Netflix.

This is not how we wanted to spend our time in Brazil, but there will be time in the future to properly explore – now we just stay home.

8. Megan Star – Absolute Armenia

I have two bases, one in Frankfurt, Germany and one in Yerevan, Armenia.  I tend to stay around one month in Armenia when I come and I base myself here because my business partner is located here.

When the lockdown started, I looked at my Schengen days (I am American and have no visa anywhere so I have limited days in all countries) and figured that it was best for me to get to my flat in Armenia and ride out the lockdown there.

I figured it would be no longer than a month and then I’d be free to get some work done in the country and fly back to Germany for the summer.  The lockdown started here in March and they are now still in place until the middle of May.

Armenia has been the least successful country in the Caucasus in regards to flattening the line and containing the virus.  There is a lockdown here but people don’t take it that seriously.  Grocery stores remain open but there is little enforcement of distancing. Armenians have a lack of regard for personal space in society as it is so this only makes it worse.

Currently, there is an app we must fill out in order to leave and walk around.  We are technically only permitted to go to shops and grab take out food but it seems as though Armenians have ‘given up’ on everything at this point.

People are making excuses for others in society saying ‘people just can’t do it anymore’.  Today, our new virus numbers were triple what they typically have been. I hope this is a one-day fluke. I have no idea where this will go or when I will be permitted back to Germany to see my dog or to the US to see my family.

I love traveling to Armenia and having a home here but it is definitely a better place to be when businesses are open and nature is accessible!

9. Iris Veldwijk – Mind of a Hitchhiker

10. Jürgen Klein – Dare 2 Go

We are an Australian couple, traveling in our own camper since early 2014. Covid-19 caught us a little by surprise because we were in Turkey where the infection arrived late; it wasn’t a topic until after our departure. Ironically, we left earlier than planned because in late February, there was some trouble with Syrian refugees along the EU border. One news report stated, “Greek closing border with Turkey”.

Later in May, we had a housesit booked in Kosovo, for which we needed to get back into Europe. We arrived in Greece on the 12^th of March with no problems.

The very next day the Greek government introduced their first serious restrictions and from then on, it simply snowballed – everywhere in Europe. Since late March, all borders around us are closed!

Going “home” isn’t an option for us because our camper is our home. We were so quickly restricted in our movements that it would had been impossible to find a suitable secure storage place on such short notice.

And where would we go in Australia? Find a “home” to rent when everything, including real estate agencies, is closed?

Hence, we have to wait out corona in Greece and hope we don’t get any problems because we will overstay our permitted 90 days in the Schengen region. Greece has fairly tough movement restrictions (you need a written permit every time), so we decided to rent a small flat in a village.

This is within walking distance of basic shops and we haven’t driven our truck since we moved in nearly 3 weeks ago.

But tomorrow, we need to drive to Kalamata because we have an appointment with the regional police to get a possible visa extension. Wish us luck!

Yasha & Juergen from dare2go.com shared a post about fellow overlanders being caught on the road by corona.

11. Cassie Bailey – Cassie The Hag

I arrived alone in Auckland on a Working Holiday Visa shortly before lockdown measures went into place. Once announced, I lost my new job immediately and panicked. Thankfully my Airbnb host just joked I was stuck with them now and has been incredibly welcoming and hospitable, so I’ve ended up safe with a roof over my head!

Still, it’s strange not knowing anyone in the country during such a strange time. I am from England and I find it hard seeing what’s happening there from so far away.

Lockdown in New Zealand was initially stricter than in many countries, but after four weeks we have just gone down to ‘Level 3’ lockdown. This means we can now get online deliveries and takeout!

I personally feel the New Zealand government has been kind to those of us from abroad – they were quick to extend visas so some holidaymakers wouldn’t be stuck here ‘illegally’ and although my job didn’t work out, the company believe I’ll still be eligible for government weekly subsidy as I lost it purely due to the pandemic lockdown.

This is so kind to receive as I have friends in the UK who are struggling to receive it from our own government.

My visa doesn’t expire till March 2021 so I’m glad I stuck it out and didn’t fly home. I am just looking forward to finding my own place as the Airbnb wasn’t intended for long-term stays. Overall, I am incredibly grateful to be safe during this difficult time as I know others who are stuck in much harsher conditions.

12. Sarah Carter – A Social Nomad

We are both British but have Bulgarian residency, so when we are not traveling we make our home in the mountain town of Bansko. Bansko was the first place in Bulgaria to be put into quarantine.

No notice, just police-manned roadblocks. At that point, we were trying to get back from The Caribbean. Our planned travel had been a repositioning cruise to Savona, Italy, then a train to Milan and a flight to Sofia and the bus back home to Bansko.

As UK passport holders, the UK became our next destination of choice, although we can’t stay with family because there are NHS workers and vulnerable people in the households in which we normally stay. And so we made a shortlist of places to rent – only booking once we’d landed in the UK (our journey back from Guadeloupe, a French island in the Caribbean took 5 days because of rescheduled flights) via a very, very quiet Paris.

The United Kingdom entered lockdown on March 23, 2 days after we arrived at the cottage in Suffolk that we rented for a week and so with no other options, for the owner or us, we extended our stay until (currently) the end of May.

Lockdown here is quiet. It’s a very rural location, on a farm that’s crisscrossed with public footpaths and quiet country roads. For us, as introverts, it’s perfect, our only company being deer, pheasants, and hares.

We walk every day and meet no one if we avoid the village. We buy an honesty box – no contact eggs from the neighboring farm and shop for food once a week.

The cottage doesn’t have a washing machine, so before lockdown, we bought a washer designed for camping, and our laundry dries on a line hung between the trees. We are incredibly lucky to have found this place and it will be a wrench to leave.

13. Lee Nelson – The Travel Scribes

It started small. Our ferry docking at the small Thai island outpost of Koh Lipe in mid-January with friendly medical officers brandishing small temperature gadgets as we set foot on the beach. But as we island-hopped across the Andaman Sea and later between Malaysian cities like Melaka and Port Dickson, the mood began to shift almost imperceptibly.

Five minutes spent outside the hotel meant another check and gallons of hand sanitizer squirted on your open palms upon re-entry. Large temperature-check screens were erected in shopping malls as we went about buying essentials and suddenly Twitter went abuzz with Malaysians talking about MCO or the ‘Movement Control Order’.

We hot-footed it back to Kuala Lumpur, a place we had seen as a sanctuary over the last year while traveling around South East Asia, with the idea that if Malaysia puts restrictions in – we would be in a good place.

Kuala Lumpur is a great city in that it boasts world-class hospitals and healthcare, very affordable short-term apartment rentals and all the conveniences of food deliveries and high-end supermarkets.

We booked ourselves a swanky apartment on Airbnb – located next gleaming Petronas Towers and with the requisite rooftop pool and world-class fitness center, only to receive the news on our first day there: lockdown.

The pool and fitness center were out of bounds, you weren’t allowed to leave your building except for essential supplies and suddenly, flights out of Malaysia were canceled. This was our reality for two weeks as we tried to find flights back to London but, on the whole, it must be said that Malaysia’s approach was first-class.

With the army deployed to certain hotspot areas, their contact-tracing was definitely in full force. The cases remained low and, on the whole, Malaysians stuck to the rules. Our two supermarket runs were characterized by top-notch social distancing, friendly cashiers, and everyone obeying the restrictions in place.

Food deliveries continued, our virtual Airbnb hosts were gracious and sent us lots of advice, and locals supported us on their Facebook groups, helping us to decipher the good and the bad news from each other.

On the whole, we spent two weeks on lockdown in Malaysia and felt lucky to have been ‘stranded’ in this captivating country.

14. Campbell and Alya – Stingy Nomads

My husband and I are currently stuck in Pokhara, Nepal. We’ve spent 5 weeks in lockdown and it’ll continue at least till 7th May. We’ve been in the country for almost 3 months since early February. It’s our third time in Nepal, we love hiking and come here every spring to do a couple of treks in the Himalayas.

We managed to do three multi-day treks including the Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp treks before lockdown started. We got back to Pokhara from Annapurna one day before the sudden lockdown that was announced just the night before. All international flights were canceled till 15th May.

There were a couple of evacuation flights that took stranded tourists back to their countries. Our problem is that we’re from different countries and neither of us has a residency for another country. I’m Russian, my husband is South African, with a current lockdown situation in our home countries we can’t even go back to the same country. For now, Nepal is better since we can stay here together.

We’re quite happy that we got stuck in Nepal, people here are very nice and helpful. We haven’t had any hostility or aggression towards us. Even the police patrolling the streets of Pokhara is very friendly.

We’re allowed to go shopping but no other activities can be practiced. All restaurants, cafes, souvenir and gear shops are closed, the Lakeside district
in Pokhara is usually very busy with tourists, but now the streets are totally empty.

We stayed at the same hotel for a month. We were the only guests in a big six-floor hotel but unfortunately this week they decided to close it down. We had to move to a different place.

Luckily there are still some hotels open. We are not the only tourists stuck in Pokhara. At the beginning of our lockdown, we thought the lockdown would be short and we even thought we might hike again before going home, that is now very unlikely and we have no idea when international flights will resume.

It looks like we might still be stuck here for a while.

15. Sarah Hughes – Live Dream Discover

Plus, we decided it was safer and more responsible to stay where we were to avoid contracting or spreading the virus. However, we had no idea the lockdowns and border closures would extend to the point they have.

We were lucky to find a nice, reasonably priced apartment to “stay at home” in, we’re able to go grocery shopping, go for walks, and even order take-away meals. Overall we’re doing quite well but we do have one big concern. That concern is that our 90-day Schengen stay expires on May 22nd.

We’ve heard from others stuck in Schengen countries that they’ve been told their stay would be automatically extended. Hungary is not giving us that message. We are being told that we have to make an appointment and go into an office to request an extension.

This means taking public transportation and entering a public building for an undefined length of time. After being so careful to self-isolate and social distance for 6 weeks we’d really rather not.

As of now we still have 3 weeks so we’re hoping to have some clarity before then. Wishful thinking?

16. Paulina – Paulina On The Road

My name is Paulina and I am originally from Luxembourg. Only in January 2020, I decided to take the leap and start blogging full-time. In order to do something good, I decided to move to Cape Verde to do voluntary work in a school.

It went all so well until COVID-19 arrived! After the situation in Europe and USA was gradually becoming worse, the Cape Verdean government decided to lock every island.

I am on the island of Maio, a gorgeous place with pristine beaches but with only 6000 inhabitants and no resources. We completely depend on the cargo ships coming from the capital of Cabo Verde Praia.

However, it was all handled well and there were no food shortages during the entire time. Just finding fresh fruit could sometimes be tricky. The Luxembourg embassy contacted me in order to give me the option to leave Cabo Verde. They did an absolutely fabulous job!

They keep me up to date with flights to Luxembourg and always inquire whether all is well. I decided to stay in island Maio since I was panicking at the idea of getting into a plane and spread the virus eventually even more.

On top, I really want to continue my voluntary work which now has been stopped due to coronavirus.

I hope that we can come back soon to normality since especially the local population is suffering a lot from the economical consequences.

17. Stephanie – Poppin Smoke

My husband and I are American, but ironically, we are “stuck” in the United States due to COVID-19.

We have been traveling and living abroad for the past 5 years. In February 2020 we flew back to the U.S. from Rota, Spain, where we had spent 3 months deciding if we wanted to make Rota our next home. In fact, we do, so our plan was to return to the U.S., apply for a visa, and then move back to Spain.

When we left Rota, there were only a handful of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Spain. Within weeks, the virus exploded, Spain declared a State of Alarm, and they closed their borders.

We have been gathering the documentation we need to apply for our visa, but the local Spanish Consulate is closed until further notice, so we cannot make an appointment. Definitive information is scarce, but we may not be able to move to Spain until much later this year.

Normally, this situation would fit right into our M.O. We would spend a couple of months in the U.S. taking care of personal business and visiting family, and then we would travel elsewhere in search of good weather and affordable living.

Being stuck in the U.S. makes it much more difficult to stay within our budget. At the same time, we are trying to observe recommended practices by not moving around too much. So far, we’ve spent several weeks at a friend’s holiday home in central Oregon, earning our keep by helping with work on their 10-acre property.

Our next move is to hunker down in an Airbnb until we can apply for our visa to Spain.

These are strange times, but we are staying flexible and positive, trying to make the most of wherever we are!

18. Kendal – Get Away Girl

I was a Fulbright English teacher in Belarus when the world shut down everywhere except Belarus. Life continued as normal. Many of my local friends were convinced the world was overreacting.

They continued their normal lives–working, meeting friends for coffee, riding public transportation, and shopping at the farmer’s market. I continued with my life as best I could, but simple tasks became exhausting as I feared the spread of the virus.

Fulbright gave their teachers a choice–return to the States or stay in your host country. I chose to stay because Belarus seemed like the safest place in the world. The Belarusian government made free testing available to everyone who wanted it.

They interviewed and medically assessed everyone who was in contact with the two coronavirus cases in the country. Not many Belarusians travel outside of Belarus and not many visitors enter Belarus. It seemed safe.

After 1.5 weeks, suspicion grew that the Belarusian government was lying about the number of coronavirus cases. They weren’t shutting down the schools, meaning I still had to teach. Not even soccer matches were canceled. The president of Belarus recommended his citizens to drink vodka and work in the fields to prevent infection.

What once felt like the safest place in the world was quickly becoming a nightmare. Later, I was informed that every non-essential embassy employee was returning to the U.S. I was recommended to depart. Within 72 hours, I canceled my apartment contract, packed up my entire life, and left Belarus.

To this day, the majority of Belarusian schools are open. There are anonymous sources stating the Belarusian government is fining doctors for reporting coronavirus cases. My colleagues report many of my students are diagnosed with “lung diseases.” Disinfectant wipes don’t exist in the country. I pray for Belarus.

19. Christina – Live A Wilder Life

We’re a full-time travel family that in 2019 decided to leave California and sell our house so we could travel the USA in search of where we wanted to live, with toddler in tow. We set out for our journey in October 2019, with a rough plan to explore as much of the US as possible.

We were in Boise, Idaho, when California issued the stay at home orders. It wasn’t long until Idaho, and the rest of the country followed suit. As a family without a “home,” we were at a loss at what we were supposed to do.

We had an Airbnb rental until early April, and we’re planning to do all the national parks in Utah and then fly across the country to see Charleston, South Carolina. Like a lot of people, we had a bout of denial and waited it out, thinking perhaps it would all blow over.

Once it became clear that the virus was no small thing, we canceled all our upcoming travel plans and decided to wait it out in Boise. We went back and forth, but ultimately as a travel blogger, it didn’t feel responsible to be traveling the country when the nation was struggling and needed everyone to stay at home.

We have disappointment that our epic travel year might turn out to be a four-month stint. Still, we’re also acutely aware of how lucky we are to have gotten out of Los Angeles (where the virus is more prevalent) and to be waiting it out in such an idyllic location as Boise.

Idaho shut down almost everything, so I do feel the government of Idaho has worked hard to protect the people of the state. Of course, many residents are in firm opposition to the stay at home orders creating even more of a divide between an already divided nation. For us, we lay low, explore Boise, and do our best to live in our new normal.

20. Bedabrata and Sundeep – Delhi-Fun-Dos

It has been exactly one month eleven days that I left home in Delhi to return in a week from Siliguri, a city in West Bengal. I was here to attend a friend’s marriage and then to travel to Darjeeling. But COVID lockdown happened and I am confined at a hotel.

Stranded away from home endlessly could have taken a toll on sanity. Realizing I could not control the situation, I decided to regulate my response and be positive.

Two of us run a Travel and Lifestyle website and associated channels on FB, Instagram, etc. We conferred and decided to use the lockdown time for tackling pending housekeeping on our website so that we emerge from this hiatus with a more efficient online platform with a fresh approach. Working remotely, these are some of the things we are doing to keep busy:

– Our website is 7 years old and we wanted a new look. One of us has focused on redesigning the website.

– No better time to clear pending blogs. The peace and time at my Siliguri hotel allow me to work on those pieces that we could not finish given our busy outdoor life as travel and lifestyle bloggers.

– We are still fledglings on YouTube and TikTok. This lockdown period gives us a good opportunity to tell our stories through videos and connect with a whole new audience base.

Irony – in these days of social distancing, the only recourse is social media. I am drawing hope and positivity from there until I can return home.

21. Paula – Truly Expat

I am currently in Sydney while my husband is in Singapore, this is because my children all live in Sydney (usually) and my husband and I live in Singapore. Just before the borders closed in Australia, we had to decide within (literally) a couple of days, whether I should fly back or not.

Due to my husband’s work commitments, he couldn’t risk flying back to Sydney if the borders closed and he couldn’t get back to Singapore.

I am now (literally) stuck in Sydney as Singapore has currently closed its borders and only Permanent residence or Singapore Passport holders are allowed into the country. This means I have no idea when I will see my husband again.

Sure, that sounds dramatic I know, but without a firm date, it feels like it could be longer than we hoped. I spent 14 days in total lockdown when I first arrived, which surprisingly felt like a mini holiday, with no commitments to the outside world.

I was able to get a lot of work done! I am lucky enough to have an exercise bike and some equipment that filled in parts of my day that I would generally be outside. I also have a garden that allowed me the sunshine to keep me sane.

Just as I was coming out of quarantine, Australia went from social-distancing to self-isolating, which was a little frustrating but was understandable. We are now able to exercise in pairs and head out for essential items only, so staying at home most of the day has been the norm.

Singapore has now increased the circuit breaker guidelines and extended the date, so I am not sure when I will be allowed back into the country.

Extra Stories of being stuck overseas due to COVID

I’ve been getting a number of emails from travelers who have similar stories of being trapped overseas due to the 2020 COVID outbreak. Here are some of the best extra travel quarantine stories.

22. Nick Zoa

I’m a retired college professor and an avid scuba diver. In February, I started island-hopping across the Pacific. I planned to spend about four months going from Guam to Easter Island.

I began my trip at a resort in Yap, followed by a liveaboard in Palau. From there, I did some wreck diving in Chuuk, visited the ruins on Pohnpei and then landed on Kosrae on March 6.

From airport to airport, I noticed increasing concerns about the Coronavirus (people wearing masks, hand sanitizer at airports, a few questions asked by airport personnel, etc) but didn’t worry. From Kosrae, I was ticketed to fly to Majuro in the Marshall Islands on March 9th.

On March 8th, the Marshallese government closed its airports to all international traffic. At that point, I could have ended my travels by flying to Hawaii and returning to the states. However, having spent a wonderful weekend touring Kosrae, I figured a few more days on this friendly, little island might be nice.

As it turned out, I was the last tourist to come to Kosrae and the only one who didn’t leave on the final flight to Hawaii.  No further flights were scheduled. With time on my hands, I went to the local college to volunteer.  I was told that one of their professors had just rushed home to America.

Would I be willing to take over her classes?  You bet! Would I like to stay in faculty housing? The apartment is on the beach. It’s fully furnished.

The rent has been paid through August. Sounds great! I moved into her vacant apartment and started teaching the next day. Kosrae — along with about 20 other islands in the Pacific — has remained 100% virus-free. To keep the virus out, Micronesia is now closed to all international traffic, by boat or plane.

No one leaves the islands and no one comes here. As an American, I have no visa issues. I can stay here permanently and be legally employed. With no Coronavirus, life is normal: No masks, no social distancing, no closures.

I’ve applied to teach at the college for the fall semester. I expect to be here until at least 2021. I’m falling in love with this little bit of paradise.

Thank you Coronavirus for helping me discover this wonderful place.

Conclusion of travel quarantine stories from travelers around the world

As the COVID-19 lockdown continues all over the globe, travelers stuck in quarantine aren’t likely going home anytime soon. Locked down in a foreign nation has unique challenges, that’s for sure.

Are you (or were you) locked down in a place away from home due to the 2019/2020 pandemic? Leave a comment below and tell your story!

As always, thanks for reading!

Stay home and stay safe,

I’ll see you back on the road one day!

Ben – Horizon Unknown

Special thanks to The Migrant Yogi for the images for social media.