In December 2020, Shai gained a global scholarship to pursue his dreams in the US. Caught in the middle of a global pandemic, his dad Sheldon, went on a mission to repatriate his son stranded overseas.
Did you travel alone?
“Only Shai travelled, Shai went to America in December of last year. He went on a scholarship with a school in Mississippi. He played Basketball there for 6/7 months. After some time, he decided that he did not want to pursue basketball anymore in America. We needed to bring him home because he was not at school anymore and his visa would be cancelled. He went to live with another family in Kansas and played in a tournament there for 6 weeks. When he was in Kansas, he received a threat where the school said it was time to head off to Australia because the visa is going to get cancelled” says Sheldon father of a son who was stranded overseas.
Which city did you travel from?
“Shai flew from Mississippi to Kansas, he was in Kansas for 6 weeks. We made inquiries on how to return him and faced the limitations of the Australian government to bring people in.
I enquired several travelled agents; the first quote was a flight cost of $16,100. I thought was pretty high, so I asked for a second quote which came back to $18,000 just to get him home. I then went online and looked for a few groups for stranded Australians, I found Nicolas, I started communicating with Nicolas. I did a little bit of research on Nicolas, I read a few articles written about him, read a few reviews on the website, and realized he knew what he was doing and was a lot cheaper.”
Nicolas managed to book a rather complex itinerary which involved several flights “for my son who was only 17. My son had only been on 1 flight on his own all the way to America. My son went from Kansas to Chicago. Chicago to Istanbul, Istanbul to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Sydney. The idea was to do a 14 day-quarantine in Sydney and fly back to Perth which is where is from.
He was booked to go to Kansas. One thing that we did, we should get him his vaccine before he went on because it would become a requirement for the Australian government.
Shai was supposed to covid a negative test within 3 days before leaving America, but the covid clinic actually lost his test. The place that took the test said they sent it and the lab which was supposed to analyse it said they did not receive it.” In hope of a successful outcome, he still went to the Airport; he was dropped off by his host mother, but the so precious negative test results never came!! At the airport, without test results, they did not let him check-in. By that time Nicolas was well in contact with Shai to manage the flight crises in waiting. As he had been throughout the process. By the end of the evening Shai “was in a situation where he could not wait to get another flight, so he packed his bag and went back to his host mother’s home, but she was basically out working. The host mother was incredibly helpful took him to as many tests as possible she could. He managed to get another test.” Within a few hours of this issue, Nicolas from World Travel Connections had successfully reorganized the entire itinerary for my son to fly “3-4 days later he left and flew to Chicago. While he was in Chicago the negative test expired because the layover was 12 hours. So basically, he had to find another place out in the public to get another negative test all on his own within the 12 hours. He had a layover in Turkey for 7h, he then flew to Tokyo for 4h and had surprisingly no issues in non-English speaking countries.” But unknown new problems started when he arrived in Sydney.
“Nicolas has been good for us; he coaches us and was in touch with both of us. He was in touch with Shai at 2 am Sydney time to follow him up. It is very stressful for parents and having the re-insurance from Nicolas was really exceptional.
So, Shai arrived in Sydney, and they placed him in hotel quarantine as an unaccompanied minor. He did 2 negative covid tests (day 2 and day 7), he did his 14 days quarantine. Nevertheless, the WA government border restriction was higher with NSW. After 14 days Shai could have come back to WA and having to quarantine back in WA.
His last covid test in Sydney came back inconclusive. Even though he had 2 negative tests, so they deemed they had to do more tests and treated him as a positive.” Long story short, he was unable to fly from Sydney to Perth on the 14th day as planned. Once again Nicolas jumped in to assist, although this flight would have been non-refundable and non-changeable World Travel Connections managed to amend the reservation at NO COST to us. Shai was able to travel using his existing ticket with the help of Nicolas Delacharlerie.
“He had to get a blood test, once the blood test came back negative, it had to be approved by a doctor, then the board review it, once the board makes his decision, he can leave quarantine.
He got on the plane 5 days later, after they agreed to release him, even though he was negative the whole time. Because the border security had gone up to extreme during these 6 additional days. Shai and I must quarantine another 14 days. In total, Shai has been required to quarantine for 34 days (20 in Sydney + 14 in Perth). WA government did not give any compassionate reason, so they were a strong risk he could get stuck in Sydney with no family. During that time, I had to do everything I can, sending emails, talking to politicians, to try to get my son back to WA. Then he finally got home, and they lost his bag! It was apparently left in Sydney. We now must quarantine me and my son at home because the WA government says so. Even that flight cost, which was the cheapest, ended up costing 12,000 AUD.”
How was life overseas?
Shai says life was pretty good for the most part, “it was hard to be away for 9 months, but it was different. My school was not the right fit for me.”
According to Sheldon, “having your son have an opportunity to go away and achieve his dream, I would say there would not be many parents out there that would say no, and would not do it. He really wanted to do it at that time, and we made it happened. Pandemic or no pandemic. We wanted to achieve his dream.
The idea was for Shai to stay another year in the US with the hopes of gaining a college scholarship. Based on the media and the recommendation we received at that time, 2 years was a significant amount of time, for the pandemic to be over and for us to be able to travel again.”
What challenges did you face trying to find a flight on your own?
“Australian Government did not care. They ask you to put your name down on a DFAT registry. I emailed DFAT several times and did not get a response. From what I can tell, there are so many people stuck overseas now, you are just a number now and they always maintained “you should have come home when we told you”. Not every situation is the same!”
What do you think of World Travel Connections and Nicolas Delacharlerie’s work?
“Honestly, I am not a person to do this. I can’t speak highly enough about Nicolas” and World Travel Connections. The “Fly Me Home” initiative is a reality. My son has been flown home. “I could not do all the work on my own from my end. We did not expect to receive so much support from someone we didn’t know, especially when I did not know what was going on with my son.” World Travel Connections is truly a ‘World of Difference‘ from other agents.
“Of course, Shai had emotional support from his host family. But with the logistics, Nicolas was the only one and he went well beyond”, he was almost omnipresent with us feeding information and guidance. At all times Nicolas ensured that all run smoothly. “He even offered to come and drop off food or anything to Shai while he was in hotel quarantine in Sydney. Nicolas even offered to take him to the airport. He offered to help him out. He is simply phenomenal.”
How were your flight and quarantine?
Shai says, “it was very comfortable”.
What is your advice to other OZs stranded overseas?
According to Shai, if you “did not know what you can do. I would go to Nicolas; it is your highest chance to get home…”
Sheldon recommends: “If you don’t have the money to do it. Those people are depending on DFAT flights to get home. If you don’t have the money, you just must wait for DFAT.
I would not go away for a start at the moment. To come back home if you can afford to do it otherwise you just have to wait.
There is a Facebook group called Australian stuck around the world. If you read stories on there, it is diabolical.”
How crowded was your flight?
“The first one was very full. Then medium. Finally, the last one was really empty” Shai responded.
Do you have many friends still stranded overseas?
Shai: “No, there are staying at school until next year.”
When you heard about the Australian government slashing the cap on arrival how did it make you feel?
“Personally, it made me feel neglected. They could have done a lot more in this situation. Especially, Hospital and quarantine wise. I think they drag their feet for a long time. Especially in Sydney and WA, they could have built temporary villages at that time. No reasons for the caps these days.”
Did you ever feel left out by the Australian government for not organizing repatriation flights as you were stranded overseas?
“Yes, it was annoying especially considering I did extra days. It was their fault I did extra days and was forced to do an additional quarantine. Just the fact that I was there for 20 days with clearly no symptom, and they clearly did not do anything about it, plus make me quarantine here just because they stuffed up, it extra annoying.
With regards to repatriation flights, I still don’t know why there are not sending constant flights to get all these people home. People want to come home so bring them home. But I also feel if you leave again, you are on your own.”
How excited are you to see your family after being stranded overseas?
“It was good. We are both very excited. It was a weird feeling, we were happy, but it was more relief.”
How was your mental health affected by being stranded overseas?
“Without a doubt, absolutely! It will stop me from wanting to travel until Covid-19 is gone. Traveling in WA yes but not further” Shai responds.
Sheldon enjoys each Australian capital city, but even if they relax border restrictions, he will have no desire to go anywhere else anymore. “If WA gets a sniff of anything they will close the border again causing a lot of anxiety and grief.”
What is your 2s slogan message you would like to leave for Australians who need support overseas?
“We need to tell them that stress and anxiety are real. There is a time, you will get home. It is a hard thing to say this especially for someone who has been trying for so long. But don’t stop trying.”
