OTTAWA -- “It was bliss.”
Aimie Calagoure described the feeling of being home for Easter weekend after returning to Ottawa from India with her sister Katie Tayler and their mother.
The three spent nearly a month trying to fly back to Canada as India clamped down on movement in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19. They arrived back in Ottawa on Friday and began their mandatory quarantine.
“It didn’t feel real. We were also coming off so many hours of not sleeping, so the next morning all of us woke up and said how disoriented we felt when we couldn’t place where we were when we woke up at 3:30 in the morning,” said Calagoure during an interview with CTV Morning Live Monday morning.
“It literally felt like a dream to walk through the house, it was awesome.”
The three had been trying to travel home to Canada since mid-March as the pandemic spread.
On April 3, they waited 17 hours in Goa for a bus to Mumbai, but it never came. Finally last Tuesday, a bus arrived to transport them to Mumbai, where they were able to board a flight to Ottawa.
When asked by CTV Morning Live’s Leslie Roberts what it was like to fly out of Mumbai last week, Tayler said it was “exciting.”
“But then we also kind of had this uncomfortable, nerving feeling in our stomach, thinking OK is this too good to be true, what happens next kind of thing.”
Tayler said it was “eerie” boarding the flight and seeing flight attendants in full scrubs and personal protective equipment.
“You’ll never experience that again. It was crazy.”
The sisters are now adjusting to life back in Ottawa, including struggling to sleep over the weekend.
“It’s the unwind of stress. We aren’t stressed now, we feel fine, but our bodies have been so tense for two-and-a-half weeks now, I think it’s going to take some time to let go of it,” said Calagoure.
The two sisters and their mother will now spend 14 days in mandatory quarantine.
“My husband came and brought us some groceries day one and day two,” said Tayler.
“My sister and I cooked Easter dinner last night, because we found a turkey in the freezer, so we made a nice Easter dinner for the three of us. And we did a Zoom face call with my dad’s family, and my grandmother, aunts, uncle and cousins.”
Calagoure told CTV Morning Live she will add up the costs associated with hotels, cancelled buses and flights and other fees on Tuesday after spending a few days unwinding.
Tayler and Calagoure have some advice for families still trying to get home to Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hold in there. It’s stressful, you have no idea what’s going to happen day-to-day,” said Calagoure.
“We didn’t learn this lesson until the last two days I’d say, but just go with it, just ride it out, don’t try to fight it. The amount of stress you’re causing your body it’s almost not worth it. You just kind of have to wake up each day and see what that day is going to give you.”
Tayler adds “everything happens for a reason. You kind of think you’re in that difficult time for a reason, and you were put there to not necessarily find your way out, but to enjoy the little things while you’re in it and learn to appreciate things that maybe you wouldn’t appreciate.”
