The long road home: from New York to Qingdao

Xiao Fei is studying abroad in New York. In mid-March, the school dormitory stopped allowing international students to live in the dormitory, and my family decided whether to stay in the United States or return to China. At that time, we saw in the news that overseas immigration was overcrowded, and we had to wait in line for testing for more than ten hours. In such a crowded and chaotic environment, the risk of infection is also high. So her family decided to let her stay in New York. Fortunately, a friend had an empty house in New York - "After all, this is the United States, nothing big will happen."

A week later, as the global infection rate exceeded 300,000 people. The number of infected people in the United States, especially New York, is rising exponentially. My family is panicking. It seems that the United States is also in danger, which is quite similar to China in early February. "I still have to go back to my country. I'll feel relieved when I do." But it's hard to get a ticket. Fortunately, there were refunds. Maybe someone bought several flights in the early stage. We will fly directly from New York to Shanghai Pudong Airport on the 25th, and then fly to Qingdao Liuting Airport at 10 o'clock the next day.

Fortunately, the express delivery is still running, and the family bought masks, goggles and protective clothing and sent them to Xiao Fei in New York. On the 25th, Xiao Fei boarded the plane fully armed and began his long journey home alone. The family and Xiaofei reached a consensus not to eat anything along the way, drink as little water as possible and use the toilet as much as possible. We communicated about the situation at the domestic airport in advance. "The key is to have expectations, adjust your mentality, and not be impatient." This is what my family has repeatedly warned.

At 7:30 pm on the 26th, Xiaofei landed at Pudong Airport, "finally home." Yes, compared to New York, anywhere in China is home. Just when everyone is looking forward to arriving in Qingdao the next day. Suddenly I saw a piece of news that at 18:00 that day, all incoming passengers must be quarantined on the spot for fourteen days. This means that Xiaofei cannot go back to Qingdao for quarantine, but is quarantined in Shanghai. The family was very anxious; Xiao Fei was calm, "That's good, I don't have to wait in line for hours to wait for the results. I can go to bed as soon as possible." The family had no choice but to accept the reality, "When I return to Shanghai, everything will be easy to say."

At 11 o'clock in the evening, Xiaofei sent a message that because there were too many flights, they had not gotten off the plane yet. She made three crying faces in despair. "This is a test, otherwise how would you know the limit of your willpower. By recording these scenes, you are witnessing history." Her family encouraged her from all angles. Fortunately, not long after, Xiaofei said optimistically, "We're about to get off the plane. First-class passengers have already started to get off the plane." The staff called their names, and the people who were called got off the plane in turn.

At two or three o'clock in the middle of the night, Xiao Fei said happily that the policy was misunderstood. Passengers like her who were connecting flights did not need to be quarantined in Shanghai, but could be quarantined in the city where the flight ended. "I can go back to Qingdao directly!" she said happily. Finally they were taken to a special waiting area. There, journey-weary passengers can take a nap and wait for dawn.

At ten o'clock, Xiao Fei boarded the plane to Qingdao. For more than thirty hours, he had not eaten, only drank water once, and used the toilet once.

The journey was smooth, "I'm in Qingdao, I'm home." The family finally breathed a sigh of relief. At two or three o'clock in the afternoon, we finally checked into a designated isolation point in the bustling area of ??Qingdao city, a chain business hotel. At this point, Xiaofei's journey from New York to Qingdao, which lasted forty hours, finally came to an end.