Missing out on the cruise of a lifetime is the least of Colin Carrington’s concerns when he sits down to assess the affect of COVID on his travel plans.
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Colin, and wife of 20 years, Judy, missed the London wedding of their daughter Emily and have never met their son-in-law Charlie — at least not in person.
“Our daughter was married in London in July of this year. We were unable to get over there for the wedding,” Colin said.
“That was really, really tough.”
Emily, who has inherited her parents’ penchant for travel, met her husband-to-be on her travels.
“She met Charlie 12 months ago and decided to stay in England,” he said.
The newlyweds have had their own brush with COVID, as you would expect with the huge numbers of people in the UK affected by the pandemic.
“Charlie’s grandfather died of COVID. He was only in his seventies,” Colin said.
She was coming home to show Charlie Australia for the first time, with the view of getting married here. She was going to be here in March of 2021.
“It was going to be a wedding plan visit, but the border closures meant that wasn’t possible,” Colin said.
The couple was forced to cancel honeymoon plans, because travel at the time was restricted through Europe.
“Our next trip will be to London. We’ve never met our son in law, at least not face to face,” Colin said.
He explained Emily and Charlie decided to bring their wedding forward due to uncertainty over travel restrictions.
“Emily either had to renew her visa or they could bring their wedding forward,” Colin said.
“They chose the latter and Emily is now seeking English citizenship.”
Zoom has been the closest the Echuca-based contingent of the Carrington family has got to Charlie.
“Whenever we can book a trip to London we will. Like everything, you just can’t plan,” Colin said.
Keaton, the Carringtons’ other child, lives in Melbourne.
“We haven’t seen him for months either, because of the lockdown,” Colin said.
The well-travelled Echuca residents make an annual pilgrimage in May to coincide with Judy’s birthday, but their overseas travel plans – like so many others – have been thrown into disarray because of the worldwide pandemic.
They understand there are much worse things that have happened in the world and certainly aren’t the kind of people to whinge about their scenario. But it is just another example of how COVID has turned everyone’s world upside down.
The Carringtons made their original holiday booking with Helloworld Echuca travel agent Tara Cahill in early 2020, planning their yearly holiday trip to celebrate another year passing.
“We were planning to go in May of 2020. We were going to Europe and were cruising from Venice to Greece, with a few stops along with way,” Colin said.
Plans for the three-week trip were soon thrown into chaos with the developments of March 2021 and, in particular, the Ruby Princess cruise ship scenario in Sydney.
“It was when things really blew out in March that we knew the holiday was off. Because Europe was ahead of us with the whole problem we were notified pretty quickly,” Colin said.
“I think we received notice from the cruise-line company that the cruise had been cancelled.
“As time went on cruising just became on the nose and we knew that, along with any other international travel, was not going to be happening for a while.”
Enter Tara Cahill and her Helloworld team.
“We have used Tara a dozen times on various trips,” Colin said.
“Her team is always so professional, we have total confidence in them. She worked really hard to get us a refund on the cruise.
“The cruise was offering credits, but the timeline to take the cruise kept blowing out and we came to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to happen.
“It was a matter of six months before we got our refund, but it came through.”
It was not an insignificant amount the Carringtons had invested in the trip, the $15,000 journey being refunded in full.
The couple has previously travelled through the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, to name a few destinations.
“I always try to make my wife’s birthday special, so May is our holiday time,” Colin said.
“When we saw the stories in the media of people losing fully paid fares, some weren’t even offered a credit, we thought ourselves very lucky.
“We are so lucky to have a local travel agent who cares.”
Colin, who is semi-retired, wasn’t going to be beaten and began planning his next adventure — within Australia.
“Earlier this year, again on my wife’s birthday, Tara booked us on the Ghan,” he said.
“We were so lucky to get away in between lockdowns.
“It was at the point where NSW, in particular Sydney, was beginning to have all its problems.
“We took the Ghan up to Darwin.”
The hardest part for the pair was again in the time of the booking, between them and the travel agent they were able to negotiate the lockdowns.
“The train was stopped at the South Australian border until they were able to clarify that no-one from Sydney had been in any of the hot spots,” Colin said.
“We were held up there for eight hours.”
Let’s hope that the Carringtons are able to plan a London trip before they miss any other family occasions — the potential for grandparent status not lost on them.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor