Whanganui travellers take flight to see family overseas

It is now easier to see overseas family. Photo / Michael Craig

Whanganui travellers are taking advantage of the easing of Covid-19 restrictions to finally catch up with family members overseas.

Flights to see family were top priority for travelling people, Carla McKinnon, of House of Travel Whanganui, said.

Among them was Karen Goodge, who had been hanging out to see her son, daughter and 4-year-old granddaughter in the United Kingdom.

"It's been really hard. It's left a huge void," Goodge said.

Without a guaranteed spot in MIQ or a return flight, in November 2021 Goodge booked her flight for May this year.

She said the sense of not knowing where Covid was going to go next was always at the back of her mind, but worrying was not an option.

"I can't live like that. Too many people don't get the opportunity that I've got."

The worst-case scenario was she lost her flight money but Goodge said the opportunity to spend time with her children and grandchildren meant more than money.

"You've just got to do it."

Philippa Ivory is among those who have already travelled to see overseas family.

She returned on March 31 from her trip to the UK to see her eldest daughter, and was greeted with a "creepily empty" Auckland Airport.

"There just wasn't anybody around, even going through to departures."

Ivory's daughter counted 882 days since they'd seen each other.

At a time when hardly anybody was flying, Ivory said everybody else thought she was mad.

"I didn't really care. I was just determined to be there, whether it makes sense or not."

By the time she returned, restrictions had changed and she didn't need an MIQ place, which was what she had hoped for.

Ivory said technology had made a huge difference during lockdown and, although it was not the same as being with her family in person, it was what kept her sane over the course of the pandemic.

Brodie White, who hadn't seen his family in Whanganui for more than five years, spent the last month with them.

He landed in New Zealand on March 13, just over 12 hours after all the regulations for having to go through MIQ were dropped.

"Getting a spot in MIQ was miraculous in the first place, but bypassing MIQ completely was a real godsend," White said.

He was successful at his third attempt for a MIQ spot, which he said felt like a fluke.

"The first time I got into the queue, I was number 16,000-and-something so I just kind of laughed and closed my computer at that point."

White had been trying to come home to see his family for a couple of years.

"It was frustrating as hell. It's really hard to put that into words."

White moved from Whanganui to Berlin in 2008, and said coming home to Whanganui was a really grounding experience.

"It really resets your compass I think, after so much dissonance."