Niagara man stranded in Nepal finally comes home after weeks in COVID-19 lockdown

After 47 hours of travelling, Niagara manConnor Crickmore landed in Toronto from Nepal where he had been stranded for two weeks due to thecountry's COVID-19 lock-down.

Like many other Canadians, Crickmore, 29,got stuck abroad when COVID-19 closed borders and caused airlines to cancel flights. Now, he's one of the few remaining citizens to return.

In the nearly two days it took to get home, Crickmoremade his way through four airports and boarded three different planes.

He walked from his hostel to catch a bus headed to Nepal's Australian embassy in Kathmandu.Then he took another busto get to the local airport. From there, he flew to Qatar and after a 16-hour layover,flew to Montreal.

His journey ended with adomestic flight to Toronto and a car ride into the Niagara region.

The entire trek cost more than $3,000.

While Crickmore says he's glad to be home, he said there were many Canadians who had to stay back as theycouldn't afford the plane ticket.

"I'd say more than half of Canadians that were in contact (with the government) declined to come home just because the cost was so much," Crickmore said, adding that the price was especially a burden for those who had large families or required additional travel once inside Canada.

'Off-the-grid'

Crickmore left Canada to travel to different parts of the world in October, landing in Nepal at the beginning of March. At the time, Nepal only had one confirmed case. Aweek after thecountry went on lock-down, March 24, there wereonly five cases.

His trip began with an "off-the-grid" hike up the Himalayas, Crickmore said. When he returned to town he and some other travellers were immediately pulledaside and assessed for symptoms.

That was the moment he realized how quickly the pandemic had escalated curfews were set in place and police were patrolling the streets with sticks.

Crickmoretook refugein a 25-person hostel with 95 other stranded travellers from across the world. As the days wore on, fearskicked in about food and water shortages.

Home-bound

Two weeks in, Crickmore finally heard from the Canadian governmentthat a Qatar airlines flight was scheduled forApril 11.

Though it was difficult to maintain physical distancing measures every step of the way home, he sayshe's not too worried about contracting the virus.

"Obviously your mind wanders a little bit, especially (when)...somebody sneezes around you," Crickmore said. "It's a shame (that)we've kind of tailored ourselves to thinking the worst."

COVID-19 assessments included a checklist of symptoms and a few temperature readings along the way.

While he said these measures didn't seem to match the seriousness of the pandemic, he understands that without on-the-spot testing, there isn't much that can be done.

When Crickmoreleft Nepal the country had fewerthan 20 cases, with only16 reported as of Wednesday. Hereturned to Canada which has seenmore than 27,000 cases confirmed.

Crickmoresays he's still frustrated with thelack of communication from the Canadian government.

"I think just some better communication and transparency would have gone a long way," he said.

"Just (to) give peace of mind to everybody because being kept in the dark just keeps you really antsy."

Even now, he added, the government shouldwork with other countries and embassies to get remaining travellers home.