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“There is no better place than home,” said the relieved Indian expatriate woman.
“There is no place like home,” said a relieved Indian expatriate who managed to return to the UAE after spending 16 days and 15 nights in the Maldives. She chose the Maldives as the quarantine destination.
After staying in India for more than two months, Dubai resident Sherry Gupta and her husband Jatin finally landed at Dubai International Airport on Wednesday night, went through the formalities easily and arrived They sighed in relief when they closed their residence in the south of Dubai.
Shirley has been in India since May 21 this year. After her father passed away from complications of COVID-19, she went there to visit her family, while her husband stayed in Dubai. The two then met in the Maldives on July 19, where they spent more than two weeks finally returning to Dubai on August 3. The couple recounted a journey full of uncertainty. They said it took them about AED 50,000 to return to Dubai, where they lived for the past four years.
“My father lost his father in his hometown of Ludhiana in northern India on May 2, 2021, but was unable to go there immediately due to the consequences of the travel ban in India. However, when my mother’s health began to deteriorate, I stayed by her side cautiously,” she said.
“I went to India on May 21. My mother had mucormycosis, which was a side effect of some patients during the second wave of pandemic and had to undergo surgery. The doctor told us that if we were one day late, we could have been Lost her.”
Her mother recovered and Shirley longed to return to Dubai because her husband fell ill after eating out for more than a month.
She knows that it will take time to resume flights, but hopes it will not exceed a month, because bookings from India to the UAE have already started in June.
“I thought to make it worse, I would take a chartered flight back because my friends who were trapped in India did so. This gave me the confidence to fly out. But I hardly knew that not only was the charter flight from India to the UAE soaring alone. It’s nearly 20,000 dirhams, but many travel agencies have started to deceive passengers with suspicious offers, causing the authorities to stop charter flights. My only hope of returning to the UAE was left out.”
At this time, Shirley and Jia Ting chose an alternative travel arrangement. Unfortunately, this means not only spending more money, but also stepping into uncharted territory full of uncertainty, as travel rules often change.
“We can choose to fly to Serbia and Armenia, but apart from the 19-hour long-distance flight (transfer flight), the 15-day stay is also very expensive. Fortunately, the Maldives opened its border on July 15. It is also very expensive, only two hours away from India and only five hours away from Dubai. This is where my husband and I have always wanted to go. “
The Guptas made a temporary reservation because they were not sure whether they would be allowed to fly out or stop. “Things are vague and the rules change quickly, so we don’t want to lose money. We have to be careful. We stayed at the Holiday Inn for 7 days and then upgraded to Sun Siyam Iru Veli Resort to explore more of the Maldives.
“If the flight starts, there is still confusion, but somehow being together on the island is a kind of therapy and we feel very relaxed,” Shirley said.
Save on rainy days
Sherry and Jatin said that they never profligate and have always believed in a culture of savings. “I am grateful to our parents for instilling in us the habit of saving, which is why we were able to take bold steps and spend a lot of money to get us back to life in Dubai.”
“The biggest lesson I learned from the whole incident is that when we face unprecedented situations, people never know the importance of saving. Our focus has always been on saving rather than consumption. See how it can be delivered when we need it most. Useful,” Shirley added.
Support groups
Talking about the benefits of joining many support groups on social media, Shirley said that although she has about 5, her husband is in 12 to 14 groups.
“We are guided by people who share experiences,” she said. “This gives others confidence to go this way. For example, we came to the Maldives on July 19, but some people arrived on July 16 and updated our requirements, such as forms, documents, good places to stay, Quarantine rules and so on. We did the same thing and made their journey easier by giving them a checklist and sharing our experience with people in the group.”
The Gupta family said that they learned a lot from this trip, made many friends, got help, and helped other people. They didn’t regret it.
Saman Hazik
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