Anyone else with gap year teenagers still abroad?

[FreckledLeopard]

DD (just turned 19) is in Australia. She's been there since September on a working holiday visa and loves it. She wants to stay on as long as she can and had been planning to do the 88 days of farm work to extend the visa for another year.

Obviously Covid-19 has now overtaken things and she's holed up in rural Queensland, in a hostel, waiting for farm work to start. She has enough money to keep her head above water for a few months, but flights out of Australia now are scarce, most are cancelled and all are costing thousands. In any event, DD is adamant she'd rather be out there than back here, and I can sort of agree. However, the hostel is saying to its backpackers that anyone who develops a fever will be turfed out and if that happens then I really don't know what she'll do. Queensland is locked down. We have friends in Victoria and NSW, but that's not much help where she is.

Another of my friend's daughters is now stranded in Cambodia. The Embassy has shut up shop and there are no flights out.

Anyone else with children stuck somewhere else in the world during this crisis?

With everything happening in the world, can I ask why they weren’t on a flight home a couple of weeks ago when this was advised? I don’t understand why people thought that we are immune to what has been happening in the rest of Europe and the world. Now you just need to pray that she doesn’t develop any symptoms and get kicked out of her hostel. Is it possible to rent something short term? I have no idea how that would work in a lockdown situation.

I was with her, on holiday, in Australia until this weekend. Nothing at all over there changed until the last couple of days of my holiday - it was business as usual and there were no signs that the country was about to go into lock down. Things have literally changed there overnight with very little warning.

A lot of her friends who have tried to leave the country have had flights cancelled and prices are now around £4000 for a one way economy ticket, with no guarantee that the flight will take place. DD wants to stay there long-term. Most of her friends have stayed. Frankly, I don't know if she's better off there, in the countryside, with far fewer people and good medical care, than here in lockdown at home. She seems happy and does not want to come home. Nor do I have a spare £4000 for an economy flight which may or may not get cancelled.

Mama things in Australia and NZ changed very fast and flight just got cancelled. Connections also closed off so people literally can not get a flight. It's all over the news. I know someone who has been trying to get a flight out for 2weeks. Every time they think they have one it gets cancelled. And by that stage every other option has closed off. It's not simply a case of travellers being dumb. You think you have a flight booked only to find out the day before that it's cancelled.

I wouldn't want to be a young woman in rural Queensland, possibly homeless, during a disaster and moreso a foreign woman with no local connections.

It would be logistically very difficult, no doubt, but I'd either get her home or get her to ride it out in Brisbane.

She's with a group of friends, in a town (so rural-ish but not in the middle of nowhere). I've spoken to Australian friends this evening who think it's best to stay put, hope the farm work kicks off and ride the worst of it out there.

So many of her friends are still stuck with flights being cancelled again and again. The only routes out now are via the Middle East or Los Angeles so far as I can see, and tickets are few and far between (and £6000+).

It's more that I think your DD is in a vulnerable group. Young, thinking they're a bit invincible, probably no one keeping the 2m distance rule and if she gets sick there's no where for her to go.

OP, my son is also in Australia - he's 21 - with his girlfriend (19) they managed to get into a working hostel last week but l am also concerned now, more than l was last week.

Can she rent somewhere? Airbnb with a couple of friends? There must be lots of cheap places given the situation, and she would be safe to self isolate there if she came down with any symptoms. At the moment she risks being homeless if she even gets a cough.

I’d beg borrow and steal the money to get her home

I can’t understand she did not come back 2 weeks ago? We had a Spanish friend staying (teenager of friends) and were nervous about getting him back in time

If she stays, does she have a contact at the embassy? Could they help?

I thankfulky managed to get my son out if NY where he was studying for a year two days before Trump banned European flights. The idea of him stuck in a hostel during this crisis would have stressed him out. Hope your daughter is ok OP.

My daughter is in the same situation and told me that if people show symptoms they are quarantined in the town. I specifically asked her if people were just chucked out of the hostels and she said definitely not. I hope this rests your mind. She also said to apply for the government Medicare online and not just rely on backpacker insurance.

We have this with our son and finally made the decision to book flights to get him home. He's done one flight but has 3 more before he's home. Just keeping fingers crossed they all go ahead. It was a difficult decision as to start with it seemed safer for him to stay where he was and keep working on the farm. Very stressed about it now. The flights we booked came to about £1300 but others are far more I know.

We're stuck in aus too. We're currently in a "closed" hostel with a handful of other stranded people. Out contingency for any symptoms is to rent an Airbnb as there are about 70 in this small town alone standing empty. Our flights are cancelled for a credit so no idea when we're getting back yet.

Thanks all. She has Medicare and they all seem pretty happy together in the hostel at the moment. My biggest concern is certainly what happens if any of them get symptoms, but fingers crossed that between them they'll look out for each other. Airbnb is a good idea if needs be.

None of them have contacted the Embassy and they're all adamant they want to stay. It's so hard knowing what to do for the best, but hopefully being in the countryside in good weather is better than trying to cross the globe on a multitude of planes with thousands of people.

I’d get the Airbnb sorted now. It’s too late when she comes down with a cough.