RIPLEY, ONT. -- The Irwin family is self-isolating at their home in Ripley after spending the past nine months travelling the world.
Dwight, Amy and their two daughters left on July 1 for a year-long trip to as many corners of the world as possible. They started in Western Canada and the U.S, before heading to Europe, Kenya and Southeast Asia.
In late February, in Thailand, they started hearing about COVID-19. Once they made it to Sri Lanka last week, the Irwins were already starting to think about coming home.
“I guess it was last Friday, Canadian time, we finally decided it was time to book a flight home,” says Amy.
After sifting through flights, some listed at four times the normal cost, the Irwins booked a flight home on Monday. They arrived back in Canada Monday night, after 23 hours in the air, but are grateful to be home.
“Even in the last days in Sri Lanka, restaurants were starting to close, hotels were refusing service to foreigners. So we knew the time to leave was closely approaching,” says Dwight.
Just in time, too. Two of the four airlines that could get them home are no longer flying internationally.
The Irwins are starting their 14-day quarantine healthy and happy to be home. They have friends and family dropping off food for them.
They wish their trip didn’t end the way it did, but they’re grateful they got to see as much of the world as they did.
“We’ve spent the past nine months together in pretty close quarters, often in one room together. To be in our house, with all our things again, we can do this quarantine no problem,” they say.
