Hotel Isolation - Day 1 & 2

For my first post on here, I thought I would start to share my experience in hotel isolation. I flew into Auckland from Sydney yesterday (the 16th of May), and am currently at the Pullman Hotel - which is a 5 star hotel, so lucky me! I wasn't expecting to be in such a nice room, but it will certainly make the next two weeks a lot more enjoyable than they could have been. I was actually more sad than usual to leave my family (although I managed to not cry somehow!). Whilst I would have normally been in New Zealand at this point in the year, I was at home for about 7 weeks or so, and had become very used to being there and spending all that time with my family. I guess I have missed out on a lot of this family time living away from home for the last few years, and to get to experience that for the longest period of time I've had at home since I moved away made me realise what it would be like to still live there with them. I certainly will miss them, and will also miss my dog very much too!

The process of getting to this point has been quite intense, gone are the days where you could just book a plane ticket, show up at the airport and be let onto the plane no problems. A few weeks ago after some research, I applied for a subsequent resident visa, as I am an Australian citizen who normally resides in New Zealand (I have lived in Wellington since January 2018). I had to provide evidence to support this application, including details of my rental property and a letter from the New Zealand School of Dance stating that I am enrolled there and have made a considerable commitment to the school and the country. After being granted my visa, I was then able to book a flight to Auckland. Whilst I normally fly from Sydney directly into Wellington, there are currently no direct flights to Wellington other than ones that go through Auckland, and as you need to isolate at your first point of arrival into the country, I wouldn't have been able to fly through to Wellington. It was certainly a very surreal and unnerving experience at the airport - there was barely anyone there as there are so few flights leaving Australia. It takes a lot longer to go through all the security screening and check-in processes as they need to verify that you have a valid reason to be travelling internationally, as international travel is technically banned in most countries unless you fit the requirements for a travel exemption. The staff on the plane were so lovely, it was definitely nice to see some kind faces as the staff at both Sydney and Auckland airports were very strict - it almost felt as though I was a criminal waiting to be caught out or something!! The process leaving Auckland airport took a very long time - it was 3 hours between the time the plane landed to the time we got to our hotel rooms, but it was certainly worthwhile as the rooms here are beautiful. I almost feel as though I am on holiday rather than in forced isolation!

All food is delivered to your door, which you pick from a list of options in advance when you first arrive at the hotel. We are also allowed to order from Countdown and get it delivered to the hotel, which I think I will definitely do at some stage as I already miss having lots of fresh fruit and veggies. Breakfast everyday is meant to be fruit, pastries and then you choose an option for the main part of it (something along the lines of eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc), but this morning I just used the kettle in my room to boil some hot water which I used to cook a porridge sachet in a bowl I brought with me (it cooked them surprisingly well), and then I added the fruit we were given on top of my oats. This is pretty much what I normally eat for breakfast and I am so glad I found a way to fit the box of oat sachets in my suitcase as anyone who knows me well will know that I love oats far too much to go without them! I think I will probably do this everyday while I am here, I'm not really a fan of most other things for breakfast, especially what they are offering us here. Lunch and dinner are meant to always come with a type of salad as well which I am pleased about! I was concerned that they wouldn't have many veggies in the meals they provided, so it's great to know that we will be getting that everyday as well. For lunch today I had veggie fried rice with a salad which was actually very good. I am writing this post before dinner and I can't quite remember what I chose to have tonight, so it will have to be a surprise!.

The view from my room is beautiful (as you can see in the photo I have shared below), and the sun streams in through the window in the morning which really put me in a great mood when I woke up today. I will be having zoom classes whilst I am here, so I have managed to move the furniture around so that I have a great amount of space to be able to dance. My focus for this time is to work on my strength and technique, as well as trying to get my stamina up using cardio to make sure when I return to the studio that I am prepared to jump right into classes. I love a challenge and I see this as a great opportunity to work on my weaknesses and focus without too many distractions. However I also want to stay in contact with my family and friends as much as I can, as well as try to reach out to some people I haven't spoken to in a while whilst I have so much time to do so!

We are also allowed to leave the hotel to get fresh air in a courtyard outside, and you can sign up to go for walks. Unfortunately I didn't get on the list to go today, but I am all set to go for a walk tomorrow morning before I have classes. Instead of going for a walk today, I spent about an hour in the courtyard with my friend and flatmate Charlotte who flew over with me which was so lovely. As I had discovered in my time at home, online workout videos are very effective! I've done a few of those today, as well as a yoga class online which was great. I think part of the challenge of my time here will be staying busy in a productive way, it's easy for time to fly by without having achieved much when you are alone. I think the fact that I am back in New Zealand is keeping me in a positive head space though, as I had thought for a while that there may not have been a chance of me being able to get back for quite some time which I was finding difficult to come to terms with. To then have that flipped and to find that I could in fact return to complete my graduating year really did help me to realise how badly I want to be at the school training, and I know I won't take a moment there for granted after these few months that I have been away. I'm sure most would say the same thing though, what a reminder this situation has been for so many about how lucky we are to have a school or a job to go to that gives us structure and purpose. I am so looking forward to being able to return to school, and am so grateful that New Zealand is in a position to begin opening up again.

View from my room at the Pullman Hotel.