I've been finding the emails I receive from the Canadian Consulate in Singapore really disconcerting.

When COVID-19 began appearing world wide, we registered ourselves at the Consulate as Canadians in Singapore. We had already been living in Singapore for about 7 months at that point. The Consulate began sending us weekly emails about the global situation. We also get emails from them after every one of Singapore's big announcements about COVID-19.

This week's email is the first time that the email didn't start out along the lines of GET YOURSELF HOME TO CANADA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

The consulate lists the few paths home. Flight options have been very limited. There were no direct flights and the consulate recommended booking each portion of the way directly on the phone with each separate airline. Just because the flights were "available" didn't mean they would actually be flying either. We kept hearing of flights being bumped and then bumped and then bumped again. For the last 2 months there were about 3 flights a week we could have taken out of Singapore, but the 2nd portion to actually get us to Vancouver, Canada was only flying once a week assuming it was going. We would have had to fly to Tokyo and then quarantine until your next flight was available.

A one way flights costs the same as a return flight right now. Flights are about double the usual price ($1200 - 1800 currently). We would probably be spending more than $10,000 to get home with just what we could fit our suitcases. That number doesn't even include the cost of a hotel for the mandatory 14 day quarantine or the probability of getting stuck paying for a hotel in Tokyo indefinitely until we could get on that 2nd flight. It doesn't include the cost of breaking our Singapore lease, shipping our stuff, or to sort ourselves out once we got to Canada.

Of course we aren't actually trying to get flights. We consider Singapore a very safe place to be during this Pandemic, and if we leave, Singapore won't let us come back. Our work/dependent passes that allow us to live here would be revolved.  

After listing the flight options the Consulate emails always say,

"Canadians who decide to stay in Singapore should be prepared to remain in Singapore for an indefinite period of time."

That sentence always freaks me out, even though we have every intention of staying in Singapore for quite some time. I "joke" with my sisters that if flights actually stopped we always could buy a sailboat and just sail home - can't imagine how long that would take. Although, I now have some idea of what it would feel like to be in a confined space with my family for an extended period of time.

The Consulate emails always end by stressing the importance of complying to Singapore's COVID-19 rules and highlight any changes or additions to rules.  

This week the flight options expanded. Singapore is opening up their airport June 2 to allow connecting travel through it and so there are suddenly more flight options and this week's email didn't sound nearly so ominous.

Singapore is a huge international flight hub and seeing empty skies for so long has been really odd. Before the borders shut down we saw large planes in the sky all day as we played at the pool. It's a big deal when one of the kids spots a plane now. Even still, flight traffic is usually private jets or military aircraft right now.