Dining In In Isolation

We are set for release this afternoon! It’s funny thinking that our 14 days in NZ Managed Isolation is about the same time it took us to sail from Dubai to India, a distance of almost 3,000km covered at what seemed like snail’s pace. Similar to the passage, food has played a big part in keeping us sane and helping us pass the time.

You can read about how food plays a key part for us at sea https://ripeningnicely.com/2020/01/28/but-what-do-you-eat/

I wouldn’t say that two weeks in a 4.5-star hotel is stressful, but in a way, I’ve felt a little on edge the whole time. It’s strange being ‘home’ but not being home and our stay feels like an extension of the journey itself. There are of course many rules that we must follow and I’m quietly terrified of accidentally breaking one. Worse, my irrational fear of medical procedures sends me into panic attacks at the very thought of our two COVID tests. And each time the phone rings in the days following the tests (on days 3 and 11 of our 14-day stay), we wonder if it’s the medical team calling to tell us we have COVID!

Thankfully, the food deliveries have been delivered at a consistent time each day, so we at least recognised that as a safe knock on the door! The food has been excellent here and has become punctuation through the days. The meals are bagged and left at our door three times a day, accompanied by a gentle knock and a call of “room service”. After a few days, our hearing became attuned to the rustling of paper bags at the end of the corridor before the actual knock! Strict social distancing rules require that we don a mask and wait until the staff move away before we open our door. On one of our first days, I chimed a cheery “thank you!” as the staff moved off down the corridor. I was quite pleased to see our across-the-corridor neighbour join me in gratitude the following day, and even more pleased when there was a whole chorus of “thank yous” up and down the corridor the day after. Gratitude is more contagious than COVID!

Some afternoons, especially if the weather was good, we ordered a takeaway coffee and enjoyed some fresh air outside. To order coffee, or anything else outside the set meals, and to minimise contact we had to call room service from the room and have them prepare it in advance, and then we drop by the café to collect it. We also bought a few coffees for the security and medical staff – the fact that some of these staff have been here since lock down way back in March is a good reminder that our stay here is relatively brief. We were able to take the coffees outside and sit in the exercise area, perched on some large rocks that border the central grassed area. With the warmth of the sun this was a nice spot to sit and enjoy a change of scene. We were still obliged to wear masks of course, so would pull them down to take a sip then quickly recover our faces. On a couple of days we had family visiting across the dual fences. It was great to get a chance to “socialise” but very strange to greet family after so long at a distance and through two large mesh fences.

We find it extremely easy maintaining a vegan diet in our own kitchen but now wasn’t the time to make extra requests on the already under pressure catering teams, so made a decision to go with the flow. This has meant we have been strictly no meat, but a few dairy items have been part of our diet, including a couple of paneer and pizza meals. Cheese is this vegan’s kryptonite… We are looking forward to being more in control of our diet when we get released though, as our reasons behind the vegan diet choice has not changed and we know that dairy is still an unnecessary part of our diet.

The main restaurant on the ground floor was taken over with the meal delivery bags lined up on the tables normally filled with diners. The bar area opposite was also blocked off as a rest area for the multitude of police/border security/medical professionals keeping us and the rest of NZ safe. Maybe it’s a form of Stockholm Syndrome, but I have a strange desire to return to this hotel once COVID craziness is all over and have a normal meal in what, by then, will return to a normal restaurant. Maybe they’ll even have a couple of our favourites on the menu!

Our two weeks of Managed Isolation has been funded by the government as a key part of NZ’s eradication strategy. We are extremely grateful that this measure is in place and have been happy to comply to keep ourselves and others safe. We were obviously travelling from a high-risk country and while we had done everything we could to try and safeguard our health, we have been reassured by this experience that we are safe to re-enter the outside world. The way we have been looked after has made this a far less stressful than it might otherwise have been, and the excellent food has played a big part in that.

In fact, it has been so good that despite exercising every day, I think I’ve probably put on a kilo or three during our stay. But I’m not stressing about it. Above all this is a good reminder to be kind to not only those around us but also to ourselves when we get out!

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