17/03/2021
A year ago on this day, my life turned upside down.
I was no longer in control...
It was supposed to be a great day, a day where we say goodbye to the UK and join my husband in Qatar to start a new adventure.
The 2 weeks leading up to this day were extremely busy with cleaning, packing, ending contracts, saying goodbye to friends, and arranging the paperwork for my cat.
That day at 4am in the morning we headed to the airport after receiving confirmation the night before that our booking was confirmed and we can fly.
At 5am we arrived at the airport to check-in.
It was early I barely slept.
At check-in, we were then told we are not allowed to board the flight as no one can fly to Qatar any more.
I was in shock.
What was I supposed to do?
I had no home anymore in the UK, all our belongings except the few basic things I had in the luggage were with my husband in Qatar.
I just started functioning
I had to be strong for my 10-month-old baby.
Luckily I had my dad with me but we didn't have much time to figure things out as he had to catch the bus to go to another airport and hopefully catch his flight (that we didn't know if it would go either)
I couldn't change my booking as there were no flights with Qatar Airways to Vienna, so we had to get all my stuff (3 large luggage, a pushchair, a car seat, my cat, a pack back, and hand luggage ) to the other terminal in the hope of getting a flight to Austria.
I managed to book myself, my daughter, and my cat on the flight, although it wasn't cheap at least it meant we wouldn't be homeless.
We had to however wait until 2pm for the flight to leave until then it was waiting at the airport, keeping a distance.
A kind security officer gave me a wheelchair so I didn't have to carry my cat, hand luggage and pack back around.
I managed to grab some lunch although we couldn't finish it due to the restaurant's closing.
The waiting was horribly filled with tons of phone calls to my husband and family trying to make sense of the situation, finding a solution, and constantly updating what is going on. I was happy to find out that my dad made it safe to the airport and could fly to Austria (later we found out it was the last flight there)
I finally could go to the gate where a hostess decided to have a bad day and wanted to refuse my cat onboard (after it being previously confirmed 3 times).
I managed to get another hostess to have him fly cargo as I was for sure not leaving him behind.
The flight to Vienna was stressful as I didn't know what to expect. It was very sad as we didn't fly where we were supposed to fly to and couldn't reunite with my husband.
Although my relatives who live there offered to come and help I didn't want them to take any chances of getting infected.
It took me forever to gather all my belongings, much to the amusement of the 7 ambulance guys measuring temperatures, a policeman, and a fireman. I guess measuring the cats temperature was very funny and more important than trying to help.
But I made it, I got my train ticket and managed with the help of a young gentleman to get all my stuff on the train.
The train ride took forever with an extra delay, but at least I knew I would soon arrive at my parents and have a roof over our heads.
At the train station in Innsbruck my dad picked us up and we were finally on the last part of our journey.
Arriving home just after midnight was a relief.
Due to the uncertain situation, we immediately took our clothes off to have them washed, disinfected everything, and didn't hug.
We couldn't risk anyone getting infected.
It was very hard as after such a long exhausting day of just functioning I just wanted to be comforted and held.
That day will forever be part of my life.
Looking back I am now proud of myself that I overcame all the challenges thrown at me.
No one knew that this day would mean, not seeing my husband for 10 months, my daughter not seeing her dad for 10 months. My husband missing her first birthday, her first steps.
In this year lots has changed, I worked extremely on my personal development, I grew my business thanks to an amazing mastermind and we spent 10 months in Austria, with my parents, my grandma, and my bunny.
I just know no matter how difficult life gets, we have to keep going.
If we want to be a great leader to our children, family, and clients we have to not let our circumstances define us. We have to embrace our situation and rise above to come out on top.
We got this
If you look back to 365 days ago, can you say that you have grown and evolved?