I just flew home to New York City from South Africa after cutting my vacation short because of the explosion of the coronavirus pandemic, and it was a completely surreal experience

My wife and I left our dream vacation in South Africa on Sunday, as the coronavirus situation deteriorated around the world.
The country had announced new travel bans which included Americans, and we were anxious about getting home given increasing flight cancellations, grounded planes, and closed borders. We booked last-minute flights on Turkish Airlines the least expensive viable option and thanks to a pricing algorithm quirk, we ultimately ended up in business class.
It took 47 hours from when we decided to cancel the trip to when we walked into our apartment in New York. The experience was surreal, exhausting, and stressful, but we're glad to have made it home, given the news of Americans stranded around the world.
Here's what it was like flying to the US during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the scramble to book flights to the health screening confusion at passport control.
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Almost a year ago, my wife and I began planning a huge vacation to South Africa for this March.

Like a lot of our big vacations, planning for this one started thanks to a great flight deal in this case, availability that lined up with the frequent flyer miles we both held.

Although the miles covered the flights, we decided to make this vacation a dream one, with a loaded itinerary, an incredible safari, and plans to see as much as possible over two weeks.

Then came COVID-19.

We left for our trip on March 10, as the coronavirus situation was worsening around the world. While many were nervous about flying, flights were starting to be canceled due to decreasing demand, and travel bans were starting to be implemented, it still seemed possible at that point to enjoy our vacation one that we expected to be our last for a while.

Plus, most of it was prepaid and nonrefundable, and our travel insurance wouldn't cover a cancellation just because of anxiety over the global outbreak.

Within just a few days of leaving, the situation had changed drastically, with countries closing their borders, flights across the globe being canceled, and the coronavirus being declared a full-blown pandemic.

The final nail in our vacation's coffin came on Sunday, March 15, when South Africa's president announced that people from eight countries including the US would be banned from entering. Those already in the country would have their visas canceled, and would have to present themselves for COVID-19 testing.

It wasn't clear what a lot of that meant. American tourists don't need visas was that rule revoked? When would testing be available? Were we not in the country legally until we got the test? What happened if it was negative? What if it was positive?

Combined with more recent flight cancellations and travel bans, after speaking with our travel agent, we decided that the situation was too dicey and we needed to get home before there was any further lockdown or prohibition on border crossings, or before flights became unavailable.

We knew this was a possibility when we left for the trip, and had savings earmarked for an emergency flight home, so we booked the first feasible one we could find for the next day, Monday. Most flights back to the US were full with passengers in a similar position, so choices were limited.

I ended up booking an expensive flight on Turkish Airlines, although it was the cheapest option with only one stop, and without an overnight layover I wanted to avoid the latter to prevent any additional complications, given the travel bans and screenings.

It turns out that we ended up buying business class tickets by mistake. Thanks to a bizarre quirk with the algorithms that price tickets, as everyone scrambled to race home and flights were filling up, the business class tickets were cheaper than every viable coach alternative. Google Flights pulled the fare even though I had the filter set to economy only.

That meant that, while our trip home might be a tense one, it would at least be comfortable.

It was certainly different than any past experience I've had flying home, between the health history forms, the overall anxiety, the social distancing failures at airports full of masked travelers, the planes alternating between empty and full, and the confusion at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention substation about whether Turkey is part of Europe (a geopolitical discussion for another time).

Here's what it was like flying home as the world shuts down over COVID-19.

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