Making it through hotel quarantine with kids

Picture being confined to a small hotel room for two weeks, with no option to step outside, not even for food or exercise.

Now, add kids into the mix and see how that changes things.

This was the reality for Julie Earle-Levine, an Australian living in New York, earlier this year when she had to travel to Australia after her father passed away. Normally, she would’ve quickly booked a flight and headed home.

However, due to Australia’s strict travel regulations, Earle-Levine and her 13-year-old son Jack had to delay her father’s service, travel to Australia, quarantine in a hotel, and then finally join their family in Queensland.

She’s not the only one. The global pandemic has grounded international travel and forced many countries to close their borders to non-citizens.

For those who must travel, the journey is filled with hurdles: mandatory Covid tests, entry restrictions, flight cancellations, rescheduled itineraries, and quarantine requirements. Adding children to the mix only intensifies these challenges.

Here, three parents share with Dinogo Travel how they turned mandatory quarantine into valuable time for bonding with their children in the face of extraordinary circumstances.

Toddlers in quarantine

Similar to Earle-Levine, Janet Manley, an Australian living in the United States, found herself in a tough situation during the pandemic. After losing her job, she and her husband decided to take their two young children to Australia to spend time with her family.

Taking two active kids—Scout, age five, and Japhy, age three—on a long-haul flight is already a challenge. But keeping them entertained in a hotel suite for two weeks was a whole new level of difficulty.

“Having kids during the pandemic might actually put you at an advantage,” Manley shares. “You don’t have the luxury to sit around wondering where you are or let time drag on—kids demand attention and keep you constantly on your toes.”

However, that didn’t make quarantine any easier. Manley got as creative as possible to keep her kids entertained. Her top tip? Grab a big roll of butcher paper for everything from drawing pictures to tracing their own bodies on the floor.

The family also enjoyed kid-friendly yoga videos and created an advent-style countdown calendar to mark the days until they could see Grandma and Grandpa.

And then there were three

Tim Benson’s wife went on maternity leave just as the pandemic hit, leaving the London couple restless at home with their infant son. As rules and restrictions kept changing, they decided to seize the moment and visit the Caribbean island of St. Lucia while they could.

The situation in St. Lucia was slightly different from Australia, as the island’s borders remained open. Instead, the country had established a travel corridor with the UK.

However, that didn’t mean visitors could simply show up and head straight to the beach. The corridor rules kept the Bensons confined to their resort, which wasn’t a problem for them—they had been to St. Lucia before and weren’t too concerned about missing out on sightseeing.

Benson describes being stuck in a luxury resort as being like living in a gilded cage. The family had to rely on the resort for all their meals and necessities, which made things more expensive. To save money, they packed heavily, bringing diapers, baby food pouches, and other essentials to avoid expensive resort prices.

Once they arrived, the Bensons divided caregiving responsibilities. Both are passionate about scuba diving, so one parent would dive in the morning while the other stayed with their son, and then they’d switch in the afternoon.

Despite being in the same place where they had honeymooned, this trip wasn’t exactly a romantic getaway.

“You can’t really have a lot of one-on-one time. It’s a family holiday for three.”

This was the first time the couple had parented their son away from home, without the usual comforts they were used to. The resort’s babysitting services were unavailable, the kids’ club was closed, only one restaurant was open, and many amenities were limited due to the pandemic.

“The first week was tough,” Benson reflects. “We had a lot of uncertainties. Taking a young child away for the first time is a steep learning curve. You’re responsible for him all the time and you don’t have your usual home setup, but you adapt. By the second week, it felt much more natural.”

Despite the challenges of traveling with a baby and the complexities of pandemic-era travel, Benson says he would do it again without hesitation.

“If you really need a break and you’re feeling overwhelmed, go for it—just make sure you’re heading to a country where it’s ethically okay to travel.”

Bonding (and mourning) in isolation

Earle-Levine and her son found different ways to stay busy during quarantine. Jack modified his usual routine—kicking a tennis ball around the suite instead of playing soccer and watching chess games on Twitch instead of playing against friends.

Unlike younger children in quarantine, Jack was able to entertain himself, which gave his mom the freedom to focus on her own schedule.

Earle-Levine immersed herself in work during quarantine. As a PR professional with many clients in Australia, she made the most of being in their time zone, saying yes to every meeting, catch-up, and call she could. Staying busy helped pass the time and kept her from sinking into her grief.

Quarantine also became an unexpected opportunity for bonding.

“I just piled on meetings, worked hard all day, and then in the evenings, we’d watch TV and unwind together,” Earle-Levine describes a typical day during lockdown.

“We didn’t even have a single argument, and back in New York, we’d bicker constantly. There was this newfound mutual respect. We turned a corner.”

Of course, there were still tough moments. She couldn’t stand the hotel food, so she ordered meals from her favorite Sydney restaurants. When Jack kicked his tennis ball around the room, she’d turn on the hair dryer to drown out the noise. They also passed the time by creating elaborate escape plans for fun.

“I wouldn’t rush to do it again,” Earle-Levine admits, but she adds, “The whole experience was absolutely worth it, without a doubt.”

Despite the hurdles of traveling during the Covid-19 pandemic, each parent Dinogo Travel spoke to has thought about what kind of memories their children will have of this unusual time.

Manley believes that children are more adaptable when it comes to adjusting to the ‘new normal’ and that adults can learn a lot from their resilience.

“Kids have no past experiences to compare things to,” she notes. “Their expectations are low. If you guide them through the day and help them understand, they can take it in stride. Kids are capable of handling anything.”