For Erin Tridle and her boyfriend, it was love at first sight. They met while the American was traveling through France in the summer of 2019. They said: "I love you", the second day. "People tell us it’s like something from a movie", said.
When Tridle returned home to Los Angeles, they began a long-distance relationship, spending time together when they could. Then the pandemic struck, separating them indefinitely as countries blocked travel.
"The uncertainty of not knowing when we would get back together was one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through."Tridle said.
Life-changing travel restrictions will be relaxed on Monday, when new rules go into effect allowing air travel from previously restricted countries, provided the traveler has proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. Travel by land will require proof of vaccination, but not proof.
Eirini Linardaki was already in Paris on Friday, from his home in Crete to his partner of seven years in New York City in a series of four flights. The visual artist said that travel restrictions were especially harsh on people in non-traditional relationships. But at 45, it’s not so easy for her to just move to America.
“I have kids and a career, and I have him too,” he said. "I love it so I have to make it fit into the fabric of my life".
Loved ones have missed vacations, birthdays and funerals, while nonessential air travel was banned in a long list of countries that includes most of Europe, Brazil and South Africa. Closures at land crossings with Mexico and Canada have devastated border cities where round-trip travel, sometimes daily, is a way of life.
Before the border closure, Montreal University professor Gina Granter and her partner in New York City saw each other at least twice a month. Now, between closures, quarantine rules and other restrictions, they have managed to see each other only three times since the start of the pandemic.
When her partner was finally able to travel to see them after missing their daughter’s second birthday, the girl had no recollection, Granter said.
“I have a brother named Steven, and she called his father ‘another Steven’ or occasionally ‘grandfather,'” Granter said. "I didn’t remember being with him in New York".
With the reopening, the 42-year-old Granter looks forward to regular weekend visits again and plans a long trip to New York for Christmas.
“There were anguished nights and it was very difficult,” he said.
For many, one of the most frustrating things about travel restrictions has been their seemingly arbitrary nature, said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. The list of restricted countries does not necessarily match the places with the worst outbreaks of COVID-19. And Alden sees no logic in restricting land travel but not air travel in North America.
"There was a lot of public anger", said. “Many people were willing to accept restrictions, but not the lack of foundation and logic, particularly for couples and families separated for long periods.”
There were ways around the restrictions, but they were often difficult and expensive. For example, the air travel ban did not restrict citizens of those countries, but rather traveled from those countries.
For Bárbara Feitoza from Brazil, that meant staying two weeks in Colombia, where she didn’t know anyone and didn’t speak the language, so she could travel to the United States to be with her boyfriend in March. It was his first international trip and he said it was terrifying to fly at the height of the pandemic.
The 28-year-old civil engineer from outside Rio de Janeiro was working when she learned that the United States was preparing to lift its travel restrictions. Feitoza said he was "euphoric", jumping out of her seat while her colleagues looked at her in bewilderment.
Some of those who were separated from their loved ones found support in an online group called Love Is Not Tourism. Among them was Linardaki, who said she was impressed by the variety of people’s circumstances.
“It’s not just about 20-year-olds,” he said. “There were people who had known each other for a very short time, people who had known each other for years, people who were 65 or 70 years old. People all over the world were united by this difficulty ".
As for Tridle and her boyfriend, they hope to get married in a couple of years and live in the same country. But for now, the 30-year-old just hopes he can visit him at Christmas.
“I am very excited that he is coming back to the United States so that we can have a good time together here,” she said.
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