The country goes to a lockdown on the day Estralians holiday in Samoa began

Why did we choose to have our holiday in Samoa

Ever since moving to down under in 2011, we have tried to explore as many parts of Asia and Oceania as possible. Since then, we’ve lived and travelled in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Bali, Fiji and now Samoa.

But why Samoa? And most importantly where the heck is Samoa? Haha, well we chose Samoa, because during our stay in New Zealand, we met many Samoans who all recommended to visit it. They talked about Samoa with such pride & love that it made us want to travel and explore it by ourselves.

The island itself is located in the Pacific Ocean and has a population of only ~197 700 islanders.

We might have to cancel our holiday in Samoa :O

Little less than two weeks before our holiday, we heard that Samoa had declared a state of emergency because of the measles outbreak. Furthermore, all the people traveling to the country were required to be up to date with their measles vaccination. Both of us had been vaccinated when we were young but unfortunately neither of us had any proof of this. As normally one should have the vaccination done at least 2 weeks before traveling we were afraid that we have to cancel our holiday.

Before rushing to cancel our holiday, we decided to go and ask some advice from a nearby clinic. After sharing our worries with the nurses, it turns out that measles vaccination is effective from day 10. (This was exactly how many days we had before our flight.) So, if we would to have the vaccination done on the spot then we would have a sufficient certificate for the border. Because of these circumstances we agreed to do the vaccination and our holiday was back on 😛 

Unfortunately, the situation in Samoa took an even worst turn

On the day of our flight, we got a message from our Airbnb host. She said, that because of the measles outbreak, starting from tomorrow, the country will be on a lockdown.

Well, this was definitely not the best news of the day. If everything is closed, then this means no sightseeing, no road-trips and most importantly no food. PS! Little did we know back then, that soon enough pretty much every country will go to lock-down.

While waiting for our flight to Samoa we started noticing that most of the other passengers were members of camera crew or nurses and doctors from different parts of the world. We looked at each other and thought…where the heck are we going.

Well, whatever the situation, we always have good time and take the most out of it. Or so did we think as we took off from Auckland Airport.

To be continued……..