STUCK IN TONGA FOR 18 MONTHS DUE TO COVID
What was meant to be a weekend away turned into 18 months of being stuck on an island.
It sounds like a remake of the movie Cast Away, but it’s what happened to British traveller Zoe Stephens. The 27-year-old has been stuck on the South Pacific island of Tonga since March 2020.
Before Stephens arrived on the island, she was a tour guide in China. Her job was to take tour groups into North Korea. While stuck on the island, she’s been making the most of her time by still working for her tour group employer, doing marketing work remotely.
Forbes reports that while she’s been stuck on the island, she has started an online master’s degree in international communications, organised an island marathon, started a YouTube channel and she’s planning on writing a book about the experience.
Stephens is currently living in a beach home while house-sitting for a family who can’t return to the island due to travel restrictions. Tonga is one of the few places on earth that hasn’t had a single case of COVID-19.
She told CNN travel that she’s never had to wear a mask since she got there.
“I haven’t worn a mask during this whole pandemic. I think it’s going to be pretty weird to go into a world where so many people are wearing them.”
Image credit: Chronicle Live