A New Zealand couple are having to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get emergency flights home from Peru, and say they may face issues even getting from their accommodation to the airport.
Thom Giles and Bridget Prior were visiting Peru and were in the tourist hub of Cusco when coronavirus started to ramp up and the advice was given for Kiwis to return home.
They got to the airport in Cusco at 4am when it opened, and spent a "pretty crazy" ten hours trying to secure flights, and managed to get to the capital Lima.
They've been at a hotel there for a week now, and are allowed to go to a supermarket at one time each day, but they're hoping that an Australian charter flight they've hitched a ride on will actually happen.
"Yeah, pretty anxious times," Mr Giles told TVNZ 1's Breakfast today.
The couple have seen other countries flying their citizens out of the country and are hoping New Zealand can do more to assist them getting home.
"We know that it's possible, we know that it's happening, but unfortunately just not for us yet," he said.
Ms Prior said that, with the lockdown in place, they may face issues getting from their accommodation to the airport, and they hope the New Zealand government can sort out some kind of arrangement.
"We have had contact with the embassy in Chile ever since the announcement was made - we called them quite panicked and they have been in touch with us the whole time which we're extremely grateful for," Ms Prior said.
"But up until yesterday we've had no communication that they're doing anything to actually assist us to get out.
"There has been efforts from a charter company in Australia - they are arranging a charter flight to get their customers out and we've just been offered seats off the back of that.
"We have registered and paid for that flight but the departure date is still not confirmed we don't know for sure if it's going to go."
Ms Prior said there are still other Kiwis in Peru in more remote areas, and said not everyone will be able to afford the "extremely hefty" airfares to get home.
The charter flight has a ticket price of AU$5000 each.
"We've also paid for two other flights throughout the debacle trying to get home, so we've spent tens of thousands each trying to get home."
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