Most of my family and my boyfriend (7 of us total) came to Nicaragua in March. It was just as things were getting crazy with COVID-19, so we knew our plans to return in April were likely to be delayed. It wasn't much of a surprise when our flight did end up being cancelled. We got a great place to stay and made new flight reservations.

Well, now my parent and sibling's flights have been cancelled 5 times, and my boyfriend and I's flights have been cancelled 7 times. The airlines keep giving us new earliest travel dates available (currently end of July) but with travel volume being so low, we understand this could continue through September.

My parents are looking into other return options, but relief flights and charter flights are very expensive. Plus, the airlines are being difficult, saying they'll only give credit for new reservations instead of refunding the money. My mom and dad are looking into arrangements to stay and wait it out, and are saying to keep positive we could leave in July.

We are asking our friends and family to help with the costs of booking a special charter flight so we have a guaranteed return date. We miss everyone a lot! And our dog Eli and kitty Luna so much! We never imagined it would be this long.

From what I understand, special flights are about $850 per person, and someone else said $10,000 total split between passengers. Mom and Dad are working on more information, but said it likely will not happen. We are hoping that if we can raise a portion of that, it will be a possibility for us.