After passport and flight drama, Jack finally met his granddaughter for Christmas | natassiazc
You can expect a range of goods to arrive on your doorstep in the days before Christmas: food deliveries, carollers, presents and packages. But a beloved grandfather turning up unexpectedly during the night, after years of being separated? That probably tops the list.
Then in November, after the government flagged it would open Australia’s international border by the end of the year, Stephanie had an idea. “I contacted my father-in-law, and said, ‘do you think we can surprise my husband?’” she said. So they put their hopes of bringing Jack to Sydney on ice. Then Jack ran into a friend at an American trade fair who said they had received a new passport within four weeks and encouraged him to try his luck.
“He called, absolutely devastated. He thought he had everything,” said Stephanie. Now he was stranded in LAX without a return flight, it was nighttime in America, and everything was closed. But about half an hour later, the exemption arrived. Jack got straight on the phone to book another flight. He dashed to the COVID-19 testing site because his negative result from 72 hours prior had by this point expired. “Then that came back negative. Finally, he gets on the flight, and went via Fiji for a number of hours,” Stephanie said.Jack finally arrived at Sydney airport on Wednesday night. Stephanie’s mum picked him up to avoid suspicion.
“It was an incredible story. It’s been three years since we saw him and Raegan, my youngest, has never met him in person. She was shy at first. We’re really just overwhelmed that he’s actually here and in the house. In the car to get the COVID test, it was really surreal.”
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