TORONTO -- A Toronto couple and their three children have finally returned home from their year-long trip around the world after it was abruptly impacted by a pandemic.
Last July, Mississauga teacher Joseph Cini and Toronto nurse Charo Cini left Toronto with their three children to begin their backpacking adventure around the world.
After travelling to dozens of countries across several continents, the family was left stranded in Laos in March after local airports closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eventually, the family said, they made their way to Phuket, Thailand, where they stayed for the remainder of the trip to quarantine.
“We started thinking what are we going to do,” Joseph Cini told CTV News Toronto. “We are a 30-hour flight home so we just said forget it … let’s find somewhere close and safe so we headed to Phuket.”
Now, they have finally arrived back in Toronto, where they are self-isolating for 14 days and looking back fondly on their months-long adventure.
In order to go on the trip, the couple said they took sabbaticals from their careers, sold their car and rented out their home. Their nine-year-old twins and their 11-year-old son went with them on the trip.
“It gives them perspective and not to take things for granted and becomes citizens of the world,” their mother Charo Cini said.
The family said that it will be tough self-isolating for 14 days, but can’t wait to see family and friends once their mandatory quarantine is over.
