Flower bouquets, balloons and children with homemade welcome signs brightened the international terminal, where dozens gathered Monday to reunite with loved ones not seen in months because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
“Today is a game changer,” said Greg Mitula, a Polish immigrant waiting for his mother to pass through customs at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
On Monday, the U.S. reopened its borders to fully vaccinated international travelers. The 20-month travel ban that had been in place barred entry to non-U.S. citizens from 33 countries, including China, India and much of Europe. Travelers from those regions can now visit the United States without needing to quarantine, provided they show a negative COVID-19 test and proof of vaccination.
Among those waiting at the airport Monday was Atlantan Deb Halleck, who currently lives in Newton County. She was picking up her partner Stephen Donnelly – her “guy,” as she called him – who was flying in from the United Kingdom via Amsterdam. The pair met two years ago when Donnelly took a trip to the U.S. They had last been together over the summer, when Halleck was able to take time off work and travel to the U.K.
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
To greet him on Monday, Halleck donned the jersey of his favorite soccer team: Manchester United. While apart, the pair tried to remain close by scheduling frequent video calls. They’d cook together on FaceTime. He would buy her flowers and place them in view of the camera.
“It’s just been the greatest connection,” she said.
Stephen’s monthlong stay means Halleck will have a chance to introduce him to Thanksgiving.
“He’s never experienced Thanksgiving and I’m all about Thanksgiving,” she said. “So he will see what it’s like.”
In the aftermath of he U.S. announcing the change in travel policy last month, Delta Air Lines reported its bookings from outside the United States have jumped 450%. Over the course of the day Monday, multiple European airlines reported full or nearly full flights.
Lifting of travel restrictions proceeded as planned despite a new spike of infections across the European continent, fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant. Last week, the World Health Organization warned that Europe was once again “at the epicenter of the pandemic.”
‘It’s been really tough’
Araba Knoblock is an immigrant from Ghana currently based in the Florida panhandle. She was at Hartsfield-Jackson on Monday to pick up her sister, who was arriving on an afternoon flight from London. The pair hadn’t seen one another in almost three years.
“It’s an exciting day, very exciting,” Knoblock said. “We’ve been waiting for so long.”
Knoblock told the AJC she had no specific plans for her sister and herself on their first evening together, besides catching up.
“We are going to talk and talk and talk and talk until we are too tired to talk anymore,” she said.
Starting at 1 p.m. on Monday, flights from many countries previously subject to the travel ban landed in Atlanta in short succession. Families at the terminal reported long wait times to see loved ones emerge onto the arrival hall.
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
But Mitula, the Polish national, was too excited to mind.
“My mom has been waiting for two years to come,” he said. The 68-year-old had just landed on a flight from Frankfurt. The next leg of her trip would be a three-hour car ride with her family to Huntsville, Alabama, where Mitula’s family currently lives.
The distance between him and his relatives – and with those of his wife, Olga, who is from Belarus – was among the most painful aspects of the pandemic, he said.
“We were thinking about moving back to Europe. Most of our family is in Europe. I would have never moved to the U.S. if I was told ‘You can’t have your family visit you,’” he said. “It’s been really tough.”
Mitula knew his mother would be among the first to come to the U.S. under the eased restrictions.
“I was on top of the news. In my calendar at work, I had a recurring event on Fridays to check the status of the travel ban. So I was up to date on the news,” he said. When the policy change was announced, Mitula bought his mother’s ticket that same day.
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Mitula and his wife said their strongest regret is that their two boys – ages 8 and 12 – had such limited contact with grandparents over the last couple of years. “Growing up without being able to see grandparents, two years in their lives is a lot,” said Olga, who noted that the more time passes, the more language barriers can creep up among the generations before and after her own.
“If you miss this time it’s so difficult to catch up and to make it up,” Mitula said.
On Monday, both boys had joined their parents on the road trip to Hartsfield-Jackson, missing school to be able to greet their grandmother.
“School is always the most important but today it has to be second,” Mitula said. “We’re hoping that they will get an excused absence.”
Lautaro Grinspan is a Report for America corps member covering metro Atlanta’s immigrant communities.
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