Another year has passed so quickly and a summer holiday to Greece remains as elusive as ever.

Despite the start of the vaccine rollout, the end of the pandemic will, for most people, come only when we are allowed to freely travel again.

As it is, Greek Australians will have to wait a little bit longer to reunite with loved ones. We will have to make do with memories of carefree holidays in the pre-COVID days.

For many, a trip to Greece is so much more than the experience of salty days on remote beaches flanked by the Mediterranean sea.

“For me Greece is not even about Greek summer, the crystal-clear beaches, the glorious sun and the delicious food,” Eleni Exadaktylou told Neos Kosmos.

“When I think of our homeland, I think of my family, my parents, my relatives and all the people I grew up with, yet I haven’t been able to hug since the pandemic hit.”

The mother of two left for Australia five years ago, and what hurts her the most since COVID-19 came into our lives is the fact that she has not been able to share any special moments with the people that matter to her the most – her family.

“The last two years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, have felt like a nightmare. I am conflicted because, on the one hand, I am forever grateful to the Australian government and health departments for the work they have done to keep us safe, but on the other hand, it pains me that I haven’t been able to spend any quality time with my family back home; and it is just heartbreaking to see the disappointment on my father’s face every time we talk on Zoom and we tell him that we will not be making the trip to Greece,” she said.

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Panagiotis Asimakoulas, 37, and his 29-year-old wife, Areti Koufopoulos, are a young couple who moved to Australia seeking new opportunities Down Under. They emigrated to Australia from the Peloponnese eight years ago.

They haven’t been able to travel back to Greece since COVID-19 hit.

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“The hardest thing about the coronavirus pandemic is that we can’t go back to spend time with the people we have lived most of our lives with. We feel like we have missed out on special moments with our extended family and friends, and are saddened by the fact that our children don’t get the opportunity to spend quality time and create special memories with their grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins,” Ms Koufopoulos said.

Her partner agrees.

“We miss home. We miss the place where we were born and which has shaped who we are,” Mr Asimakopoulos said.

“We miss our villages and the life we had there and although we can appreciate that back in the day most early Greek Australians were not able to visit Greece for years after they left, we felt reassured when leaving, that the world is now a small place and Greece is just a plane ride away. Nobody could ever have anticipated what has unfolded following the pandemic. I guess this is the price one has to pay for choosing to live in Australia, a country that treats us well but is really isolated from the rest of the world.”

Educator Marianthi Kosmarikou emigrated from Corfu to South Australia nine years ago.

The 54-year-old mother of two argues that Australia is heaven on earth compared to what her loved ones have been experiencing in Greece.

“It is painful to be away from home, but Australia is one of the safest places to be in the world right now. Even my mother, who lives in Greece, and misses us and her grandchildren dearly, keeps advising us to stay put and allow logic to prevail,” Ms Kosmarikou said.

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Despite her belief that people should “stay put” during COVID, she unexpectedly lost two of her beloved friends and never had the chance to say goodbye to them.

“I think what costs us the most during this difficult time is that we left our parents, our brothers, sisters and friends behind assuming we were always only a few thousand miles away. We never anticipated things would come to this. In my humble opinion, it is this uncertainty and the not knowing when things will change for us that hurts the most and what we find difficult to wrap our heads around.

“The pain of missing the ones we love so dearly is real,” she concluded.