A family’s trip to India to pick up their second adoptive daughter turned into a nightmare as the pandemic forced them into lockdown in a hotel room for six interminable weeks, with no way out of the country.

“I would tell my husband that if our story were a film, pre-coronavirus, it would be considered far-fetched,” said Nicolette Borg Vassallo after the two-month saga “miraculously” ended.

The opening scene of that scary movie saw Nicolette, her husband Johann and their three-year-old Leah Mae, leave Malta on March 3 for a court hearing to be able to bring Francesca home. But that was postponed by a week… when all hell broke loose in India.

Room with a view: the family’s only contact with the outside world during lockdown.

Meanwhile, the orphanage had allowed the family to keep the child, and the bonding began. But once the official go-ahead was given, baby Francesca still needed a passport and other documents. And by then, all offices had shut!

As the lockdown continued to be extended, the Borg Vassallos found themselves holed up in a room with two toddlers whose only source of entertainment was one colouring book and four toys.

“Thank God for jumping on a bed, dancing and singing,” said the 40-year-old teacher, whose approach to the out-of-control ordeal was to get on with it after a good cry, while her husband found it more nerve-wracking.

Their “surreal” stint in isolation was characterised by mixed emotions, but particularly fear – not so much of COVID-19, but that the children would get ill.

The hotel rooms they were stuck in had no sofa and the children ate their meals on the floor for weeks.

Fortunately, they had already experienced the adoption process two years ago with Leah, so they had overcome the culture shock and knew what to expect – or so they thought.

Decent as they were, their hotels had no balconies or the facilities new parents would need, including a bath to bathe a baby, or at least a handheld showerhead. So, they washed Francesca in a bucket and used cups of water. It was like camping, Nicolette said.

Food became scarcer by the day and the menu dwindled, adding to their plate of concerns. Nicolette worried about the kids, who can be picky eaters. Items delivered from supermarkets soon became unavailable, and with no solution to the bureaucratic issues, every problem was magnified.

Coronavirus fears escalated as the family finally caught planes out from India at the height of the pandemic.

They would leave the hotel door open – possibly to counter an unconscious sense of claustrophobia – and were even frowned upon by staff if they ventured to the reception.

Time stopped and they would sleep for 12 hours, barring when one child screamed and the rest had nowhere to turn to.

Nevertheless, it was “a palace” for little Francesca, who had lived with limited freedom and attention in the orphanage.

When internal flights stopped, the family packed up and went to Delhi to be in a better place to process papers and fly out. But Nicolette puts any breakthroughs in the impasse down to kindness.

The High Commissioner of Malta in India was an “angel”, who did not stop at the first closed door of many, she said.

It was only after Easter Sunday that things suddenly started moving. “Until then, we were not seeing a way out,” Nicolette said. The situation was bleak, but by the following Sunday, they had left.

It was thanks to God’s intervention and the prayers of the Maltese who heard their story through a Facebook post, she maintains, attributing the “push” behind Francesca’s adoption to her mother, who passed away last August and whom she has been named after.

An emergency travel document was issued, and they boarded a special flight out of India, ending up in Amsterdam and straight on to London for repatriation to Malta. Getting out of India was the “scarier” part. “Without the usual papers and because we were taking out an Indian child, what would normally take seconds at passport control took a torturous 45 minutes, with the immigration officer leaving his desk and returning several times. Tension was high. I did not feel my heartbeat,” Nicolette recalled.

Safe back home: Nicolette and Johann Borg Vassallo, with Leah Mae and Francesca.

It may have been a relief to be let through, but being in confined planes in the midst of a pandemic, with toddlers wanting to touch everything, was hard.

Their last two flights were packed, and while their temperature was taken in India, the approach seemed more relaxed in Amsterdam and on entering the UK.

The last leg in London, stuck in an airport hotel for another week, was “extra”. At least it was a familiar setting, but Nicolette felt it was “scarier coronavirus-wise”. Unlike in India, hotel staff were not confined to the premises to avoid contagion.

By then, additional expenses had been incurred too. But looking back, Nicolette said: “If I had to do it all again, I would. For your children, you would do anything!”

Since their return, time indoors has flown and Francesca has started walking. She only weighed six kilos when they got her, but her face has filled out and she is stronger.

Meanwhile, they have been following the news to hear if anyone on their flight tested positive. “If we felt a tickle in our throats, we panicked.”

Sunday is a big day: Francesca turns two; their two weeks (or two months) of quarantine end; and it is Mother’s Day. So, the new family is preparing for a triple celebration.