Students get home the long way

When the coronavirus pandemic canceled their flight home from an educational cruise of the Caribbean Sea, 25 Dutch high school students set sail across the Atlantic. Three teachers and 12 experienced crew members helped the children, ages 14 to 17, navigate a 100-year-old schooner named the Wylde Swan nearly 4,350 miles during the five-week voyage from Cuba to the Netherlands. Parents, pets, and a cloud of orange smoke welcomed them when they docked in the northern Dutch port of Harlingen on Sunday.

Are international students getting home safely in the pandemic? Travel restrictions due to COVID-19 have snarled itineraries around the globe. A taxi driver in Spain drove a university exchange student home to Italy free of charge after she became stranded. Driver Kepa Amantegi and Giada Collalto, both 22, made the more than 900-mile journey from Bilbao, Spain, to Montebello, Italy, in one day, arriving on April 10.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Hickman’s reports about the many creative ways people have found to help their neighbors during the pandemic.