A mum from Sittingbourne has spoken of her nightmare trying to make her way back to the UK after becoming stranded in South Africa.

Wendy Pfeiffer, 61, travelled to reunite with her daughter after two years apart, but is now unable to find a quarantine hotel or book a flight back home.

Wendy talking about her situation

It comes after South Africa was the first country to report cases of the new Omicron variant, which was deemed of concern by the World Health Organisation on November 26.

Several African countries also reported cases of the new variant, therefore being added to the red list.

These include Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

As a result, the UK government imposed new travel rules and restrictions from 4am on November 30.

Anyone coming from a red list country, even if fully vaccinated, must quarantine for 10 days in a managed quarantine hotel, which costs more than £2,000.

Passengers must also take a PCR test before departure, two other tests during the quarantine stay, and complete a passenger locator form before arriving in the UK.

Wendy, who works for Inspired Villages in Maidstone managing a befriending service for older people, arrived in South Africa on November 11 and enjoyed wonderful days with her daughter.

However, little did she know her nightmare was about to begin.

At 1am on November 26, she was told by a friend in the UK that new travel restrictions were about to be put in place.

'I was desperately searching for flights before the deadline, but there were no flights available, even flights that were extortionately expensive had all gone.'

She said: "The rest of the night was literally no sleep, no sleep at all.

"I was desperately searching for flights before the deadline, but there were no flights available, even flights that were extortionately expensive had all gone. There was just nothing."

During the next days Wendy was trapped in a vicious cycle of not finding flights arriving on time for her hotel quarantine, or not being able to rebook her hotel package to fit last-minute flight changes by the airline.

She said she is not alone in this situation, as there are many other Brits stranded in South Africa trying to find accommodation and having no idea when they will be able to come home.

"This entire situation it's a constant stress. It's that constant worry in the back of your mind. I just kept thinking 'I'm going to wake up and it's going to be a dream' you know? I did everything right."

"But I count myself extremely fortunate because I can stay with my daughter and that I've got a very understanding employer who has enabled me to work remotely," Wendy said.

The 61-year-old joined a petition asking the government to allow fully vaccinated people coming from red list countries to isolate at home, which has currently 100,533 signatures.

She now hopes to catch her flight on December 28, and find a hotel to stay the following 10 days, but she is scared of how the isolation experience will be.

"I've got no idea when I'm going to see my daughter again. The thought of it being another 24 months, 22 months is awful.

"If I was going home and able to be in my own home, that would make a huge difference to me, rather than have to go through that traumatic experience of living basically in a cell and being treated like somebody with the plague," Wendy said.

When asked what the ideal outcome would be, Wendy knows that the red list will not be changed in the blink of an eye, but she would like to understand the reasoning behind the hotel quarantine process.

She said: "I don't expect the government to turn tales and suddenly take South Africa off the red list immediately.

"I don't think they would do that, but I would just like somebody to give me a logical explanation of why could I not arrive at Heathrow, be securely escorted to my home at my own cost.

"I would be happy to pay for that and then isolate at home."