Imagine this.
You're locked down in a hostel in a small town in Slovakia, the population is only a couple of hundred people and the temperature gets around minus 16C every day.
This is the reality for Mount Maunganui woman Rose Palmer, who has now been trapped in the central European country for 17 days.
On March 13, Slovakia closed its borders to non-residents and erected other restrictions to confront the outbreak of coronavirus in Europe.
But instead of moping, the chef by trade is using a pen and paper to survive.
When Palmer realised all the money she had saved and spent on her once-in-a-lifetime European trip had turned to dust amidst the Covid-19 outbreak, she got creative.
As a budding artist, she started the project 'keep us strong' and people can pay to have the 29-year-old draw them, their families or pets as "lockdown warriors".
With work completely frozen, she said the money would help her buy food and keep a roof over her head.
The lockdown news hit hard for Palmer as she found out from a friend only hours before she would be locked up for six weeks.
"I thought we'd have days to sort things out but we were locked up almost immediately".
She was now in lockdown in the hostel with five other foreigners.
Luckily, the hostel owners were "awesome" and "incredibly understanding" and were not making the residents pay much at all.
She said the hostel normally slept 25 people, so they had loads of blankets to get through the cold days and nights.
She was allowed to go to the supermarket once a week, but everyone had to wear facemasks or risked being fined.
She said she and her fellow travellers had spent six hours looking for masks before they found an elderly lady who owned a small vegan cafe selling homemade ones.
"It's been a very interesting experience."
She felt "luckier than most" as she was safe, warm and fed and she knew of many travellers trapped with nothing.
Her Rotorua parents were "worried sick" but she was reassuring them every day that she was safe and keeping busy.
One of her main concerns was spending her 30th birthday in lockdown, but she said things "could be worse".
"I'm sure we can celebrate in the hostel."
Palmer's PledgeMe page made close to $400 in just one day with a target of $1500.
She said she expected to be very busy once the target was struck.
People can find her project on the PledgeMe website under Keep Us Strong by Rose Palmer.
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website
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