What quarantining around the world really looks like

It’s hard to remember a time when quarantine wasn’t a regular part of our vocabulary, yet, for most of us, it was only six months ago that we’d rarely heard the word used or spoken it aloud — outside of describing a scene from an historical novel or a Hulu show.

Thanks to the pandemic, however, quarantine is not only a common household word, it’s also a dismal reality for thousands of people returning to their home countries or dipping a toe in international travel.

As entire nations grapple with curbing the spread of Covid-19, many have implemented strict measures to keep their homelands and their residents and visitors safe.

Mandatory quarantines are one way of doing this.

But even as quarantining has become a buzzword, there’s confusion around just what it entails, how it’s enforced (if it’s enforced at all) and how it varies from Australia to Canada and from one US state to the next.

Stories of luxury hotel stays, of fines for breaking rules and fears over reuniting with family abound. Tales of mundane meals, allotted phone calls, bids for outside time and counting down the days are an Internet search away.

And yet, often nothing tells a story better than a picture.

CNN Travel took to Instagram to ask what quarantine looks like where you are, and what we found is an intimate glimpse of isolation scenes around the world.