Anderson and wife Madalyn had planned the trip for 12 months, but it was ripped apart in just days.

"I signed with 'Wang' so if something did happen and I came home early, I'd play footy, but not really intending to," he said.

The couple left Australia in late February with stints planned for Africa, Europe, North and South America.

"We had been following it (the coronavirus news) and saw it was getting bigger in Europe and because that was our next stop we thought we might not be able to get there and instead head somewhere else," he said.

"We could see the writing was on the wall and might be coming home sooner than expected, but we still thought we'd find pockets where it wasn't too prominent."

"We were due to fly to Namibia, but when we got to the check-in they said, 'no, you're not flying, we're only allowing Namibian citizens into the country'.

"I think that's when we started to realise it was getting pretty serious."

The duo decided to stay in South Africa and spent two days at Kruger National (safari) Park, although, back home, were two extremely worried sets of parents.

On the bus back they found their flight to Melbourne had been cancelled.

ALSO IN SPORT:

At the airport they were told their flight out of Dubai had been cancelled and the United Arab Emirates Government wouldn't allow any visitors in without a flight out.

They tried returning via Kuala Lumpur, but that flight was also canned.

It eventually took four or five flights in three days, and an enormous amount of stress, to beat the enforced hotel quarantine here in Australia, so the pair self-isolated at home, which ended last Thursday.

"I guess everything happened so quickly that you didn't really have a chance to think about the broader implications you've had this whole year planned," Anderson said.

"We definitely still want to do the trip."