Around the World - Section 28 (Eurotrip Finale)
The grand finale to our year abroad was supposed to be a
spring trip along the Adriatic Sea! This was actually a bonus month for us
because we stuck to our budget throughout the year and therefore were able to
extend our trip one more month.
The Plan
This was going to be a big reunion with many of our previous
travelers, including Joe, Linda, Sheila, Eileen, Greg, Deanna, Joel and new comer Mary Kay who
were all set to join us for the Italian portion. Well, as everyone in the world
may know, COVID-19 struck the globe and we had to terminate our travels.
We first heard of the epidemic while in Australia. At the
time the virus was still considered “contained.” As we prepared for this bonus
month, the cases started to pop up for the virus in the Milan region of northern Italy. Since
we were not planning on going there anyway, we thought we were safe.
We had planned to start out trip in Rome and then advance to
Florence, Bologna, San Marino, Venice, and down the coast to Ancona. From there,
we would take a nice 1-day cruise across the sea to Split Croatia where we
would rent a car and travel all over Croatia, including Zagreb, Plitvicka
Falls, Zadar before heading down to Kings Landing otherwise known as Dubrovnik.
All before a final layover in London to visit the Queen!
Well the cases rapidly continued to spread, and they soon
expanded into the Venice region. At this point many of our fellow travelers started
to bow out on the trip one by one, but Julia and I were still committed to go with some adjustments.
I spent hours each day studying the outbreak in Italy and monitoring it like a
hawk.
We slowly adapted our plan to just go to Rome and take a
train over to Ancona to catch the ferry to Croatia and continue the rest of the
trip as planned. I had commented on how Europe had open borders and Milan was
closer to Munich, Germany than Rome, Italy. Within 3 days before we were set to
fly, Italy had gotten worse and we were forced to reconsider our trip. Thanks
to Delta customer service, I was able to adjust my flight to go Detroit-Amsterdam-Zagreb
with Amsterdam being a 3-day stopover.
Amsterdam
So, we left on our trip, just Julia and myself with others staying
back home. We had monitored Amsterdam and Croatia which both had less cases
then Ohio at the time, so we felt good going on our trip. Upon arriving in
Amsterdam, we were pleased with our choice because tourism was down, and the town was not as
crowded.
We were able to stay at the Waldorf Astoria in the heart of
the city for a very cheap point rate due to the low tourism and we were
thrilled with the amazing stay. We had the hotel all to ourselves with a
private sauna, hot tub, pool, and gym. In the evening, we would go to the main
sitting room for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in this historic Amsterdam hotel
built in the 17th century. The hotel maintained the feel that the
original Dutch nobility had kept with the home. And we were treated to
wonderful breakfast in the downstairs piano room overlooking the gardens.
In the daytime we strolled the Amsterdam canals, Van Gogh
museum, and tried their local vegan cuisine. This was all before a wonderful
tour of the Red-Light District. Yes, the district where we learned about the
history of legalized prostitution and the current policies and regulations.
We met people that live and work
there. It was a fascinating and eye-opening experience to say the least. And of course everyone knows have the dutch travel.
Before our final days in
Amsterdam, we received messages from our families all over the US early in the
morning hours due to the time difference all warning us that we have to return
to home promptly. The US had issued a travel ban on Schengen countries and we
could potentially get trapped in Europe for 40 days!
Before panicking, I read the
official reports that clarified that all USA citizens could return at anytime
and that all foreigners would be barred from entering if they came from the
Schengen countries (which did not include our next two destinations Croatia and
the UK). We were set to fly to Croatia 8 hours after the ban took place Friday night, but moved our flight up 12 hours before the ban would start just to be safe. We checked Croatia which was still allowing people in and had less then
10 cases in the whole country and felt safe continuing on, but we did move our
flight up to be safe. So we took off flying from A to Z (Amsterdam to Zagreb)!
Croatia
We checked out of our luxurious
Amsterdam hotel and went to the airport. We were excited to continue our trip.
As we checked into the airport, Croatia Airlines reconfirmed that we were all
set and that we would have no problems getting into Croatia as long as we had
not been to Italy or China (which we had not). So, we boarded the plane and
after a smooth flight landed in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.
As we prepared to clear the customs
thinking about all the wonderful places we would go, we got sent into a long
line of people for medical testing. What we found out was: mid-flight Croatia
had updated its policy on foreigners entering from Schengen countries. The
rules had changed and we (along with all passengers, even Croatians) were forced to self-isolate for 14 days or leave the
country.
Crestfallen, we checked in to our
hotel in Zagreb where we decided to figure out what to do next. Since we could
not enjoy the country and travel to all of the thrilling nature and cities we
had planned, we decided to return home. We called the US embassy in Croatia for
instructions. We also called our airline and tried to see if we could move up
our flight home which was going through the UK (which still was not on the
Croatia or US banned lists). We could not get a flight the next two days but could
fly home through London on Monday. At this point, we were ready to go home.
Heading Home
Going to bed in the Zagreb hotel
Saturday night, we received a message from family that the UK was added to the
banned list for the United States. Now we started to get concerned! What if the
flights all got cancelled? What if the flights are overbooked? What if we are
trapped in Croatia? We had more questions than answers at this point.
Since getting home through the Schengen
zone or UK did not matter anymore, we decided to connect in Zurich, Switzerland
(one of our favorite countries) and straight on to Chicago. We booked the flight and went to bed hoping
to get a few hours of sleep.
The Next morning we prepared to travel from Z to Z (Zagreb to Zurich). Our first step was making it
through Zurich Airport. Thankfully, everything went without a snag. The next
step was flying into Chicago. We heard that Chicago Airport was a mess the
previous day with its long lines and delays due to the added screenings at the
airport. So, we were concerned. Upon arriving to O’Hare airport, we felt like the
taxi to the gate took longer than the entire screening process!
Since the
previous day was hectic, the Mayor hired extra help to make the process swifter.
With fewer travelers coming home (our flight was less than a 1/3 full), we made
it through the checks and were on a flight to Detroit and back home.
We spent the next 14 days (and still counting) in self-isolation and are happy to be safe and healthy.
It’s a bittersweet ending to our year abroad but we don’t regret any of it.
We want to thank all of those that were
apart of our journey or supported us one way or the other. My final words are
to not give up on humanity and definitely do not give up on traveling and
seeing that special place you always wanted to visit (when things blow over).
Stay safe and God Bless!
Julia & Michael
P.S. While we will probably slow
down our travels, we are not going to stop. Please let us know when and where
in the world you want to meet us. And shoot us some questions!
