My Travels during the COVID-19 Pandemic

These have been more than interesting days. Our adventures during COVID-19 pandemic is to be remembered.

On March 11th we left our home to fly to Croatia to visit our three grandchildren and their parents. We knew about COVID-19, yet the seriousness of the illness did not hit us, or it did not hit me. Our outbound trip included stops in Chicago, Newark NJ, Barcelona, Vienna, Zagreb Croatia, and our final destination Split Croatia—where Henna and family resides.

We had five flights and walked through six different airports. after landing in Split, we took the bus to the Riva (popular waterfront plaza where lots and lots of Croatians congregate to eat, socialize, and just enjoy friends and family). Then we walked about a half mile to our daughter's home. The crowd situation was normal. It seemed like Croatians were as naive about social distancing as we were at this point.

As soon as we arrived at our daughter's home, we were encouraged not to touch the kids but to take showers and change clothes while Henna disinfected our coats, shoes, and luggage. Then she said all seven of us will quarantine ourselves for 14 days (This was to protect others since we may have caught COVID during the travels) --no beautiful walks that I so love. As days passed Henna was getting more nervous. She said if COVID-19 was to invade Croatia (at that time there were zero persons infected in Split Croatia) yet Croatia shared a border with Italy which was struggling with COVID infection and soon would become or was the epicenter of infection. When/If COVID-19 would enter Croatia and hospitals were filling up fast, we as foreigners would not be first in line to be treated. We had two choices; hunker down and wait for the spread to slow down then go home or seek to return home right away.

I was thinking, surely we would be fine. I was not particularly worried. Then I realized that the longer we stayed, Henna's anxiety concerning our plight could make her sick. We started to look for the earliest flight to come home. We had arrived in Split on March 12th, the same day President Trump closed US borders to non-Americans from infected countries... We started to look for a return flight. The airline flights became extremely expensive. One way trip back were at $1000 per person or more. We generally pay $500 to $700 for round trips. We could not find anything even at any price. Then a few days later we found a ticket at much better price (for the situation) returning on March 20th (9 days total, 8 days with family).

Once the tickets were purchased, we all could breathe easier. The worry about Tom and I not being able to get a space in the hospital if we got sick was no longer a concern.

We left at 4AM to catch a plane to Zagreb ( Capital of Croatia) then catch an international flight to US. By midnight of that same day (March 20th), all the airports declared a lockdown by orders from their leaders in each countries. We were very fortunate to leave before the lockdown.

Our return flight was surreal. Every airport was practically empty. Each person practiced six foot social distancing. The comparison between our trip to Split and our return flights to the US was phenomenal. The airports were so empty, and their shops were mostly closed. We went through every step so quickly and easily due to the absence of humanity. Normal tedious checking at borders were almost nonexistent. Once we got back to O'Hare in Chicago, US Customs just waved everyone through, no questions asked. But the CDC staff took the temperature of every person entering the US and asked a few questions about where we had been. We passed. I wondered what happens to people with a temperature. Since then I learned that 25% of COVID-19 infected persons had no symptoms like temperature and others. So even the checking at the airport would have missed 25% of the COVID-19 carriers.

When we arrived in Chicago O'Hare airport, we rented a car and drove home. All this was done with no waiting because of the empty airport. And though our drive through Chicago was on Friday at what should have been rush hour, we zipped through the heart of the city at regular highway speeds. When we entered in Goshen, we experienced something else. Our roads were filled with cars going and coming as if nothing is happening. All the caution we experiencing last nine days in Croatia and traveling was almost non-existent. My comment was, I guess Goshenites are not taking the COVID-19 virus seriously, as I didn't just nine days ago.

We quarantined ourselves for fourteen days in Goshen. So our travel looks like 8 days of quarantining in Croatia  (the whole time we were there) and fourteen days of quarantining in good ole USA in our home. We believe we did not catch the COVID-19 virus (but our quarantining was to avoid the spread just in case we had the virus). What an unusual and interesting experience traveling during the height of the virus spread!  I have to say, we are still glad we went because we did have a wonderful visit with Henna and Aki and our grandchildren. It was a very focused visit since we were with each other 24/7.  We were very fortunate that through all those travels and most likely encountering many COVID-19 infected persons whether they knew it or not, we came home without the illness. Before we left, our church prayed that our Lord would keep us safe. Thank you Lord.