Life After A Lost Year

 

I find that over 1 year has passed since my last blog. I suppose that most have been like us, holed up at home, living our lives in a new strange way.

We had 2 trips planned to Europe and several where we started out for Canada but found that we had to postpone each one and then postpone again. We started to forget what we’d originally wanted to do. 

We delayed plans that included flying, started driving for destinations only to return home mid-route. My mom came to stay then went back to my brother’s house, returned to our house and then passed away, fortunately not from Covid.

For the trip on which we are embarking on now, Trip 1, we had planned to go to Italy and stay for a month. I wanted to stay 2 months, one in southern Italy and 1 in northern Italy, but then we compromised with the plan to stay a month in Italy. My plan was to rent a house with a couple of bedrooms so that friends could come visit us during our stay. I was determined for us to attend an opera in Verona as well.  

Our 2^nd plan was that we’d go to the UK in December for Solstice. We had purchased tickets to take in sunrise within the circles, a private tour of all things Stonehenge, various concerts and theater. One friend was planning to meet up for this trip.

Last Dec we did get more tickets for both a December trip this year as well as a trip to Italy. As before, these were with our frequent flier miles as the tickets were before.

Over time, we succumbed to grandkids begging to come along to Italy. As Covid life changed the plans, we found ourselves with only a granddaughter to tag along. A friend will join us as well.

The months went by and Italy closed down, then many countries closed down including the US, we just waited and bided our time. We knew that the best course of action was to be flexible. We left our departure plans which as they were, which just before leaving, changed daily.

As our departure time drew closer, we did not see Italy opening up, but Greece decided to open to travelers who had received the vaccine. As we were already completely vaccinated it made sense to change our departure tickets from Italy to Greece, hoping that Italy would open before too long.

As it stands now. We will stay in Greece for several days then fly to Italy for 3 weeks, then on to Paris and then to the UK.

Just because a country has opened up to visitors from the US doesn’t mean that it is simple. For Greece there is the PLF (Passenger Locator Form) to fill out at least 24 hours prior to landing. Making sure that we have our vaccine certificates or in our granddaughter’s case, making sure that she has a particular Covid test not more that 72 hours prior to entering the country. Our granddaughter has had her 2^nd vaccine; however, it has not been 14-days, hence she is not fully vaccinated today. Having all of the paperwork with us at all times.

Even getting on the airplane was not the regular line up. Each person on the flight had to go one by one and have a photo taken for some reason or another prior to entering the plane. 

But we have persisted and now headed to Greece. It will certainly be an adventure.