That time I went to Italy for 36 hours during the Coronavirus panic of 2020.
Yes, you read that right. I went to Italy last week at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. And it was not great.
This trip was put into motion 9 months ago - before Coronavirus was a thing. As our trip neared, the panic was starting to pick up, but it seemed that if we stayed out of Northern Italy (which was the original plan), everything would be fine. Wash your hands, stay out of Northern Italy, don't lick any handrails, and things should be rosy. The full extent of the pandemic this was going to become was not apparent before we left. So we proceeded on our trip as planned.
My trip started with leaving home at 5:30am. I drove to Tempe two hours away to meet my mother-in-law Cheri. We then flew from Sky Harbor to LAX and met up with my sister-in-law Stephanie. From LAX we flew to Paris where we added my cousin-in-law Denise to our posse. A quick flight to Florence landed us in our final destination for the next few days. We took a train and walked a few blocks to our hotel where we joined the rest of our party (sister-in-law Michelle, cousins-in-law Janel, Laura, Lisa, and aunt-in-law Sandra). The hotel was beautiful and the rooms were spacious and I'm pretty sure our group were the only patrons of the three story hotel.
It was announced on the morning of the day we arrived that all museums, churches, and archeology sites in Italy would be closed until at least April 3. It was rather disappointing that this occurred the very day we arrived which ruined most of our pre-planned days. With not much to do, we spent our afternoon eating pasta, viewing the exterior of Duomo di Firenze, and being yelled at in a gelato shop for not standing a meter away from each other. Even though it was a rather laid back afternoon with not much to see, it was still an enjoyable time and I was hopeful that we would still have a great week in Italy even with all the sites closed.
P.S. I can't emphasize this enough - WE WERE NOT SCREENED IN ANY WAY WHEN WE ENTERED THE UNITED STATES. We were also told nothing about going into a self-quarantine or any other instructions pertaining to the Coronavirus. We flew in from Italy on an airbus that was almost completely full and they let all of us into the country without a second thought. In contrast, I had my temperature taken in the Paris airport and the Florence airport on the way there and twice when arriving and leaving the Rome airport on our way home, as well as the mandatory questionnaire I mentioned above. If you're on the side of thinking this isn't a big deal, it is. The United States has been slow to take the preventative measures needed and our numbers are going to skyrocket soon. Just be prepared and WASH YOUR HANDS!
Oh, and don't hoard toilet paper.
My trip started with leaving home at 5:30am. I drove to Tempe two hours away to meet my mother-in-law Cheri. We then flew from Sky Harbor to LAX and met up with my sister-in-law Stephanie. From LAX we flew to Paris where we added my cousin-in-law Denise to our posse. A quick flight to Florence landed us in our final destination for the next few days. We took a train and walked a few blocks to our hotel where we joined the rest of our party (sister-in-law Michelle, cousins-in-law Janel, Laura, Lisa, and aunt-in-law Sandra). The hotel was beautiful and the rooms were spacious and I'm pretty sure our group were the only patrons of the three story hotel.
It was announced on the morning of the day we arrived that all museums, churches, and archeology sites in Italy would be closed until at least April 3. It was rather disappointing that this occurred the very day we arrived which ruined most of our pre-planned days. With not much to do, we spent our afternoon eating pasta, viewing the exterior of Duomo di Firenze, and being yelled at in a gelato shop for not standing a meter away from each other. Even though it was a rather laid back afternoon with not much to see, it was still an enjoyable time and I was hopeful that we would still have a great week in Italy even with all the sites closed.
My sister-in-law Michelle did a study abroad in Italy where she attended school and stayed with a host family in Siena. Michelle was kind enough to take Cheri, Stephanie, and I to visit Siena the next day while the rest of our group went to Pisa. Michelle's host sister Caterina and her boyfriend met us in the Piazzo del Campo and took us around Siena and showed us the best views of the city. We were lucky enough to stumble upon one church that was still open. The Basilica Cateriniana had beautiful stained glass and also housed Saint Catherine's head and thumb. If you ever go to Italy (in less crazy, more healthy times) you should most definitely spend a day in Siena.
We met up with the rest of the group and tried to get dinner, but most places were closed. We eventually gave up trying to find specific places to eat and walked into the first place we saw that was open. We got done with dinner around 9:30 pm. We all went back to our individual hotel rooms to call home and get ready for bed. Around 11 pm, an emergency family meeting was called. The entire country was just put on lockdown. Essentially it meant that Italian citizens couldn't travel out of their city without a really good reason, all shops had to close at dusk, and social gatherings were strongly discouraged.
We discussed possibly flying to Paris and trying to finish our vacation there, but after discussion and research and calls, we realized that we needed to get home before that option was completely gone. There was rumor that AirFrance pilots and employees were about to go on strike. We had already seen the closure of many hotels and restaurants, and with rumors of airline strikes we were worried the train to Rome would stop running as well. We needed to get out fast. Travel insurance said their policy doesn't cover anything pertaining to Coronavirus, which is funny because the travel insurance was purchased before Coronavirus existed. Super convenient. Cheri was able to get a hold of a travel agent, after being on lengthy holds and speaking to managers, that was extremely helpful. With Cheri being our advocate and sacrificing her sleep for the good of group, most of the rest of us finally went to bed around 1:30am.
We were up at 3:30 after a restful nights sleep of two hours because Cheri had managed to get us on a flight out to Rome where we would then get on a connecting flight to Atlanta and then we would all go our separate ways home on various flights. We quickly threw everything into our suitcases and jumped into a taxi to get to the airport. Then we struggled getting our boarding passes printed because we didn't have our confirmation number for the Rome to Atlanta leg of the trip yet. They would not let us board the Florence to Rome flight until we could prove we were continuing on our trip and getting out of Italy. Luckily we managed to get them just in time to get our boarding passes, get through security, and board the plane. Once in Rome, we had our temperature taken at two different points in the airport and we had to fill out a questionnaire about our health and where we had visited while in Italy before we could board our plane to Atlanta. After a long flight, we touched down in Atlanta. The last leg was to Phoenix and we landed around 9:30pm. I spent the night at my mother-in-laws house than drove the last two hours home in the morning.
So in conclusion, it took me 24 hours to get to Florence to spend a total of 30 hours in Italy, and then it took 27 hours to travel home. Maybe I'll attempt to see Italy again in a few years when there isn't a pandemic.
So in conclusion, it took me 24 hours to get to Florence to spend a total of 30 hours in Italy, and then it took 27 hours to travel home. Maybe I'll attempt to see Italy again in a few years when there isn't a pandemic.
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| The closest I got to seeing anything in Rome was this poster of the Colosseum that was in the airport. |
P.S. I can't emphasize this enough - WE WERE NOT SCREENED IN ANY WAY WHEN WE ENTERED THE UNITED STATES. We were also told nothing about going into a self-quarantine or any other instructions pertaining to the Coronavirus. We flew in from Italy on an airbus that was almost completely full and they let all of us into the country without a second thought. In contrast, I had my temperature taken in the Paris airport and the Florence airport on the way there and twice when arriving and leaving the Rome airport on our way home, as well as the mandatory questionnaire I mentioned above. If you're on the side of thinking this isn't a big deal, it is. The United States has been slow to take the preventative measures needed and our numbers are going to skyrocket soon. Just be prepared and WASH YOUR HANDS!
Oh, and don't hoard toilet paper.