{"id":414,"date":"2020-08-04T04:09:54","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T04:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anniandtom.com\/?p=414"},"modified":"2020-08-04T04:21:21","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T04:21:21","slug":"planning-around-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anniandtom.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/04\/planning-around-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning around COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like the rest of you, we’ve had a few interruptions when the coronavirus pandemic hit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember sitting in the indoor\/ outdoor lounge at our hotel in Victoria Falls, enjoying a beer by the pool and watching a soccer game on TV being played in Italy with no one in the stadiums. This was the week of March 10. We felt safe on our African adventures, far away from the craze emerging in Europe, China and becoming more apparent in the US. We weren’t terribly worried yet what this would mean for our trip, but we stayed aware since we were planning on moving north and then to Europe by the end of the month. So far, everything was on schedule as we made our way to Zanzibar, Tanzania to enjoy some island life before hectic Egypt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had our whole week in Cairo and Luxor planned out, followed by a week all over Jordan. Everything still seemed fine until about March 14 when things in Egypt started becoming high alert. So, we cancelled our Egypt trip and moved Jordan up a week since that seemed fine. Another day or two passed and then Jordan started closing borders, so we had no choice but to cancel that part of the trip as well. Here we are, sitting by the ocean on a quiet beach – it’s the end of tourist season and beginning of the rainy season so it’s usually quiet but the locals said it was more quiet than normal. We were the very last people to stay at our hotel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We had our flight booked to leave Zanzibar and head to Cairo that Thursday, March 19. Tom had a weird feeling and wanted to change our flight to land in Johannesburg Tuesday, March 17 instead. At this point things seemed to have escalated quickly, everywhere. Going home to the US didn’t seem the safest since there were a number of outbreaks there, we were debating going to Cape Town since we really enjoyed it there and wanted to go back anyway. All we knew was we didn’t want to get stranded on Zanzibar, no matter how few (or no) cases they had. For a number of days we played the Expedia game – buying flights back to the US and Cape Town and cancelling with in 24 hrs in case one option over ran another. It was a stressful few days. So many “what if’s” and every few hours the news would change our plans. We didn’t want to end this trip so soon, yet we wanted to be responsible human beings and do what we felt was best. So we decided the best place to be stranded was at home. With a day to spare, we landed in South Africa the day before they closed their borders to US citizens and other countries, slept in a hotel, and on March 19 started the very long journey home when we should have been going to Cairo. Such is life and adapting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • \"\"
    empty airport <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
  • \"\"
    empty plane from JFK to ATL<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    After having felt quite removed from the whole pandemic, being in South America and South Africa for the last 2+ months, it seemed like we were now in the heart of it. We had a long lay over in Abu Dhabi and a packed 14 hour flight to JFK with another lay over and then a nearly empty flight to Atlanta to finally sleep in our familiar van. Thankfully we had access to airport lounges where fewer people go. They took your temperature at every lounge (and every time you went through security) and had hand sanitizer everywhere, some even removed half the furniture to avoid people sitting too close and they reduced their food options. All of which was much appreciated but vastly different than our traveling experiences just a week before. When we landed in JFK, it was such an eerie, quiet airport compared to what it’s usually like. Another realization that something was truly happening. Maybe it was sleep deprivation, but none of this felt real. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • \"\"
      seeing Izzy again in ATL!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
    • \"\"
      finally some dog snugs! <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      It was a relief to finally make it back home, not to have to change plans every 4 hours or worry about where we were going to be. For the most part. We still didn’t have a home. We had a van, which I’m very thankful for but we knew we couldn’t live in it as a true vanlifer’s because everything was closed. Another thing I’m thankful for, family. We were going to come back to NM in May anyway to meet my new little nephew, we just happened to be six weeks early. We said a quick hi and bye to Ken and some final pets for dear Izzy, drove from Atlanta to Colorado, trying to make it in time before the Stay-at-home orders kicked in, because who knew what that was going to mean? Will we get pulled over because we’re driving with out of state plates? Will we be able to get to NM without any problems? We decided a leave our dog Izzy with Ken (he had been watching her since we started traveling) because if people were having to social distance and self quarantine, no way we were leaving Ken alone! And we didn’t really know where we were going to end up and what kind of situation that would mean for a dog. So to keep things simple, she stayed put. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • \"\"
        preparing for quarantine<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
      • \"\"
        social distancing!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        We stopped at our house in Denver, grabbed bikes, gear, clothes and other random things from the garage, loaded up the van (it was already piled high with groceries at this point) and prepared for our full quarantine since we just traveled through some of the highest risk areas to make it back home. How ironic. We camped for a few days in Canon City which was true social distancing. There were other people there, but they were far away and it was very easy to keep it that way. These few days of true quiet\/ nothingness was a good (and slightly unsettling) time to reflect on what we just did and what this means for the next few months. After a week there, we headed south to NM and home for me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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