(This post is super long and sounds like a dramatic movie, but I promise it all really happened and is 100% real)
As you might have seen, the situation in Europe (and the rest of the world) with Coronavirus has deteriorated rapidly. Just five days ago, I had plans to travel to Portugal, Greece, The Netherlands and Scotland for what I thought would be the solo travel adventure of my lifetime. I had already removed Rome from that itinerary a week earlier because of how bad things were in Italy at the time.
3 am Thursday March 12th (Madrid) I was all set to fly out from Madrid to Lisbon, Portugal the next evening and sleeping when I received 10 calls from my mom at 3 am Madrid time. I woke up confused and became even more confused when my mom said that President Trump had announced a travel ban from Europe to the US that would last at least for the next 30 days, starting at midnight on Friday. I had never heard my mom’s voice so tense, so I knew that it was serious. I needed to leave now.
Within 10 minutes, I was frantically packing up all of my things, leaving little time to think about all of the friends I would not get to say goodbye to and the plans that were now cancelled.
4 am Thursday (Madrid) Before I knew it, I was in an Uber and arrived to the Madrid airport and joined the hundreds of other panicked American travelers, many of which were students like me. At this time I also found out that the travel ban would not apply to American citizens but at this point I just wanted to get out. Just one hour before, my parents had bought two different tickets to the US after battling crashing web pages and sold out airlines.
However, once I reached the ticketing desk, I was told by Lufthansa that my ticket and seats had not been issued by United airlines and that I needed to speak with them to get my ticket. I have never had an emotional meltdown in an airport, but I did this time after struggling with airline employees over and over again. Then my sister, mom, dad and myself all called United and waited on hold for about two hours before we were helped.
7 am Thursday(Madrid) In what felt like a godsend, I was connected with a United employee named Roxanne who could obviously hear the panic in my voice and found me a new flight home. BIG SHOTOUT TO ROXANNE she is the real MVP and I owe my current sanity and safety to her!! I was then rerouted on a flight to Switzerland, to Los Angeles, to San Francisco and finally PDX. Flying was so strange; with everyone wearing masks, spraying every plane surface with disinfectant constantly and mostly empty flights. The panic and hysteria that everyone had seen on the news was happening right in front of my eyes. On every flight I actually had the entire row to myself!
5 pm Thursday (Los Angeles) After flying 12 hours, we touched down at LAX and the whole flight erupted in applause (because everyone was relieved to be back in the United States). Upon arrival I expected heightened border control, but was surprised by the lack of that. I was not screened for fever, asked any questions about my health or where I had been traveling. Strangely enough, I was just able to enter the US sight unseen in these crazy times. I am pretty sure I was on one of the last flights that found this relaxed attitude and am so glad I left when I did.
12:20 am Friday March 13th (Portland) A wave of relief overcame me when we landed in Portland and I saw that iconic PDX carpet. I was defeated, exhausted (emotionally and physically), but more importantly finally felt safe because I was home and had not been barred from entering the US. My sister picked me up at PDX with balloons and flowers, which was a great finale to this saga, the story I will never forget.
As a whole, the travel day lasted about 36 hours with no sleep (I was way too anxious to relax) and consisted of me RUNNING to make each connecting flight (arriving at the gate drenched in sweat right before they closed them). I met so many other travelers who had even crazier stories than me. One group of girls I met had landed in Greece for their vacation, slept one hour and then immediately left when they heard the news. All of us were similar in that we just wanted to get home and get out of Europe safely.
IN THE END I am beyond grateful for my family working so hard and helping me get home safe and for supporting me in making my dreams of going abroad possible in the first place. After breaking my ankle and having to postpone my semester abroad in Spain last winter, I was devastated but determined to get to Europe one way or another. I made that happen with an internship and it was a great experience, where I was able to independent in Madrid. I really believe that things happen for a reason and I think that I was meant to come to Madrid when I did. I made so many great friends, saw so many amazing sights and became a better more confident version of myself. I have grown so much in my time abroad (ironically including my emergency journey home) and am so glad that this opportunity was possible.
I am so sad that my time ended earlier than I expected, but am lucky to have made it home. I just read news of how Madrid has been declared a red zone and will be set on lock down like in Italy.
Now having experienced, the panic of this epidemic first hand I have a greater sympathy for everyone impacted. In these crazy times we need to stay calm and remember that everyone is experiencing similar fears. Having studied public health, this is a perfect example of how bad things can get if people panic and do not listen to authorities. The World Health Organization knows what they are talking about, I promise! Lets just all wash our hands, stay home and remember that as humans were all in this together.
Curly Q Travels 