FINALLY…and A Lookback.

 It sure seemed quiet after everyone we knew had left. We had “probable seats and flts and were just waiting for the next NEGATIVE test results and new paper work. A very pleasant and honest young man arrived in the afternoon to administer yet a another Covid test. I have been sworn to secrecy by the officials in Spain….but I can say there was a glitch, and then everything was OK, and we were issued new papers. We started packing! 

Next am we arrived at the crowded airport to begin our very convoluted flt home with many stops and a completely different airline….. but by then, we just wanted to GO HOME! We weren’t going argue or make waves. More red tape at the airport and yet another form to fill out for the US government saying we actually were tested and agreed to about 12 questions.    We were so relieved when we were handed out boarding passes and checked our luggage, we went to a coffee shop to have breakfast and relax.  It was then that we actually LOOKED at our boarding pass and saw we were booked on our original airline and it was straight thru to SEATAC.  So that is why there are Miracles in Barcelona. Ciao!

Usually I do a recap of the trip, but this Covid story sort of took over everything else …for awhile. Now, I can laugh at the inconvenience of it all….but at the time…frustration, tiredness, confusion, worry and all that put a damper on the last days.

But Greece was a blast, Italy is always great to be in, and we did get to spend unintended
days in the gorgeous city  of Barcelona. We had good friends to share all the good and all the bad. We met some interesting folks along the way. We ate fabulous food and drank many glasses of good wines. We learned and laughed, and and had fun adventures…some planned and some not…. And that’s  what makes traveling an adventure vs just a trip. Covid definitely caused problems and put a damper on many things…. But we somehow got thru all the issues.  Steve and Bruce were still testing positive as they arrived home and for a week or more. I truly was Negative by the time I arrived home, and Nan, who had escaped Covid completely on trip, came down with it after a week of being home. Go figure.

MIRACLE IN BARCELONA

 We were instructed by emails that there would be ANOTHER covid test after breakfast on Sunday morning. There was a special testing room set aside and all of us gathered and started lining up like robots.   It seemed a big chaotic to me, so I went and found a chair and sat down and decided to wait my turn as the  line grew shorter. I started to notice EVERYONE that had been tested was smiling broadly as they left the site…. Everyone.

Finally, our turn and I was literally the last of all the group to be tested. I guess I should have expected good news, because not one of the group was positive any longer. Miracle in Barcelona. My test was brief, only one nostril and within 2 minutes, they told me I was Negative and good to go home.  Maybe because it was Sunday we all had a miraculous recovery.  Within a couple hours we had our “official papers” , signed by a “doctor” slipped under our room door and arrangements were being made in ITALY for flights back.  It seemed like a good day to celebrate, so our travel buddies, Nan and Bruce joined us and we all walked down to the harbor and beaches, where we mingled with the the locals. It was a gorgeous day and there were alot of people out and about, but we had fun looking at more architecture and markets and big Yachts…..and a really nice lunch at a Spanish tapas place. 

After a long day, and excited to get back and see how our flight arrangements were going…..we walked back. Everyone was packing and comparing notes on departures….now that we were all officially Neagtive….with papers to prove it. Except we weren’t. The flight people were having trouble with Steve and my flights, so making a long story short….. we couldn’t leave the next am with everyone else because they couldn't find seats for us

on flights back to Seattle.

And since the “Covid” test papers are only good for 24 hours……we would have to test AGAIN the next day! Just us…as everyone else was boarding EARLY in the am for flights back to the states. Geeze.

WANDERING AND WONDERING

 Still in SPAIN on a beautiful Saturday, so off we went to the Harbor and beaches.  We didn’t expect to be in Barcelona this long, so had nothing planned. Luckily for us, it’s an easy town to explore on foot and we were enjoying the gorgeous harbor and mega yachts. Some of the yachts are way bigger than the small ship we had been on, which was 300 ft. I took pictures and when  got back to the hotel, I looked them up on the internet. They were mostly Russian Oligarch yachts! Oh yeah…. Trying to find safe moorage as the war between Ukraine and Russian is going and these guys don’t want their “toys” confiscated.  We saw parties going on….lots of crew, all dressed alike, and unbelievable wealth for these ships. 

We wandered into museums and then made our way to the beach..which, by our standards looked crowded. People told us it looked deserted compared to summer. On the way back, we wanted a bite to eat and went by rows and restaurants, and finally ended up (unknowingly) in one of the few VEGAN restaurants….but it had wine…and beer. The waitress was from Sweden, and she said she was looking for something different Sweden. She got it. 

Arriving back at our hotel, we had news that a NEW Covid test would be taken by us in the am…and everything would be fine. Hmmmm. 

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DOLLAR

 Oh boy! It was looking stormy out side, and it was certainly stormy inside! The next morning, most of us gathered in a lobby area to listen to the phone call, and we were supposed to be able to ask questions.most people just wanted to know who was paying for what, how long were we captive in Spain, and how were we supposed to get our flights back.  The session didn’t go so well, because too many people were butting in and talking all at once and they were trying to resolve this over a cell phone and no one could hear a thing! I finally lost patience and went back to our room.  But, as I was leaving I heard the woman in Rome say, we would all be leaving on Monday. HUH? 

We saw Nan and Bruce and we all decided to would walk around town and look for a place to eat lunch. As we were walking the clouds were thickening and just as we got under a tarp that covered an outdoor eating area….a hail storm hit! It hit hard! But we still managed to order lunch over the din of that hail pelting down and the street turning into a River! After the rain stopped, we went necessity shopping for liquid refreshment and other goodies…and we bought more Covid tests. The Spanish kind. Ha!

Nan was still negative but the rest of us were testing each day hoping for a miracle.

NO HAPPY CAMPERS

 The next day, no one left Barcelona… and there was a lot of chatter, complaints, confusion, and downright anger. What were we supposed to do? We were in a strange city, with language barriers, and no one knew how to contact help, or who to contact, or how long we would be holed up AT OUR OWN EXPENSE. There were mini meetings, gripe sessions, lots of rumors and people were scrounging around for any solution to get them home, except now even more of us were testing positive.

We scurried to our rooms and emailed our tour company, our long gone guides, and anyone who we thought could help. We had to make new arrangements for our car storage, and cancel appointments and notify families and friends who were expecting us home. It was a hot mess, as they say…and desperation had a strong hold on us. And the UGLY American was starting to surface.

We were given a “contact” in ROME ,ITALY! I am not sure how many people sent off urgent emails to this contact, but I sure did. It was strange emailing a person in Italy about our issues with the US

government in Spain. But, she did respond, and at first I don’t think she was aware of how frustrated we were all becoming.  The next day a woman showed up as a facilitator for all of us and it didn’t take long to realize she was well in over her head! But she tried. Mostly she had to listen to complaints, and when she didn’t satisfy our questions, she made a plan to CALL the contact on ROME…..the next morning.

So Steve and I felt pretty good and here we were in a beautiful old city, so we just got dressed and took off on our own to explore Barcelona.

POSITIVE

 Sometimes positive is a good thing…in the case of Covid….NOT. After we all arrived and got settled at our hotel, the staff sent a medical technologist to each person’s room to be tested for Covid. As I said before, Spain didn’t have a problem with Covid status, but to fly BACK to USA …. We all needed a negative test signed by a doctor. As the testing continued during the afternoon…. We rested and repacked for our flts home the next morning.  There was also a farewell dinner to attend. As the afternoon went on, we were notified that quite a few people were testing positive so they decided to have 2 dinners…one for the sickies…and one for the people who were still negative.

As we entered the sickie dining room at the hotel that evening, it was apparent that A LOT of our travel mates were also there …. Over 30 of our original 60 shipmates had tested Positive, as Steve and I had….. so there was trouble brewing. Nan was still negative and off with the other bunch to a nice restaurant…but that would change also. So THE BIG PROBLEM was no one was leaving the next day as planned.  We all lost our airline reservations, and our seat assignments…and we didn’t know what the recourse would be or when we would be able to fly home, or how. To add to the dilemma….the tour guides, who were our “go to guys” for everything…were also leaving as they were done with us and had other trips to guide. We were in free fall!

BARCELONA

 Now this gets weird…. After being locked down for a couple days…we docked in Barcelona Spain. The staff put all the Covid people on their own bus….this is where we first found out there were quite a few of us… we felt like we had the “cone of shame” boarding our sickie bus as they took us to our very modern hotel in the heart of Barcelona. We entered the hotel, all masked, and not knowing what the hell was going to happen. We were met my the hotel staff who informed us we were very welcome in Barcelona, and by the way…Spain had done AWAY  with all Covid mandates  and protocol and we were free to go anywhere and do anything we wanted! No masks required. The ONLY issue was the hotel staff would not be available to clean our room, but we were welcome to come to breakfast and go anywhere! Unmasked and in bothered.  Spain had decided it was a flu virus and each person should do what they felt to stay safe.  I felt like a prisoner who had just been let out of jail! It was weird. And since we knew we were leaving in the am to fly back home….we just were happy.

We either forgot or didnt realize that the good ol USA CDC in their hyper vigilance…. REQUIRED A negative test within 24 hours of flying home.

Oh oh…did I already say this a few times?