Today I spoke of my disappointment on my instagram vlog page, tedloveslucy_abroad, that I had set up to post about my holiday in Europe. I’m not even sure if we will be going.
Until now I had hoped that we would still go, and although the atmosphere might be a little different and although some tourist attractions might be closed I still had hope that we would fly into Rome Italy and have a taste of the country. Never having been to Europe I was even just looking forward to seeing the different architecture of places. I was concerned a few days ago that Northern Italy was being placed in quarantine by the Italian Prime Minister but still I thought we would fly into Rome and play it by ear, still a glimmer of hope that the quarantine would end on the 3rd of April as suggested and that we could still possibly get to Venice to board the Orient Express to London as planned.
I woke up this morning and hurried off to work. No chance to read the latest Coronavirus updates or check my emails. I headed off to lunch and one of my friends told me about Italy as a whole nation now being in quarantine. Have you ever been able to put your finger on a moment that was that point in time where you knew your hope and longing, wanting had been jolted. Jolted to a point of facing reality, a reality you didn’t want to. Bad news you’d been hoping so badly wouldn’t come. Hearing that news added another blow to our travel plans that have been disintegrating day by day.
I can’t help right now to be angry at the wet markets in Wuhan, to feel this has all happened because of these unhygienic illegal selling and breeding of wild animals. That this neglect to police such markets by the Chinese government has affected so many innocent lives. People’s loved one dying and families suffering as a result of somewhere far away from my shores. Something way beyond most people control.
The economic and world wide crisis this has created and affects on tourism immense. I feel like screaming and saying no, no, undo the past few months, this can’t be what’s happening. The impact of this virus is immense. No matter how angry I feel, how much I want to scream I have felt this feeling before in my life. A feeling of no control over a situation. I can’t change this epidemic which Must only be days or weeks from being officially called out as a pandemic. It’s something that has a force and the world is being pushed along fiercely into a situation. Like a wave that grew strength and the tide has now come in. A tsunami of Coronavirus fallout affecting us all.
The feeling of not be able to control this situation and being forced to succumb to the fallout is becoming more and more a reality. My hope fades. Italy is now not somewhere we will be going. Where or what do we do now. Our flights will be cancelled. Rome cannot be our flight destination now. Do we book a flight to the UK and go there instead for the two weeks before we commence the riverboat cruise in Paris? Do we fly into Paris and spend two weeks there at least we are in the country our cruise starts from avoiding quarantined in UK should the occur. Do we leave later and shorten our holiday now we aren’t spending our planned two weeks in Italy. So so many variables, so many unknowns in this rapidly escalating situation.
Until the Orient Express and Riverboat cruise is officially cancelled by the companies we stand to lose our money. What if Venice reopens and the train still runs but we are to afraid to enter Venice to board incase it impacts us boarding our cruise the next week because we had entered Italy and are quarantined by France. We then lose our fare on the Orient Express which wasn’t at all cheap if it’s not cancelled and we don’t board.
We could fly into to Paris and still have our cruise cancelled by the company. That is still a variable, an unknown.
I don’t know I just don’t know anymore. I’m filled with uncertainty, with trepidation as to what our next decision should be. I’m trying to resign myself to the fact we may not even be boarding a plane anywhere. I have so many emotions. Anger, sadness, disappointment, feel dejected, feeling flat.
Until I meet with my travel agent in a couple days I have no concrete answers. When I booked and we paid our deposit as far as I was concerned I was on that plane. How wrong was I!
It seems Europe may still elude me after my third attempt to go.
Love Lucy x
Ted Loves Lucy 
Leave a Reply