I have been so lucky to have gone on some truly awesome journeys. When we lived in Spain, on most long weekends and every school break, you would find us out exploring somewhere. Ice cream cones while hiking in the Cinque Terre in Italy, fishing on a lake in Norway, hiking and mountain biking on the Matterhorn, bike rides at Versailles, exploring the Picos de Europa in Spain, kites on the beach in northern Spain, art galleries, amusement parks, ancient ruins.....oh what memories we made!
As empty nesters, we have added even more adventures with trips to Antarctica and India, Egypt, and China, Japan and Argentina, Galapagos Islands and Peru, Kenya and South Africa.....I can honestly say that I have loved every trip, learned on every trip and been changed by every trip.
Our recent trip to Dubai, with a cruise on the Persian Gulf, has been in the works for more than a year. At first we thought that saber rattling between the US and Iran would put a hold on the trip. When that calmed down, it was full speed ahead to add more countries to our count as we enjoyed a cruise ship and explored a new area.
Little did we know how Coronavirus - COVID 19, would impact this trip.
Before we even left the USA our tour company, Fun For Less, let us know that they would be providing each of us with hand sanitizer and a N95 mask. Plus they were instructing the bus companies to thoroughly sanitize the buses each night; the local tour guides to not have us crowded together with other groups, and they were keeping in close contact with the cruise ship company. They has already canceled two of our ports of call - Bahrain and Qatar. Disappointing of course, but those countries were refusing entrance to any ships so there was really no choice.
Pretty quickly after arrival in Dubai we learned that things were 'iffy' with the cruise line. They were not sure if they would be granted permission to dock in Dubai. This was a bit unsettling as we had friends who were on the cruise ship in Asia who had been denied entry by 5 different countries before finally docking in Cambodia. I don't think anyone in our whole group was excited about getting on a cruise ship, especially when the only port we would visit was a 90 minute bus ride from where we were. If we did get on the cruise, we would essentially be cruising around in the Persian Gulf for several days and who knows when and where we would be allowed off. It didn't sound like a great idea for a bunch of senior citizens to get on. Some have said that a cruise ship is essentially a giant Petri dish. Don't know if that is really true, but it isn't a comforting thought.
That decision was made for us when the port of Dubai refused entrance to the cruise ship. Now Fun For Less started scrambling to figure out, on March 10th, what to do with 140 travelers who had plane tickets to fly home on March 24th!
The original plan had been to spend 1 night in Dubai, travel to Oman for 3 nights, return to Dubai for 3 nights before joining the cruise for 7 nights. Fun For Less presented us with 3 options:
- Anyone who wanted to, could fly home as soon as we returned from Oman
- Or after returning from Oman, you could spend the 3 nights in Dubai and then fly home
- Or you could spend the 3 nights in Dubai, 2 nights in Abu Dhabi, and return for 4 nights in Dubai
The nights in Dubai would be spilt between the Raffles Hotel - 5 Star Luxury
and the Madinat Jumeirah Luxury Beach Hotel.
We decided on option #3 and flew off to Oman, excited about the nights in luxury when we returned.
Then things started getting a bit crazy. No one knew what would happen in the US. Would borders be closed? Would we all have to go into quarantine? Would hotels, restaurants, and attractions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi continue to be open? No one knew.
This sign greeted us in the airport in Muscat.
Clearly it was not, business as usual for travelers.
After several wonderful days in Oman, we returned to Dubai and went to the Madinat Jumeriah beach hotel and enjoyed two nights and a full free day! It was magical! What a resort!
Then it was off to Abu Dhabi for two nights at another wonderful resort. At this point, Jim, the owner of Fun For Less, met with us. He said that he had been getting hysterical calls from our children (not ours in particular but children of people on the tour) demanding that their parents return home ASAP. Some even threatened to sue him. We had gotten a few anxious calls from Matt, as spokesman for our kids, ourselves. So Jim had made the decision that we should all go home as soon as we retuned to Dubai.
With all the uncertainty of travel, we pretty quickly agreed that he was right. George and I had used United miles to pay for our tickets and we were scheduled to go home through Germany. We knew that we would need to be quarantined at home for 14 days when we returned but we also worried about Germany closing their borders as Italy had done. George spent a long time on his computer and finally got us flights on Ethiopian Air that would avoid Europe. That settled we were able to enjoy our time in Abu Dhabi.
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| The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi was closed to tourist. The number of believers allowed in for Friday prayers was also limited. Normally the mosque can accommodate over 40,000 worshippers. |
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| Same with the mosque in Dubai! |
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| Now they were checking our temperatures as we entered the hotel. |
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| With all the news about toilet paper shortages, we contemplated buying some. |
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| And we did. Somehow this sign at the check out line at Carrefour wasn't too comforting. |
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| Even the ever helpful pool boys were wearing masks! |
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| Emirates Mall closed 'Ski Dubai' |
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| The last morning the breakfast buffet posted this sign. |
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| Happily the breakfast ice cream was still available! Don't you love that I coordinate my breakfast ice cream with my shirt??? |
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| The government closed the Burg Kalifa, the tallest building in the world so we wouldn't be going up to the observation platform. |
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| The Dubai Frame was also closed but we did get some good photos outside! |
Now it was time to face the trip home. We did so with some trepidation. In all honestly we hadn't been wearing our masks, except for photo ops but we did put them on for the crowded areas of the airport and we tried to practice 'social distancing' when possible.
First flight was from Dubai to Addis Ababa, Ethopia and then a daunting line....
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| Hundreds of people and we were told to get in line..... |
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| After a few minutes we realized that we weren't in the line for connecting flights but the line for people entering Ethopia. Whew! |
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| With all the uncertainty, George made the very wise decision to upgrade to business class. Waving that business class ticket helped us avoid the really, really long lines. And the seats were heavenly! The flight from Ethiopia to Chicago was 18 hours, including a 1 hour fueling stop in Dublin and I can honestly say that I wasn't ready to deplane when we landed in Chicago. Lie flat seats, great food, impeccable service! Now I'm spoiled! |
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| We had heard horror stores about getting through passport control, health check and customs in Chicago. Some people reported up to 6 hour delays but we breezed through. It helped to be first off the plane. And the airport was eerily quiet! Since we had been in Germany we did have to go through the health screening and were asked to do a 14 day self quarantine starting the day we arrived back in the US. George thinks that is a bit excessive since it had already been 11 days since we had been in Frankfurt. Although we did land in Ireland, no one got on or off the plane. It was just a refueling stop. With President Trump's "15 Days to Stop the Spread" program, it doesn't seem hard to just stay home totally. Matt had us stocked with food. Although I love traveling, there is no place quite like home! |
I saw this prayer on Facebook and felt it was appropriate to include. I realize that I have been merely inconvenienced by the Pandemic.
A good friend asked me if the trip felt a bit traumatizing. My honest answer is no it didn't. I never felt unsafe. I only worried a little bit about getting sick. My biggest worry was coughing on the plane. I tend to get a dry cough sometimes and I didn't want to get kicked off the flight for coughing.
People were kind and accommodating.
Our Fun For Less Tour leaders said that in the literally hundreds of trips they had led, this was the first one where nobody got sick, not upset stomachs, not colds....nothing. I think all that hand washing paid off. And of course the super vigilance of the hotels and restaurant played a part as well.
So on this trip in the midst of the first global pandemic that I remember, I saw so much beauty in the world. Not just the beauty of beaches or buildings but the beauty of people, united and concerned.
And I am grateful!
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