Back in the USA — But Where Will You Live?

Circumstances around the world continue to evolve, including for us. We had been content to ride things out in Barcelona, even extending our stay due to missing out on Istanbul. But the rapidly deteriorating travel options essentially forced our hand and we are now back on US soil.

What Changed?

We’ve been watching flight availability between Barcelona and the US almost daily for many weeks now. Sometimes we were contemplating whether to stay or go, other times we were just keeping an eye on things in case new developments occurred or our situation changed. Even as recently as a week or two ago, there were many flight options regularly available by connecting through Frankfurt, London, Paris, Lisbon, Rome, Amsterdam, and even places like Munich or Oslo.

But this week we started to notice that most of those options weren’t showing up in searches on Google flights anymore, and even when they did if you went to the airline's website the flight didn’t exist or the fare was much, much more expensive than Google flights was reporting. Often more than one or two thousand dollars per person, one-way! Indeed, our booked itinerary on May 7th had already been changed multiple times due to flight cancelations and schedule changes. Then, last Tuesday, France announced that it was canceling all international flights (except Shengen flights) for the foreseeable future, estimating that they wouldn’t resume until September or later. Spain and Italy are contemplating bans on foreign travelers that would last until next April. Amazing, considering that Spain is the second most visited country in the world and tourism accounts for fifteen percent of their GDP.

Reading about this we started to get concerned that our flight on May 7th would evaporate, either due to a cancelation by the airline or because Germany (we were booked through Frankfurt) would halt international flights as well. If that happened, it might be extremely expensive to buy new tickets, if we could even find a flight. The possibility that our extension in Spain might last through the summer or longer weighed on us as we reviewed the status of available flights last Wednesday.

Would It Be Practical, or even Possible, to Leave?

There were very limited options available for the next week or so, basically only through London, Amsterdam, or Frankfurt. All three were very expensive, but Amsterdam and Frankfurt were ridiculously so. However, we found that we could use a high, but not obscene number of frequent flyer miles on American Airlines to fly to Denver via London.

We deliberated extensively… should we stick to our plan and risk getting stranded? We pulled the trigger.

The lockdown in Spain is harsh and we certainly understand why they are so strict, given the number of deaths occurring. But knowing that we could go to the US, where there are more than three times as many ICU beds per capita and, except for New York/New Jersey, the impact of the virus is much less severe, we knew we would very much prefer to be hospitalized there than in Spain, if it came to that. Plus, right or wrong, the ability to go outside for a walk or a run was extremely appealing. Except for Jim getting groceries two or three days a week, we literally had not left our apartment building at all.

To say we have mixed feelings about our return would be an understatement. We are absolutely looking forward to grocery delivery (only available in Spain for the elderly), walking outside, and the proximity plus support capacity of our friends and families. But we have enjoyed our travels these past many months so much that watching our “pit stop” in the US turn into an extended stay is disappointing. Especially with our next overseas trip now up in the air due to Japan's outbreak and the postponement of the Olympics. We can’t help but wonder how long we will have to delay the resumption of our itinerary and adventuring through the world.

Traveling To The US

Wednesday afternoon we booked our tickets, departing Barcelona the next day at 2:50pm. We immediately started packing and cleaning up the apartment for our departure. I don’t think either of us got a full, restful sleep that night.

Our Barcelona cab ride from our apartment to the airport.

Our cab ride to the airport required a minivan, since Spanish lockdown requires only one passenger per row of seating, in a z pattern to maximize social distancing: the driver on the left, the person in the row behind him on the right, the person behind them on the left. Masks are also required and our driver also wore gloves and had a plexiglass shield installed, separating the front section from us completely.

At the Barcelona Airport, every single employee had a mask and gloves and we were reminded regularly and verbally by them to maintain a one to two meter distance from others. Before we were allowed to go through passport control, we had to meet with a national police officer to be interviewed. All travel in Spain is restricted and must be “necessary” or you will be turned away. After explaining our circumstances and altered travel plans we were allowed through. Fortunately repatriation is considered “necessary” travel. We had considered going to Stockholm (Sweden being one of the only countries that hasn’t closed its borders) at one point but now I’m not sure Spain would have allowed it!

In the boarding area, the digital display showed just two flights that day and the airport was deserted. No businesses in the airport were open. Fortunately, we had assumed this and packed PB&J, cheese, veggies, and other snacks. Our flight from Barcelona to London was only about one-third full and everyone was seated spaced out as much as possible. I think every passenger was wearing a mask. Bottled water was given out but no other service was available.

We had just over an hour in London for our connection. It too was quite empty, though a bit busier than Barcelona, of course. A news stand was open with cold sandwiches for sale; no other establishments were open that we could find. Our flight from London had beverage service (no ice) and they handed out prepackaged sandwiches, cookies, and candies throughout the flight. They were very generous with these, since there were only ten passengers, including us (yes, we counted)!

Upon arrival at Dulles Airport near Washington, DC, we had to go through a health screening before we could proceed through immigration. We each completed a simple form asking if we had any symptoms and where we had been for the past two weeks. In addition, we submitted a form listing our contact information in the US so they could reach us if one of our co-passengers later tests positive. They took our temperature, gave us a quick recommendation to self-quarantine, then waved us through.

When they took our temperature for our health check, this was the info they provided.

We took a Lyft (driver had a mask but no gloves, no plexiglass, no social distancing) to our nearby hotel (plexiglass but no mask or gloves) and ordered food via DoorDash (food left in the lobby for me to pick up, never even saw the driver). Our first hot meal since brunch before we left our apartment in Barcelona!

Up at 3:30am and requested a Lyft at 4:40am to the airport. The nearest driver was 25 minutes away—there's just not many people commuting I guess! Despite the delay, we had no problem since there was no line for anything at the airport. We caught an early flight from Dulles to Dallas where we had a ten hour layover. This was the only option available between Dulles and Denver on American Airlines with only one layover! The flight from Dulles had about 25 people.

Fortunately for us, there were four restaurants open for takeaway food at DFW and a handful of news stands. Strangely, the duty free shop and Armani clothing store were both open. Even stranger, almost no service staff here are wearing masks or gloves. There are regular announcements about social distancing, with mixed compliance from what I can see. However the fast food checkouts do have plexiglass. While virtually all passengers in Barcelona and London wore masks, I’d guess that maybe 60-75 percent of those I saw in between Dulles, Dallas, and Denver did.

Canceled, canceled, canceled. Looks a little like the flight board in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Our final flight to Denver was completely full. There had previously existed four other flights that day to Denver, all of which were canceled. Ironically, while boarding, the gate agent (who wasn’t wearing a mask or gloves) kept repeating that we shouldnt group together and admonished us frequently to leave at least six feet of space between people. But as soon as we were in the plane we were packed in tight. They provided no drink service at all.

On arrival in Denver, the airport was very quiet but not as dead as I expected. Our extremely friendly Lyft driver (from Thailand but has been to all fifty US states and sounded more well traveled than us!) wasn’t wearing a mask or gloves. However, he did ask me to load our luggage into the car myself, so that he wouldn’t have to touch anything.

We're now settled into our very nice and comfortable condo and awaiting grocery delivery this morning. Although the condo has a few rolls of toilet paper, there was none available for grocery delivery. It’s a good thing we brought several rolls with us from Spain, where it was still plentiful (as well as some flour for baking 😊)! If things get tough, we’re lucky that several of our wonderful Denver friends have offered to bring us TP, flour, and any other hard-to-find items we might need.

Stay safe friends—and if you aren't essential, stay home!