Traveling In Italy During The COVID19 Outbreak

Crazy times – traveling in Italy during the COVID19 outbreak.  Little did I know when I posted about traveling to Italy that the adventure would be as full of craziness as it was.  My BFF and I arrived in the beautiful city of Milan on Saturday the 22 of February.  On Sunday the 23rd COVID19 hit the news and placed a halt on museums, gyms, sporting events and schools in the Lombardy region.  Before I continue I want to say this virus did not dampen our time or ruin our holiday in Italy!

Gritti Palace Riva Bar – Venice

The truth of the matter is we only missed one event that we had purchased tickets for, DaVinci’s “Last Supper”. We had one other tour cancelled but were able to replace it with a fab private food tour of the Brera area of Milan.

Brera – Milan

At this time my heart is breaking for friends I have in Milan, Bra and the Cinque Terre areas.  Lockdown for them is real and it is not good.  No work for many is devastating – how do we pay rent, insurance premiums, phone bills, without work?

I fear the same could happen here in the U.S. as well.  Already there are many closures of schools, sporting events, theaters, museums, etc..  Apparently none of the local grocery stores or big box stores have any paper products remaining.  I have chosen to self quarantine for the recommended 14 days, even though I was not advised by the airlines or anyone upon my arrival back in the U.S.  When I inquired with my primary care physician I was told to contact my county heath department.  I spoke to two different nurses there and both said, “if you are not showing symptoms we won’t test you”.  They also told me that I was not required to quarantine myself, but I do not want to be “that person” so I choose to.

Sunset at Duomo Piazza – Milan

I am grateful to be able to stay home and work on editing my 1000+ photos from my most recent trip.  I am also planning a trip to Italy for 2021 with the same friend.  We are great traveling partners! However, being out of work for these 14 days presents it’s own challenges I will do as I always do and make the best of it!

Bergamo, Italy

Here is a general synopsis of how we made our way traveling in Italy during the COVID19 outbreak.  I will be writing more specific posts on the places we visited soon.  First of all we based ourselves out of Milan.  We chose a spacious apartment a little out of the city center.  Learning to traverse the city like a local was so much fun.  I quickly learned the bus and metro system as well as many trips to Milano Centrale to take trains for our day trips.  We really felt like locals by getting around the city this way.  I am pretty sure we never really passed as locals but who cares – it was a memorable part of our trip.

Sunset from my bedroom window in Milan

From Milano we did two overnight trips.  First, to Lake Garda and the tiny town of Sirmione, known for it’s healing thermal waters.  Taking the waters at Hotel Olivi was definitely at the top of “best” adventures.  A few days later we took a train to Venice and stayed in a hotel, formerly a palace dating back to the 17th century.  WOW is all I can say! Ai Reali di Venezia –  Take a peek here.

Sirmione – Lake Garda, Italy

Canal side of Al Reali Hotel – Venice

We chose several day trips to various towns all about an hour from the central train station in Milan.  We visited, Lake Como, Verona, Bergamo, and Lake Lugano in Switzerland!  The beauty of train travel in Europe!  I will share the highlights of all of these places as each offers an adventure of it’s own.  I’ll also do a post on the doors of Italy as you might imagine there were many beautiful doors to photograph!  Oh, and the food!  So much delicious food and coffee!

Daily cup of cappuccino

Before I end this story I want to share with you how our departure went.  We were scheduled to depart from Milan Malpensa around 9 on Monday morning.  The day before we went online and received our boarding passes.  We felt like we were safe to come home.  We left the apartment and headed to one of our favorite areas, Brera, for lunch.  Around 4 pm we received email notices that our flight was cancelled.

The restaurant owner immediately noticed the distress we were feeling and suggested we reroute through another country.  I quickly called United Airlines and asked to be rerouted through another country and on into the U.S.  I must give kudos to United as we were easily and without charge flown to Munich, Germany on Lufthansa. From there we boarded a United flight bound for Washington Dulles.  From Dulles we flew to our respective homes of Texas and North Carolina.

We were not tested or questioned in Milan before boarding the flight to Munich.  In Munich we went through 5 passport check points.  We also passed through customs here and were happy to get passport stamps! At the last checkpoint we were questioned if we had been to China or Iran.  “No”. We were told to have a nice day and sent on to board the flight.  Upon arrival in Dulles we went through U.S. customs without any testing or questions.  Neither of us were queried or tested before boarding our flights home.  The whole process was easy for us but I question why we were never tested for fever or asked where we had been, etc….I’ll let you form your opinions and would love to hear your comments!

Aperol Spritz – Lake Como