Tourism during the Pandemic

No doubt as polarizing a topic as any. We have been to Italy many times, but our one week visit during the Pandemic was the most visceral and touching. We left as things were locking down again, abroad and here at home on the west coast of the US. But this time, instead of signing on their balconies, many Italians protested government measures in the streets, criticized the lack of advanced preparedness, and chanted for Liberty and the ability to work. It has been a wild year, and I have participated in both sides too - the proverbial balcony ballads and the argumentative desire for liberty and wiser governance.

To get to Italy as tourists, we had to spend two weeks in Turkey, then two weeks in Malta, and then were allowed in. We were often approached by Italians - who hadn’t heard or talked to Americans since March - with tears in their eyes, grateful and thankful that we were there. We were teary eyed daily, humbled, torn, grateful. We walked the Spanish Steps alone, drank espresso at Trevi Fountain with barely a soul in sight, wandered the Coliseum with plenty of social distance and walked circles in the Pantheon. I thought I might never leave, but this short week was one of my favorite travel experiences yet, and the very reason this site is so important to me. Across much of the globe we are being asked to stay at home to stall the spread of Covid, but others are going without paychecks and suffering in devastating ways. I am cognizant of the fact that having a travel experience in 2020 is at best a novel luxury, and at worst flippant and dangerous and insensitive. I am grateful for the experience to be a witness during this unprecedented time and don’t take that gift lightly.

Truffle hunting in Tuscany, Belmond San Michele outside Florence, harvesting olives, and wandering glorious Rome.