Pandemic Travels

 As the world continued to reel from the effects of COVID-19 it became clear, in late April, that my trip (scheduled to depart at the end of May) to the Balkans was not going to happen.  I was incredibly disappointed that my long awaited trip to Croatia would not materialize and yet relieved that the decision on if I should still go was out of my hands.  With that trip post-poned to 2021, and vacation time to use, I scrambled to find a pandemic-friendly alternative.  Flights to Aruba were relatively cheap and who doesn't love a week at the beach?  But oh, what a roller-coaster just to get here.  Our first set of flights, on Spirit Airlines, were cancelled so we had to try to get our money back; the the rules about open/closed borders seemed to change week-by-week.  The accommodations I had booked were non-refundable so we decided to take our changes and book another set of flights.  Blessedly, my cousin did some research and found out that we had to get COVID tests prior to our arrival (I was just planning on showing up, we had a place to stay, what more did we need?).

We had our plans in place and about a week before we were to leave I decided I'd better read up on this Covid testing process and I realized our plan was fatally flawed.  Aruba was only accepting 1 type of test, the PCR test. In our area getting a PCR test is not that easy and even if you get one the results take 5-7 days.  Aruba was requiring you to be tested and upload your results within 72 hours of your arrival in their country.  If you do not do this you have to pay them $75 and they will test you at the airport.  You then have to go straight to your hotel and quarentine in your room until you get the results.  We were going to pay $90 here in the U.S. for a Rapid Test, but further digging revealed that it wouldn't be a PCR test, and therefore would not qualify...  

Well, it took a really long time to get out of the airport.  They were only allowing small groups into Customs & Immigration (despite the customs area being designed to handle large crowds), but I eventually managed to get my 2020 passport stamp and we headed off to baggage claim.  Another long line to get everyone through the bag X-ray and then on to the medical screening.  Once there the test was quite fast (since we'd paid already) - fast, but not comfortable at all.  A throat swab and a nasal swab, a little packet of face masks and they sent us to our apartment to await our results.

Bananas Apartments was landscaped to perfection and the Dutch caretakers were lovely - pandemic perk: we had the entire place to ourselves!  Our flight had left very early in the morning, so we were exhausted by the time we arrived.  Thanks to an hour spent in the pool we managed to stay up until 9pm.  I was keeping my fingers crossed that our test results would be in overnight and we could pick up our third member at the airport the next day with a clear conscience....