Expat Life: Neither Here Nor There

 We are here now. Not there. 

Lake Chelan at Manson

'Here' being Washington State, tucked away in the Pacific Northwest corner of the United States. This is the land where we were born and raised; where we lived most of our adult lives. 

That is, until we decided to live a chapter of our lives 'there', in Greece.  

Our village in Greece, Agios Nikolaos

Thanks to time zone changes, we left 'there' Tuesday morning and arrived here some 20+ hours later on Tuesday evening. We are now in that afterglow period of international travel known as jet lag. It is a strange bedfellow to be sure. I chose the word 'bedfellow' on purpose because sleep, or lack of it, is for what jetlag is known. 

Autumn, a good time to be here. . .or there!

Now, in my third morning here, I continue to wake at 3:30 a.m. After an hour of tossing and turning, I get up having finally decided that I am not going back to sleep. No, I won't sleep until maybe noon when suddenly I simply can't keep my eyes open, my head drops to my chest and I am out for several hours. Those who've made similar long distant journeys know the feeling.

From one side of the world to the other

Jetlag is Real

Jetlag, is real and also known as desynchronosis or flight fatigue. According to my Google research, it is the result of:

• A disruption of circadian rhythm: a biological day and night clock. This occurs when the person travels to different time zones.
• Influence of sunlight- light affects regulation of melatonin
• Airline cabin pressure and atmosphere- changes in cabin pressure and high altitude could lead to jetlag

Land of Starbucks and Washington Wine Country

Cures for Jetlag

After warming up my second cup of coffee (it is now 5:30 a.m.) I began researching jetlag cures.  First suggested cure: limit caffeine. Not a chance! We are back in the land that gave Starbucks its start and I can't pass up the opportunity to get a java jolt from my old favorite. Second suggestion: avoid alcohol. What?! We are now in the heart of Washington Wine Country, walking distance to a dozen tasting rooms or wineries. . .so that isn't going to happen either.  Third suggestion (my own, btw): just live with it!  A couple more days and I'll settle in to the swing of things on this side of the world.  

We knew when we chose this foot-in-two-worlds lifestyle that jetlag would be one of the negative side effects of the choice.  What we hadn't considered when considering travel between our two slices of the world, was that a pandemic would hit two years into our adventure. We didn't even consider the ramifications after it hit . . .until we began traveling again. 

Those 20 Hours Between Worlds

Getting a test - step one for travel

I really had wanted to tell you that travel in these Covid-influenced times isn't much different than it was before the pandemic turned the world upside down. But travel is different and it probably isn't going to swing back to the old ways any time soon, if ever.  

Pretravel testing, and documentation are the keys to even being able to start an international journey these days. Then there are the protocols for travel.  Who would have thought that a year and a half later, we would still be dealing with such matters? Each member state of the European Union is grappling with how to handle U.S. travelers and the United Kingdom has all travelers running a bureaucratic gauntlet. The U.S. isn't yet welcoming non-citizen/resident card holder travelers from outside its borders. 

It is about the journey these days - (Beebe Bridge Chelan)

Airlines are juggling itineraries and schedules. We've started making travel plans as if throwing darts at a board.  We hope to hit the date we want, the bulls eye, but will take some outer ring should our dart fall short. We had segments of two versions of this trip cancelled before we finally hit on one that got us back: 

Our journey ended up being from Athens to London Heathrow then on to Seattle. Our same day travel on British Air had a 2.5 hour layover in London. Once that routing would have been 'a breeze', but not in these Covid-colored days. 

Columbia River - near Wenatchee, Washington State

We were flying from Greece, considered an 'amber country' (color is determined by number of Covid cases). It could have been worse as there are 'red' countries and it could have been better as there are 'green'  countries.  As an 'amber country' had we had a longer layover in London requiring us to leave the airport and spend the night (as we have often done in the past) we would have had even more testing requirements and possible quarantine. 

Because we stayed 'airside' (never leaving the terminal) vs. 'landside' (where you go through immigration) we had to have only one 'brain-tickler-up-the-nose' test prior to departure and several documents proving our health and providing contact tracing information.

Grape harvest is underway - wineries are busy

The contact tracing is done with a document called a PLF, passenger locator form. While Greece allows us to complete one of those per family, the United Kingdom requires one per person. That document when printed out was four-pages long for each of us. We had to provide not only flight numbers but seat numbers on those flights as well as the time, hour and minute of arrival.  

During our check-in process in Athens, we saw two individuals who were refused boarding passes until they could produce a completed PLF, in printed or digital form, for the UK. Now in fairness, British Air emailed us notice of the need for this document and those required by the US nearly every other day for two weeks prior to departure. Links to the documents were included in the emails. There is NO WAY anyone flying that airline couldn't have not  known they were needed.

I mention printed documents because airlines are now suggesting those over the mobile device because people searching for the documents, being unable to access them, etc. has slowed the check in/arrival document check process.  We noticed many -- ourselves included - now carrying file folders in airports.

Apples hang like ornaments this time of year

A negative rapid antigen test with the swab up the nose, is required to enter the U.S. and while the U.S. says it must be taken within three days before travel, the United Kingdom says 48 hours before travel.  The devil is in the details these days!

The U.S. also requires a signed and dated 'Attestation' form in which the traveler swears, or 'attests', that he/she has had a negative test. Those documents were collected in London prior to boarding the flight to Seattle.  Now it would seem they might want to see that actual test report, but no, they only wanted our sworn statement that we had tested negative. 

Blueberry fields forever - berry harvest was done weeks ago

Masks are required both in airports and on airplanes. It is a fact. Simple as that. I just read the U.S. is toughening its stance and upping the fines for those who refuse to wear masks. 

You honestly want to shout, "Score!!" and wave your fist in the air once the documents are checked and approved. Frankly, there was a comfort in knowing everyone on our 787 aircraft had tested negative and was wearing a mask.  It is something I am not sure of when shopping at the local grocery store, 'here' or 'there'.

Farmers Market - Chelan

Now that we are back to our roots we are looking forward to welcoming guests, seeing friends and exploring the area - all things Covid restraints limited on our last trip here.  The summer flurry of tourists has abated, pears are being harvested, apples hang like ornaments on trees, and just-picked wine grapes are being transported to local wineries. 

Hope you'll join us next week for a look at our slice of the Pacific Northwest. Our wishes for safe travels to you and yours And, as always, thanks for the time you've spent with us today. Safe travels ~

Linking sometime soon with:

Through My Lens
Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
My Corner of the World Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday

In Greece: Time to Travel! Or is it?

It is time for some real travel! Or so we have been telling ourselves since our last six-month-long 'hard lockdown' ended in Greece a few weeks ago. 

As we reported here in the last article, this pair of boomer-aged American expats were packed and on a Greek road (and ferry) trip within hours of the lifting of travel restrictions.  

Neighborhood traffic jam - The Mani

We know the change of scenery that we experienced on our 'ferry tale' trip to the Dodecanese islands seemed to replenish the souls and the spirits of these two aging vagabonds.  Our Peloponnese countryside is stunning, but it is great to be reminded of other stunning landscapes to be found in Greece. 

Being fully vaccinated, we didn't have to take pre-travel tests, and because we live here, didn't have to fill out Greece's mandatory PLF, Passenger Locator Form, required for all who enter the country.  We had to wear a mask in public areas, which is becoming second nature these days and we continued to use hand sanitizer as if preparing to perform surgery.

Mani coastline - Greek Peloponnese

As inspired as we were by that taste of travel, we remain hesitant to book any itinerary for outside Greece. And it isn't based on a fear of travel in time of Covid or of any of the health considerations being bantered around in traditional and social media.  It is simply based on the uncertainties of travel.

One of the many Greek ferry lines - Blue Star Ferries

Travel - A Game of Chance

Our hesitancy is fueled by the ever changing rules and regulations that countries are imposing and withdrawing as they try to reign in the spread of Covid and get their populations vaccinated. Planning a trip even a few months down the road has become a  game of chance.  

Reduced flights to Athens have kept the airport uncrowded

For example, we have a huge contingent of British citizens who come to Greece as regularly as Americans head to Hawaii, Florida, or Arizona for their vacation getaways.  Time and time again in recent days we have read of summer travel plans being dashed when flights between England and Greece were cancelled. Travelers report rebooking as many of two or three times and some have finally given up and are waiting until next year. 

(For those of you not following travel news on this side of the pond, England still has Greece on its 'amber' travel list which means a lengthy quarantine when getting back from a trip to Greece or if traveling to England for vacation from here. Therefore numbers of travelers are way down and flights are being cancelled as result.)

View of Dubai from the plane - we transited there in March

I am using England as an example but travel rules related to Covid, seem ever-changing everywhere  on an almost daily basis. Today's news briefs from the World Health Organization announced that Morocco was soon opening to tourists while the next headline announced Uganda was starting another lockdown.  Do you go or do you stay is a very real consideration among travelers.

The uncertainties of rules in countries that one might transit make it difficult for Americans trying to visit Europe as well. A good friend of ours, a seasoned traveler, hasn't given up travel plans - yet - but has delayed booking any flights to come see us this fall until headlines about rampant Covid variants and quarantines and cancelled flights in England have subsided.

You can't forget you are traveling in a time of Covid

We have a week to use in France that we rescheduled five times in 2020 and finally just held off booking a specific time for this year.  We'd considered using it later this month, but an article a few days ago in the Washington Post was so confusing about the rules for Americans entering that country -- whether from America or another European country --  that we decided just to table those plans for now. 

Canadian Rockies as we approached Seattle

A return to the States this fall is also in the talking stages at our house. The conversations no longer focus only on dates and prices but also on routings and Covid requirements.  While I have been writing this post, The Scout has found several options for flying between Athens and Seattle but as he read them off my responses have been questions not confirmations of a plan: 

'But, is Turkey open? Can we fly to Istanbul from Athens?'  (Turkey was closed because of Covid two weeks ago - keeping us from visiting it while on our 'ferry tale' trip.

'Vancouver? Vancouver, BC (Canada)? But Americans aren't allowed there are they, yet?' Even if allowed into and out of both countries now, it is difficult to plan a trip several months out when Covid manages to change things within days.

Celebrity cruise ship docked in Piraeus port

Tourism headlines here this week did announce that the first cruise ships have sailed from Greece, with a 70 percent occupancy. Forty ships are expected to arrive in coming months. Cruising -- before the pandemic -- created 12,000 jobs in Greece and brought in 500 million euros annually.

So for now our cruising will be aboard Greek ferries. The Scout is putting together another 'ferry tale' itinerary for us. Not quite sure which islands will make the cut but I'll tell you about them next week!

Greek islands - so many from which to choose

Travel in the Blogosphere

Our most recent 'trip' into that unknown world of the blogosphere to update the delivery system of TravelnWrite has ended. And hopefully the ending was a successful one - not the double or nothing I pondered as possibilities when that adventure began 

We are hoping that those of you who signed up to receive our posts as emails are reading this as such and that it arrived in your inbox only once having been sent from Mailchimp.  The email format is a bit different, actually better to our way of thinking, so maybe change is good. 

Planning a trip? If so where and when?

How about adding a comment or dropping us a note about  your travel plans - or lack of them due to Covid? I would also so appreciate a note from those 'subscribers' who have received the new email to let me know it came through loud and clear.

On that note, stay safe and have a good June whether you travel in real life or by armchair.  Thanks for the time you spent with us today ~

Expats in Greece ~ Carpe-ing the Diem

 Carpe diem - seize the day! Make the most of your time.  

Agios Nikolaos - our village in the Greek Peloponnese

A fellow Pacific Northwest traveler and writer friend, a few weeks ago observed that The Scout and I had made the right decision in 'Carpe-ing the Diem', seizing the day. He was referring to our move to Greece back in 2017 for an expat adventure in the Peloponnese before age and health prevented us from doing so.

Greece remains in lockdown

His comment was coincidentally made on the one-year anniversary of our first lockdown in Greece, (after the World Health Organization proclaimed COVID-19 a full-blown pandemic in March 2020), and while we were back in Washington State for the first-time in more than a year.

Back in Washington - travel in time of Covid

His observation has remained a little 'niggle' that surfaces every so often when I ponder if we really have been carpe-ing the diem or if we've sort of been lulled into complacency in this adventure by our seemingly endless Covid lockdowns. 

One of the reasons for living on this side 'of the pond' was to expand our travels and that certainly hasn't happened in the last year thanks to Covid limitations and in the year before as result of our residency permit renewal process that kept us in Greece.

Heading home to Greece

Many friends, both in Greece and the U.S., expressed surprise that we we came back to Greece after our month-long stay in our other world. Why would we leave a place where we could go anywhere we wanted, anytime we wanted (without texting for permission) and dine inside or outside restaurants, gather with friends. . .all the things we are still forbidden to do in Greece? 

Well, it just might be because we aren't yet done with this adventure. And really, in our minds, it isn't an adventure, it is simply a new place and new way of living. . .a good way to carpe those diems we still have left. 

A rather routine traffic jam in expat life

Our lifestyle in fact, really isn't that novel these days as the latest statistics show that we are among nine million Americans, a few hundred more than make up the population in the state of New Jersey, who are living as expats scattered about the world. 

We text for permission to leave our homes

Now that we are back in Greece and in our fifth month of our current hard lockdown - the second one in a year - I am looking at us with a more critical eye. I do think we have become somewhat complacent, maybe even numb, in our Greek village world.  

The village has literally become our world in recent months as travel restrictions keep us within our own municipality.  Our travel 'adventures' have become: Should we go to the grocery store AND get a cappuccino, (both allowed by texting '2' to the government) or save the 'to go' coffee until later in the week? Should we take the garbage to the community dumpsters now or wait a day to have another outing to which we could look forward? 

That daily humdrum was shaken up when we decided to go back to the States in March. Getting Covid vaccinations were high on our to do lists there and admittedly we -- like thousands of others -- are seeing the world a bit differently with the jabs completed. (Our expat friends here are still awaiting word of when they will be able to get shots here.)

So many places yet to visit. . .

While freedoms we enjoyed in the States were a great change of pace from here, it was really the trip to the States and back that got us thinking about the need to reactivate a quest for seizing each day.  Boarding an airplane, flying over countries that we want to visit someday, going through the motions of traveling again. . .that's what got us thinking, 'carpe diem!' 

The year that was and wasn't - Kardamyli beach

Luckily this year, that both was, and wasn't, as I prefer to think of it, may well be coming to an end.  Today permanent residents with roots in a number of other countries were allowed into this locked-down country without the need to quarantine if they can show either a negative Covid test or certificate of vaccination.  The removal of the quarantine restriction is a definite move forward.

Headlines tell us that French President Macron is talking with the White House about ways Americans will be allowed into France in coming weeks. In the Middle East Qatar Airlines is working on a type of vaccination passport.  Greek workers in the tourism sector are the next group slated to get vaccine here. 

There is not only a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, but the faintest of pulse beats as well. And that means only one thing: time to carpe diem!  

Greek islands that need to be visited. . .

It has been too long since we walked or drove aboard a Greek ferry and set off to explore new islands. That birthday trip to Morocco is now three year's delayed, and it is time to revisit those plans. And there was the talk of staying in a Bedouin camp somewhere in the Middle East last year and we can't overlook some of those cruises that were tempting us when the world seemed to quit spinning a year ago March. 

And we even have kicked the wheels in motion for some major changes at The Stone House on the Hill.  Yes, indeed, it is time we got back into the role for which we are known: carpe-ing the diem!

So how about you? How do you plan to seize the day as Covid releases its grip on your part of the world?  Leave a comment or drop us an email as we would love to hear from you! Thanks to all who responded to our call for comments on our last post!!

Our Covid world. . .not such a bad place!

Before I sign off this week bear with me as I have just a bit of 'blog housekeeping' to do:

I've been notified by Feedburner (the service that sends our this post as an email to many of you) that they will be discontinuing that service the first of July.  In the next few weeks I will be searching for a new 'distributor' and in a perfect world I will move you all to the new service with little disruption.  However I have a 'niggle' about this whole process so it could be a challenge. 

If posts suddenly disappear from your inboxes, please DO NOT assume I have quit writing the blog.  In the event you don't receive a post from me at least a couple times a month, please let me know by writing me at: travelnwrite@msn.com or if you are on FB, send me a message there.  Many thanks in advance for your help and your patience!

I plan to be back in two weeks with a new travel tale and do hope you will be as well! In the meantime, carpe diem!

Linking soon with:

Through My Lens
Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
My Corner of the World Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday

Travel to Greece ~ A Matter of Test and Time

We had 72 hours to get from Washington State to the arrival gate at Athens last week.  

The return trip back from our 'other world' turned out to be both a matter of test and time. 

Heading back to Greece

The time clock against which we were racing started the minute the swabs went up our noses for the PCR-Covid test and would stop when those results were presented to some official at the Athens Airport.

We'd returned to the U.S. Pacific Northwest as expats who had finally needed to address some deferred home-owning obligations and routine medical matters. We'd not been back in over a year - the longest we've ever been out of the country.  

We'd also given up waiting for vaccinations in Greece and had headed back to the States with getting vaccinated as the top priority on our list.  (Turns out that was a good thing as fellow expats haven't yet been allowed into the jab scheduling system in Greece.)

Last week, our 'to do' list was completed - it was time to return to our world in Greece. And it didn't take long for this White Knuckler to have far more things to fret about than keeping the plane in the air!

72 hours to make it with  time zones and overnight layers

As I mentioned in our last post, testing for Covid has become a major requirement of travel in this 'new normal' world. Unfortunately for the traveler, there is no uniform requirement for test report formats or timelines for obtaining the tests. Our trip illustrated that point well as there are very distinct rules for each of our country's, even though they seem very much alike at first glance!  

Greece's mandated negative test within 72 hours prior to arrival is much more daunting a timeline to meet when flying from the U.S. west coast than a test three calendar days before departure was when traveling to the U.S. 

PCR test in our Greek village

What that meant was: we could take the test at a lab in our Greek village on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and depart for the U.S. from Athens Friday afternoon. Because of time zones changes we arrived in Seattle the next day, Saturday, which was the same day we flew out of Dubai, (our connecting city). Three days were no problem.

Entering Greece with test  results obtained within 72 hours was a much higher hurdle: We lost a day, thanks to those time zones and Greece is 10 hours ahead of the U.S. West Coast.  That meant if we had the test on Tuesday at 8 a.m.in the U.S, we had to be back in Greece by 6 p.m. Friday (adjusted for time change). Our flight was scheduled to arrive at 3 p.m. which gave us a three-hour window for any potential delays. 

From Greece's PLF - required for entry

Greece also has two seemingly simple sounding requirements for those test results, but both became major concerns in the preflight dash:  1) the test results be printed on paper from an accredited lab or medical facility (that meant letterhead paper) and 2) our passport numbers were to be included on those reports.

Playing Beat the clock

Heading out over the Polar Route to Greece

In all fairness to Washington, a number of drive-through, do-it-yourself test sites were available. But those provided quick tests and Greece required the PCR, the one that involves a bit more scrutiny under the microscope. And the places we contacted that did those PCR's were limiting testing to those who thought they had Covid. They weren't conducting tests for travelers.  

 SeaTac International airport does have an on-site testing operation that claims to be for international travelers. But when we finally reached them by phone (that in itself a stressful matter) we were told that printing test results on paper wasn't 'normal', and that they were unsure the passport number could be added, but to check with those administering the test.  We couldn't take that chance - we needed, what we needed and an assurance at the time of making the appointment that we could get it.

A long day's night got longer while awaiting test results

There was also the matter of defining 'next day results' - when pressed on when the results would be available we learned their definition of  'next day' meant the results could come in by email by 11:30 p.m.-- potentially too late for our 5 p.m. departure.

(Here I must note that journalists on both sides of the Atlantic have been writing tales of travelers all over the world in much the same boat as we found ourselves: lab results being promised 'next day' but not soon enough for the traveler to make a  flight. But because of limits like 72 hours, tests often can't be done earlier because of travel times. Somehow we felt better knowing we weren't alone in being stressed.)

Rural Hospital to the Rescue

Heading out for testing in Wenatchee, WA

Most of you regulars here know that our home is in Washington State's rural agricultural region, a near four-hour drive to SeaTac Airport. It was at the regional hospital an hour's drive from us  that we finally booked our drive-through tests after being assured that results were 'next day' and if tested early enough, perhaps even same day! We rejoiced! 

We were the first car through the test site, on that day before our flight, however our stress level went up a notch or two when the lab technician preparing the nose swabs told us that test results could be 24- to 48- hours away because of testing volumes. 

The Devil is in the Details

Up in the Air over Test Result Format

The hospital came through for us and our results were emailed 2.5 hours after we took the test.  We had paper copies of the results in our hand 4.5 hours after the test. We remained moderately stressed though as there was no way to include our passport numbers on those results.  Especially knowing that  Greece often wants identification going back to our father's and mother's names and birthdates, so we weren't at all sure our tests would be accepted by officials. . .even though on the bright side - they were negative!

Take Off and Landing

An overnight in Dubai was part of the return itinerary

The PCR test results, our Greek residency permit and the Greek-required Passenger Locator Form were all checked closely in SeaTac prior to boarding our flight to Dubai. Because our connecting flight was the next morning and we entered Dubai by leaving the airport there our Covid test results were scrutinized twice upon landing and again the next morning when we returned to the airport prior to boarding the flight to Athens. 

Thankfully, no one along the way questioned the lack of passport number.

As we disembarked in Athens (on time so within the 72 hour limit) I had test results in hand to show the first official who asked for them.

Nobody asked to see them! 

No one! 

Nada! 

Instead, we all were paraded through a temporary medical testing station and random Covid tests were administered.  The Scout was one of many selected for testing. Then we were sequestered in a holding area until test results were known. Luckily, no one tested positive, we were free to collect our bags and leave.

However other travelers report having to show test results upon arrival. And we'd have never gotten on the plane without them. So test results whether reviewed here or not are key to entering Greece

 So, what?

Back Home in the Mani - Greek Peloponnese

I suspect if you made it this far, you might be wondering why I even told this story. We'd made the decision to travel in a time of Covid and we knew their would be hurdles.  However, we didn't anticipate how stressful getting over those testing and timeline hurdles would be and we wanted  our experiences to help you to be prepared for such requirements when you start traveling again.

We were gobsmacked by how difficult it was to find testing sites and the cost of them in our corner of the United States. Our test in Greece was 60 euros per person or $71US.  The tests offered at SeaTac were $179 (next day) and $350 (one hour results) per person. The test we had cost $218 per person. Had we been delayed for any reason and had the test again in Dubai it would have been another couple hundred dollars per person.

European Union considering Vaccination Passport

And I tell our testing tale  because right now Greece and other members of the European Union are considering Green Vaccination Passports, a uniform piece of identification issued by each country in the union with a 'Q' code that verifies the holder has been vaccinated and can travel without further testing or quarantine requirements.   

President Biden has repeatedly said the U.S. government is not interested in issuing such passports.  So we travelers vaccinated in the U.S. will be limited to the CDC testing cards we had stamped at time of the jabs and any state records that might show vaccinations we've had.  

If Greece and other EU countries don't accept those documents, then there will be continued requirements for having had a negative test to enter the country: the test and the race against time will continue. 

Our Greek Village Agios Nikolaos

That's our story for this week. We are happy to be back at our Stone House on the Hill.  We are now in the fifth month of Greece's second lockdown. It is not surprising that 'Lockdown Fatigue' is being mentioned more and more in the headlines here.  How is life going in your part of the world? Leave us a comment or send us an email, we'd love to hear from you!  

Linking soon with:

Through My Lens
Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
My Corner of the World Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday

Normal - a matter of perspective

We've passed the mid-point in our Pacific Northwest stay. The month we allotted ourselves here is slipping by as rapidly as did the year we spent in Greece before working up our courage to tackle a trip back during a time of Covid-19.

Lake Chelan and its Butte - Washington State

This is 'normally' the point in our U.S. visits where we start daydreaming of those Greek salads and other foods we are missing and the tavernas where we will eat them, the people we want to get together with as soon as we return, and the places we want to go after we get back. 

Greek Salad

Instead of daydreaming about what we will do once we get there, we are planning how to accomplish the steps required to return to our expat life in the Greek Peloponnese: Where to get the Covid-19 test, a requirement for travel as well as entry into Greece? Timing the submission of the PLF, passenger locator form, to meet another of Greece's Covid-related requirements for entry into the country. Making sure the residency card is ready to display, as only Greek citizens and residents traveling from the US are allowed into Greece right now. . .again, thanks to Covid.

'Normally' time to start planning more Greek adventures

That's not the case this year. 

What we 'Normally do' went out the window when the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic a year ago.

Government SMS sent a year ago still applies

One year later, Greece remains in its second multi-month lockdown. This one began the first week of November. It, like the first lockdown in the spring, has closed most everything, other than businesses like pharmacies and grocery stores which are deemed essential services. For a time Greek authorities reduced movement to a two kilometer radius of one's home which pretty much allowed us to get to the pharmacy, grocery store, and gas station in the village. A nighttime curfew remains in place. We still need to text the government to get permission for 'movement outside the home'.

'You've been  able to sit outside at a taverna, haven't you?' asked a friend here in our US who had visited us in Greece. 

Dining out in the village before the Nov. lockdown

'Not since last October. And we've not been allowed to sit inside a restaurant or taverna since last March when the first lockdown began,' I replied, noting that for a time we could stand in parking lots or at the side of the road, consuming 'to go' items. 

Somehow when we were in Greece, the lockdown started to feel so 'normal', so accepted by all, that things like texting for permission to leave the house, didn't seem as harsh as they sound when I am sipping wine at a nearby winery in Washington State describing those measures to friends here. 

Athens Airport Feb. 26 - no problem distancing here

However, in Greece citizens and residents are getting restless. Media headlines there call it 'lockdown fatigue'. Last spring the lockdown kept Covid numbers low, but that hasn't been the case the second time around. The numbers of Covid cases continue to skyrocket, and intubations are at an all-time high. The Greek authorities struggle with how to open the country and jump start the economy and tourism, while the health system remains overwhelmed with patients. 

Those same authorities continue to grapple with how to vaccinate their thousands of expats who call Greece home. A measure to set up a system is, or was, being debated in the Parliament (stories differ as to whether it continues or has been decided). Then if/when passed, a system will be put into place to apply for the vaccination. Then a schedule to get the vaccination.

In all fairness, it isn't just Greece, expats in Spain are experiencing similar obstacles to getting jabs.

A Taste of Normal

Our roots are planted in Washington State

We arrived in Washington State -- that one tucked up in the furthest northwest corner of the continental states -- and the place our US roots are planted, during what is called, Phase Two.  That is pandemic jargon for the gradual steps being taken to reopen and try to return to 'normal' here.

Our return to the U.S. was finally prompted by a lengthening to-do list here including the need to finally have several 'annual' but long-over-due medical appointments as well as to seek out and hopefully get Covid-19 vaccinations. We will have checked every item off that to do list after we receive our second Pfizer shots on Monday.

We were among eight people here on a weekday night

Phase Two requires wearing masks in public and social distancing. Most retail stores are open. You can dine and drink inside or outside, with capacity limits of 25 percent inside for those places that have reopened, however a number of restaurants remain closed. You can travel where you want, when you want. By the time most read this, the State will be implementing Phase Three which will allow 50% inside and open some of the non-essential facilities that are still closed. 

There are many in this state not happy with these current mandates and they make their unhappiness known on social media, printed signs, and in everyday conversation.  Most abide by the rules even if they grumble about them.  We are not empathetic. 

Sunday morning drive around Manson

From our perspective, we feel like we have landed in Disneyland!! We are kids in a candy store!! We don't have to text for permission to walk into the village for coffee.  We can go to any of the dozen wineries around us and sit there and sip wine.  We have dined inside five times since arriving back. (And I might add have always felt well-distanced from other diners and servers wore protective gear, masks and gloves and cleaning seemed a constant.) 

Sitting inside a coffee shop is a treat!

Seeing friends and family has been a highpoint of the trip. While the days of greeting each other with hugs and kisses are over, just seeing people again, hearing their voices and being face-to-face has been the shot of adrenalin we needed. We miss that social interaction with friends in Greece.

 Normal is as Normal Does

Highway sign in Greece

We are surprised at how quickly we adapted to this freedom of movement and being among people again. It will be interesting to see how quickly we re-adjust to not having those freedoms in Greece.  Who knows? Perhaps by the time of our return, it will have returned to 'normal'. . .whatever that might be, these days?

Thanks for being with us today. We wonder how you are handling your current 'normal' in the world of Covid? How about telling us in the comments or shooting us an email?

Linking sometime soon with:

Through My Lens
Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
My Corner of the World Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday