Hello From Quarantine!

Hello from quarantine, where I've spent nearly two weeks with my boyfriend Claudio and my parents!

It's actually been a great experience (a million times better than the quarantine between March and May!) and it's been really nice to relax at home together. I've been working, but we've still had plenty of time to spend doing things like watching TV and movies, cooking and working out. And because the village where I live is quiet, we've been able to go out for daily walks without coming into close contact with anyone, so we've been to see my favourite neighbourhood stray cat a couple of times, and played football and done workouts in the park lots of times. I also turned 25 earlier this week, which I find slightly alarming(!), but I had a lovely birthday.

Even though my village isn't the most exciting place in the world, Claudio really likes it here and is enjoying discovering the way of life in the English countryside!

But all the same, we're not going to be hanging around here in Wiltshire for much longer! Next week we'll be going up to London on the train, where we'll spend a few days sightseeing. We've already booked trips on the river cruise and the London Eye!

Then we'll head to the airport and travel further north than either of us have ever been before, to Stockholm, Sweden! It looks like an amazing city and we're so excited to explore it. Just need to keep our fingers crossed that it won't end up being removed from the travel corridor list on Thursday...

We had quite big plans to explore Europe together (in particular France, Italy and Greece), which we thought would be possible by this point in the year. However, those plans will have to wait for another time. France remains on the quarantine list, so it looks like the only part of Paris Claudio will get to see is Charles de Gaulle airport...

But Italy is the big disappointment. Claudio's great-grandfather emigrated to Chile from Genoa, and we were really hoping to visit that city, along with Pisa, Rome and the Vatican City. So when Italy ended up on the quarantine list this week, we had to rethink our plans.

Greece, Sweden and Germany are the only three remaining European countries on the travel corridor list, and our first thought was to go to Athens and/or Santorini. But then I discovered that permanent residents of countries like Chile are not allowed to enter Greece, even from the UK.

Luckily, Sweden allows all travellers coming from the European Economic Area to enter, regardless of their citizenship. It also seems like a country that is handling the pandemic really sensibly, by allowing people to carry on living their lives whilst applying common sense at the same time. So yesterday we got our flights (flexible tickets) and hotel (free cancellation) booked and made a list of places to see in Stockholm! 

After we get back home, we'll have a few weeks left to explore places in the local area, including some that I've written about over recent months as well as some new ones. That is, of course, barring another national lockdown, which I'm praying doesn't happen, as it certainly isn't necessary down here in the South West, where cases are very low.

I'd hoped that Claudio's first trip to Europe wouldn't be as complicated and uncertain as this, but I guess that's just how things are at the moment. In future years, I hope we'll be able to visit France, Italy, Greece and many other countries together!

However, we're very happy to be able to travel in England and Sweden this time. And now there's only a few days to go until we start our next travel adventure! I can't wait to explore London and Stockholm, and to document our trip here when we get back!