January of 2020:
Hopeful for a wonderful year. A trip to Europe, a summer full of camping and four weddings, and Josh starting his new job.
March of 2020:
Coronavirus hits the US. threatening all the things we've been excited for. A virus impacting and infecting thousands around the globe, causing small business to shut down. Flights cancelled. Trips cancelled. Jobs lost. People losing loved ones. Weddings, birthday parties, social gatherings...cancelled.
No one saw this coming or expected to stay inside their houses for 1...2 months..more? But with all of the negativity floating around, there's ALWAYS a positive right? There has been SO much to be thankful for in this world and I'm taking this time to notice all of it and show you how precious, good thoughts can be. Lost jobs could mean more time with family and finding a new opportunity. Travel plans getting cancelled might mean finding creative ways to virtually see the world. Postponed weddings could mean more time for prep and planning before the big day if you were feeling overwhelmed. Trust me, I am very aware and mindful of all the setbacks happening in our lives right now, but I also remind myself that these things are temporary. I saw this quote the other day - "If you make a point to acknowledge your hardships without letting them consume you, then surprise! You're an optimist. You can't begin to discuss optimism without understanding resiliency." Truth.
European Adventure Cut Short ✨:
Luckily, this world wide web exists so we can all stay connected and share our stories and our virtual faces with the people we love.
If you've seen any of my previous posts, you might have seen another vlog of Josh and I's adventures but this one hits a little different. We spent months planning this and building excitement. It was going to be our first trip to Europe together before he started his job and we planned to visit 3 countries in 12 days (Germany, Italy, and France). Just a week before our trip, while the Coronavirus pandemic was getting worse, we cut out everything planned in Italy since Covid-19 cases were growing rapidly there, and re-routed to Greece instead. We were hopeful and confident our trip would still go smoothly even with the last minute changes.
With all of our belongings in a backpack, we flew out of Minneapolis to embark on what was thought to our most exciting journey yet. Once we landed at our layover in Iceland and finally got service, we were flooded with texts to come home or questions about what our plan would be to try to turn around. Apparently, our president made an announcement to suspend entry back into the US from Europe. However, this was only for non-US citizens so we were still okay to travel back. Some might have mis-interpreted the message and jumped to conclusions thinking we wouldn't be able to come back - but alas, we are proud Americans who were not in a rush to go back home if we didn't have to. ;)
Josh and I spent the first 3 days of our trip exactly how it was planned. We explored Munich on the first day - settling into our hostel and scoping out the best beer halls and our first German pretzel. The next day, we ventured to Fussen, Germany - which is the CUTEST town surrounded by mountains and castles. We explored the famous Neuschwanstein castle and the Hohenschwangau castle.
<<<< behold, Neuschwanstein! Right out of a princess movie.
Then we took a cable car up to a restaurant on top of the mountains and enjoyed Schnitzel for the first time with incredible views. Might have been my favorite part of the trip!!
I can't go without mentioning that traveling to Europe might be one of the best ways to get a workout in. We walked EVERYWHERE. We were averaging 25,000-35,000 steps a day. This just meant zero guilt in all the food and drinks we consumed, right? All about balance.
Fussen was a quiet town with so much character and a real German authenticity. I would recommend the 2 hour train ride from Munich to anyone. We were also SO lucky with the weather too. Forecast said rainy and cold - but as the day went on, we got pure sunshine. ☀️ I'm such a weather worrier, so this really made my day! Seeing the mountains on a sunny day makes such a difference.
Once we were back in Munich, we had one more day to spend there and then the next morning we were leaving for Greece. I was wearing the same outfit nearly every day in Germany since it was colder than I expected, so I was excited to head to warmer weather and break out some cuter outfits. ;) While we were not expecting to pay close attention to the news, we ended up having to watch it very closely considering things were changing day by day. And alas. We heard the news that Greece was shutting down all restaurants and shops the exact day we were supposed to arrive. Of course, we didn't want to experience our first time in Greece this way, so we decided to re-route and go to Amsterdam instead. We just didn't want to leave Europe!!! And Amsterdam seemed to be the safest (and cheapest) place to go. On our last day in Munich, we ventured to a local park to find out this was exactly what all the locals must do on Sundays because it was incredibly busy, and Munich seemed far from lock down. We strolled along many miles of paths, stumbled along a beer garden, played cribbage, rented bikes, and relaxed. It was a full day without wifi, service, or a care in the world.
We got back to our hostel later that evening and saw a message from our Airbnb host in Amsterdam, telling us the city decided to close shops and restaurants too. Our flight was early in the morning the next day. We were bummed, but not too shocked either. The world was closing down, and had to face that reality. We decided to throw in the towel and fly back home. Imagine us in our hostel lobby, planning the end to our trip on our phones and also cancelling plans and trying to get refunds. We contemplated flying somewhere in the US and then just road-tripping back home - anything to keep this vacation going. But in the end, flying back to Minneapolis was the best decision considering the constant changes.
The next morning we packed up our backpacks and headed back to the airport for a full day of travel. It was difficult to get into the mindset that we were actually already going back home after only 4 days in Europe. I wanted just one more coffee shop pastry, one more difficult conversation with someone who didn't speak English, one more bland bratwurst, one more day walking endlessly to find out we were lost. But - in the midst of the beginning stages of this pandemic in America, we honestly didn't expect it to get this serious. We landed in the US, got picked up from the airport, had to pack our bags again, and drove two hours north to spend 14 days quarantined at Josh's family cabin.
Each day we watched the news in awe at how this pandemic was unfolding. As I mentioned, there is still positivity in the unknown. I realized Josh and I's relationship is stronger than ever after all of this. We went through so many twists and turns and still managed to be on the same page about all of our decisions. We spent two weeks at a cabin seeing barely anyone but each other, and I still feel lucky to have spent so much time together.
With any situation of uncertainty, one thing is for sure. God is with us. We can talk to Him. We can still appreciate what He's doing and what is good. We can call a friend or family member. We can watch a sunset, a sunrise, the clouds in the sky knowing He brought us a new day to be thankful for. We will all travel again. We will see our friends and family again. We will find another job or eventually go back to work, learn new hobbies - or something we didn't know about ourselves. We can't control everything that's happening, but we can control our mindset and I believe there are a million little ways to remind ourselves of that.