Having returned from Italy just a few weeks ago as the coronavirus just started to put the city on lockdown, I am beginning to come to terms with the new world order. Walking around Milan at a time when it would typically be bustling with tourists in town to attend Milan Fashion Week events, only to be greeted by empty streets and deserted cafés was shocking. Even more shocking or appalling, I’m not sure which, was the occasional fashionista in her mink coat and surgical mask bearing a fake Gucci logo, making a mockery of the whole situation…only in Milan. Even the majestic Duomo stood powerless against the mighty coronavirus, it’s ornate doors closed indefinitely. The only signs of life were the dozens of food delivery bicycles enjoying the anomaly of traffic-free streets.
The flight home from Milan was even more sobering, being surrounded by people uttering muddled Italian through their surgical masks and tension rising each time someone would cough or sneeze. Children played in the isles with their Mickey Mouse t-shirts on in hopes that once escaping the grim reality of Milan, they would soon be greeted by the welcoming gates of “the happiest place on earth” complete with a dancing mouse and other assorted Disney cartoon characters. I was going home, others were escaping the reality that was their home.
Even trying to sleep on the eleven hour flight back was nearly impossible since fear and anxiety permeated my thoughts as to what was waiting for me once the flight landed. I had tossed and turned the night before in our hotel room at the airport since the last thing we wanted to do was stay in Milan’s city center. I pictured the next two weeks of my life being spent in some basement storage room of Miami International Airport, serving as a make shift quarantine for all the passengers on my flight.
Everyone on the flight had already implemented social distancing even before it had become an everyday term, with one person spread across an entire row, eliminating as much contact as possible. The flight attendants tried to limit contact with the passengers as much as possible and would grudgingly provide service swiftly and cautiously, only as needed. No refills or warm cookies on this flight!
I was glued to the screen showing the flight progress, eagerly anticipating arriving home in Miami however, I was equally dreading what that could potentially mean regarding quarantine procedures. It was no doubt the right thing to do since we were flying back just days after the outbreak in Milan and across the entire Lombardy region. We had been skiing four hours away in the Dolomites, in what seemed like a parallel universe however, the drive back to Milan was quite sobering. We had stopped in Verona for lunch and made it out just as they began shutting off the streets in and out of the city.
It was an absolute dream of a vacation with perfect weather, perfect skiing and incredible food. And it all came to a screeching halt. “Ladies and gentleman, please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing” came over the loudspeaker as the flight attendants scurried back to their seats. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and enjoyed what I thought might be my last few moments of freedom before being swiftly escorted into quarantine.
JaDee Guidice 