Tomorrow morning on January 1st we were all set to get on a bus to go to Switzerland. Elza and I both needed to have negative antigen tests to enter into Switzerland. We took our tests in the am and both tested negative. At 4:30 today as we got ready to go explore Paris one last time Foster said his throat was hurting and Elza took his temperature. He had a slight fever so we tested him for Covid with some at home kits we brought. Sure enough, Foster has Covid. His symptoms are fairly mild and the other 3 kids all tested negative.
Needless to say this is really sad. We are not going to Switzerland tomorrow. We don’t really know what we are going to do. As of now we extended our stay at the Air BNB we are currently at. What will happen next? I really don’t know. We went into this trip knowing we would need to be flexible and also committed to being as safe as we could as we traveled. I know that there are some hard decisions ahead and I am dreading when we have to tell the kids that we wont be staying in an Igloo, and most likely will be headed home much sooner than later. Ultimately though I am grateful for my family and this chance we have to be together. I am grateful that Foster has mild symptoms, grateful for this lovely apartment, grateful for my kiddos who are staying incredibly positive throughout, grateful for good food and good wine, grateful for the resources to change plans and stay safe, and above all else grateful that I get to navigate this all with my my sweet wife.
FAQs:
1. Entry Requirements: Negative Test for parents required for entry to most EU countries. Negative tests for all travelers over 2 for entry into the US.
2. Why not just go to Switzerland? While Elza and I both have negative tests we have to verify that all of the kids don’t have symptoms and that we have not had close contact with a known case. Also sitting on a 3 hour train ride with the 6 of us feels like a recipe to potentially infect the other kiddos or Elza and I. Lastly and probably most importantly we really do not want to to anything that would put other people at risk.
3. What did you have left: We had 1 week train tour throughout Switzerland including a night in an Igloo and 1 week in Norway planned with Northern Light, Sled Dogs, and Fjord excursions and adventures.
4. What do you think you will do? We hope that we are able to get negative tests for everyone in the next few days and then we will most likely try and find flights back to the US as soon as possible. We really want to avoid getting stuck somewhere else in Europe as we need all 6 of us to have negative tests before boarding a flight to US.
5. Flights/ Refunds Etc: I don’t know if we will be able to change our flights back to states as we will probably fly out of a different country and 2 weeks early. I am calling American Airlines tomorrow. Wish me luck! As for refunds for Switzerland and Norway, some of the things will be full refunds and some will not.
6. Did you get extra wine? Yes, I got some extra bottles of wine for anyone who was worried.
Love and Happiness to All, Mike
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