Covid has left me depressed.
No surprise. It’s left half the world depressed. But for someone like myself, who has spent her life making trips - this period of enforced solitude has started to wear me down emotionally. I’ve been in Israel for over a year without leaving the country - the longest period of time I’ve ever sat still. Save for a couple of trips out of town, I’ve stayed based at home, in Tel Aviv. Here I have my creature comforts, my book collection and access to doctors. This seems to be a sensible thing to do in the midst of a pandemic - not wander too far from a modern medical facility.
But it’s been months now since I’ve been double vaccinated (Israel was a world leader in this respect) and I’m itching to escape. Friends of mine have already taken the plunge - a visit to family in London, a mini-break in Georgia, a week in Hungary (with a ticket to see France play Portugal in the Euros thrown in for good measure).
They all return to Israel glowing. They have changed their routine, eaten unusual food, and their brains - accustomed to the same sights in the last year - have been stimulated.
I have to get out.
But where? There are so many counties now on Israel’s ‘Red List’. Even if I felt safe going to them I wouldn’t be allowed.
I’m dying to visit Argentina, Russia, Japan and Vietnam. All no-nos. The UK, where I grew up, is approaching ‘Freedom Day’ which I view with dread. So maybe not London. And despite the fact that I’m a world traveller, and little scares me once on the road, Covid has left me nervous. I settle on Germany and then Italy. I’ll take a sojourn in Munich and enjoy some Bavarian ‘gemutlichkeit’ and then go and visit one of my oldest friends, who married an Italian. Along with their two kids, they’re running a working farm in the Tuscan hills. I’ve lived in Germany before - I know the country. I’ve visited Italy many times and my friend is like a sister to me. I’ll feel safe, cosseted, protected. In such strange times, baby steps are what is needed.
I travel to Ben Gurion airport, for the obligatory Covid test, 72 hours beforehand, just to confirm I’m negative. It’s a sobering site - the arrivals area (which normally would be packed but, since February 2020, no tourists have been allowed into Israel), is completely empty. ‘Welcome to Israel…’ indeed.
Now the test result is back, I allow myself to become excited. When I was young, I regarded flying as something glamorous. As I grew older, I realised how tedious it could be - crowded airports, cramped aircrafts, interminable waits at passport control on arrival. But now, after a year of staying home, I can’t wait. I’m positively overjoyed at the idea of joining a queue or two…and seating up into the sky, way above the Tel Aviv coastline.
The morning comes. I hope on the train and nod reverently to the statue outside the airport entrance, which I like so much.
Inside, the airport is busy and staff are exhausted - there’s so much more paperwork to deal with now. After I’ve shown my Vaccination Certificate, 72 hour negative test and filled out my arrival details on the EU website, I’m handed a boarding pass and I clutch hold of it, like a child clinging to its favourite cuddly toy. For me, it’s literally a ticket to freedom. It’s gold dust.
I wander through the Ben Gurion, savouring the Duty Free stores (which I browse in, keeping a wary two metre distance from others). I purchase a coffee and some reading material for the flight - a time-honoured tradition of mine. The title of the book Is ‘Pandemic’ by Robin Cook - an author I like, who writes medical thrillers, and penned this in 2018, not knowing what was ahead! Some people might think this strange - maybe it is - but I know I’ll enjoy every page of it…
As I sip at my coffee and look around, I think about how I took all of this for granted, for so many years - how casually I used to book a flight and hop on a plane - back in the days, when it was all so simple.
I still can’t quite believe it when my flight is called at the gate. I won’t be completely sure I’m off until the plane gathers speed. But the line forms and we pass through, onto the shuttle bus and then arrive at the aircraft.
I take my window seat, get comfortable and lean back.
I have missed this view.
Yalla Israel - I love you but I really need to hit the road…
