We travel often, at least two to three times per year. In 2019, we went on two big trips to Asia: China in June and Japan in October. So it wasn't unusual for us to plan a trip in...
We travel often, at least two to three times per year. In 2019, we went on two big trips to Asia: China in June and Japan in October. So it wasn't unusual for us to plan a trip in early 2020. In early 2020, we found a great deal to fly down to Los Angeles, so we booked the trip for the end of February into early March. It was a Disneyland trip. We were excited to visit Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
Little did we know this would be our trip for the next year and a half.
Here's our COVID travel story.
Our Disneyland trips are a whirlwind. We jump in head first, and we leave before we can get comfortable. We flew down to Los Angeles on Thursday night, and on Friday morning, we were at Disneyland's front door. Luckily, when we do Disney, we go hard. We start off running like the hare (like the classic telling of the Tortoise and the Hare), eating all the food we can, going on all the rides we can - and buying all the things we can. We slow down after a couple of days, but by Saturday night, I was not feeling well. I had a sore throat and I didn't know why. Nobody I knew was sick. I thought I just was worn out from work, and tired from not taking a breath before jumping onto the plane midweek. That evening, I even requested soup noodle for dinner (outside of the park). On Sunday, I had shortness of breath and I definitely was in no shape to be spending 12-hour days at the park. My body was aching. My husband teased me that my age was finally catching up and I was no longer a young spry. We left the park multiple times during the day so I could rest, and by the time the fireworks were on, I was in bed. I struggled through the next two days. Truthfully, I couldn't wait to go home. We were worried I would actually get turned away on our flight, because I had a terrible cough and I had lost my voice. I had no idea if I had a fever, but I was definitely very sick. To be safe, I masked up during the flight. We returned home late on a Tuesday night.
The next day, I went to my walk-in doctor, who immediately said I probably had coronavirus (what it was known at the time). He did a swab test on me (excruciatingly painful, I might add) and sent it to the CDC for testing. Unfortunately, at the time, in Canada, the belief was that you would only be at risk if you travelled to/from Iran or China. The United States wasn't on the list. The CDC threw out my test, and I was never diagnosed. As a precaution, I stayed home for the next two weeks, and for the next eight days, I had the worst body fatigue, cough, hot sweats, and cold chills of my life. I had no appetite and I was in bed the entire time. I have never been so sick. My husband became ill a week after me. By the time I felt better, and was ready to return to work - it was March 16, 2020. The entire world had shut down.
For context, I had been in close contact with international clients at work a week prior to my first symptoms. It's possible that I caught something from work or I could have caught something from someone on the flight to Los Angeles, or I just had a bad case of the flu. Regardless, I will never know if I had COVID-19 in March 2020. Between you and I, I think I did.
Here's a few pictures from our trip to commemorate the last trip we took before the world shut down.
