In early May, Lisa Scimens and her husband John Moss were delighted to finally embark on a European odyssey to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. They had planned to do the trip in March 2020 before the pandemic killed the trip.
The Oakland couple left on May 8 to spend nine days in Paris, followed by a week in Berlin and two weeks in London.
But what started out as the perfect trip ended with Scimens and Moss being quarantined at a hotel in Germany with COVID-19, unsure of when they’ll be able to get home.
As travel ramps up for the summer, tourists are negotiating how to safely navigate COVID abroad, only to find the pandemic still has the power to upend plans and spoil vacations.
“Travel is still a little bumpy right now,” said Deb Siegle, a travel agency in Belmont. “But if you’re not feeling well, (I tell customers), let’s start planning for 2023 so there’s still something to look forward to.”
Less than two weeks into the trip, Scimens and Moss were in Berlin when Moss, 66, came down with a bad cold. Two days later, Scimens, 59, developed a runny nose and cough.
The Oakland couple, who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and double boosted, shared another memorable dinner at Tim Raue, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Berlin, before symptoms of scimens worsened.
The next morning, May 21, they took COVID tests at home. Both were positive. They went to a COVID clinic two blocks away to retest to be sure. Positive.
Since then they have been isolated in their hotel in Berlin, their journey derailed. And Scimens warns others that this may not be the best time to travel.
“Please wait,” she wrote in an email. “The world will still be here once COVID is truly under control.”
To return to the US, all travelers 2 years and older must present a negative COVID test taken within 1 day prior to departure, or those who have recovered from COVID-19 but still test positive may come with return to the United States with a positive test result and “documentation of recovery,” including a letter from a healthcare provider or public health official authorizing you to travel.
Bay Area travel agents like Siegle say they are advising customers when they travel to pack extra masks and plenty of prescription drugs. They also advise travelers to wear a mask indoors and avoid crowded interiors.
Siegle said despite the risks, people would want to travel because they felt “locked in”.
Chris Elliott, a consumer advocate specializing in travel, said he’s hearing from more and more travelers getting COVID while traveling, but there are no reliable statistics on how common it is.
He said travelers should know the risks and check the State Department’s travel website before leaving. He agreed with Siegle that travel insurance and medical evacuation insurance, when possible, are the way to go. If you’re at high risk, stay closer to home or don’t travel, he advised.
Experienced travelers
Scimens, a retired executive producer on ABC 7, and Moss, a lawyer for a tech company, told The Chronicle they traveled all over Europe and to Japan, China, Singapore, Bali, South America and Mexico before the pandemic.
They have no underlying medical conditions that increase their risk of COVID, Scimens said, and they are “usually very healthy.” However, she acknowledged they are in an older, more vulnerable age group and knew it was possible they could contract the coronavirus. She said many of her friends have been making trips to Europe since mid-March and some have contracted COVID.
(What if you get COVID during your summer trip? How to minimize travel risks.)
From dream to quarantine
Still, they were determined to go. The couple celebrated their anniversary in Paris, visiting top attractions and eating great food.
Scimens believes they got infected in Paris because “other than Uber drivers, it was rarely seen anyone wearing a mask.” She said they were among the few people masked in two museums they visited, and train passengers from Paris to Berlin were also mostly maskless.
Once in Berlin, the couple bought a five-star hotel, she said, so the quarantine wasn’t bad.
Still, Scimens was surprised at how relaxed the staff was, even after they knew her diagnosis. She said her husband always warned room service and cleaning staff that they had COVID and that 90% of the time they still showed up maskless. Receptionists don’t wear masks either, she said.
On Thursday morning, Scimens said, she woke up feeling worse. She “coughed a ton”. Her husband called the front desk and asked for a doctor.
The doctor arrived at the hotel and found that Scimens had bronchitis. “He gave me a shot of cortisone to protect my lungs and a prescription for antibiotics along with two other medications.”
While her husband has been working for the last few days, Scimens has been reading to pass the time.
Some advice
When the test results came in, Scimens said she and her husband were “both disappointed but kind of expected it given how ‘C’est la vie’ everyone seemed to be.”
She said they plan to only do road trips in California for the foreseeable future.
“We live in a beautiful state and we never tire of exploring it,” she said.
Scimens said the couple didn’t have travel insurance and could easily change their reservations and flights. The only non-refundable part of the trip was a Cotswalds Garden Tour. She hopes that the company owner will allow her to return next year.
Regarding the possible continuation of her journey after her recovery, Scimens said she is a realist.
“We will both be on a plane back to our comfortable home in Oakland, our young adult daughter and our two adorable King Charles Cavalier Spaniels, once we have negative antigen tests,” she said.
Annie Vainshtein contributed to this report
Kellie Hwang is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @KellieHwang
