It’s day three and we’re somehow managing to get a grip of things. To tell you the truth, it’s better than we expected.
My family and I arrived into Preveza Airport on Sunday night and just before we left the airport, two out of five of us were asked to do a COVID test. We were promised to receive a call that night if we were positive; otherwise we would receive no such call.
Monday arrived and we still had no call from the Greek Civil Protection. We took this as great news and went about with our adventures.
However, on Tuesday whilst we were basking in the sun and sea at the Agiofili Beach, I received a call from Athens. It turns out my results came back as positive. I had no symptoms and was feeling as healthy as ever. Our enjoyment soon turned into a dreadful scene with all of us packing up our stuff at the beach to make our way back to our villa where we were originally staying.
So much was going through my mind at this point and right at the top was both the financial impact and educational impact on all of us. We’d have to keep our hired car, book new flights, travel to a different city for our flights and book another hotel. My younger brothers would have to miss some days from school. All this was getting very overwhelming.
When suddenly, whilst we were sat in our villa awaiting further instructions, we received a call from the manager of the villa to tell us that we will be staying in a Greek governmental quarantine hotel for free with three meals included per day. This was some great news amidst everything that was going on.
We arrived at the hotel on Tuesday night and were told that we’d have to stay here till the 1st of November. Whilst I knew that testing positive meant that this would happen, never did I think that it would happen to us. I must admit, it has slightly put us off travelling.
Nevertheless, this hotel (which I will avoid naming right now), is not too bad. We get all our meals included and fresh water, milk and juice are all provided everyday. We all get our own rooms and I believe we are the only ones here. We have our very own balconies which means we can bask in some sun throughout the first half of the day. We have a fridge, kettle and adequate toilet and bathing facilities to keep us going till the 1st of November. The village we are in is ever so quiet with some traffic passing by here and there.
As for food, we obviously are having to follow a strict vegetarian diet as there is no Halal food around here. So we’ve been getting foods such as vegetable curries, omelettes, stuffed peppers and tomatoes and pasta. Whilst we’re doing well with the food we get, it can affect you slightly if you do have meat and chicken as part of your weekly diet. In any case, I’m sure the break from meat and chicken is definitely doing us some good.
I think the most difficult thing we’re struggling with is disciplining ourselves and giving ourselves a structured timetable. The idea of being quarantined in a hotel can be highly unappealing. But the only way to get through this is by communicating, exercise, eating well and finding activities to do throughout the way. My brothers are logging in and doing their homework, whilst I’m trying to do as much work as possible too. The first few days, I lacked the motivation, but I think I’m getting there now.
Every morning, I come out to my balcony and sit with the sun shining down on me. I start by having my continental breakfast and immediately start doing some writing and other work related activities. It can be difficult but I’m learning many things along the way. One of the biggest commodities that we have right now is free time! Although this situation may seem like an unfortunate one, I always try to remember my elder sister’s advice about ‘strongly believing that there is some wisdom behind all this’.
Muslims Go Travel 