It was to be the fulfillment of a dream: a trip around the world for at least a year, starting in February 2020. By mid-March, everything was going well, but then the Corona virus brought almost the entire world to a standstill. This not only confused my planning, but also called into question the journey around the world. I still managed to visit Russia, skipped Asia and nevertheless headed to Australia. Despite many recommendations, I did not return to Germany straight away. Eventually after 2 great “holiday mode weeks” in Brisbane and Noosa and 8 weeks in isolation style in Melbourne I decided to return home. It’s been about 3,5 weeks since my return to Germany. Today is the first cold and rainy day since then, so I figured it was time for an update about my whereabouts and what has happened since – although not much really has happened. In my latest post I outlined that I had finally made the decision to fly back home to Germany due to the current situation in Melbourne thanks to Corona and my struggle with loneliness and uncertainty.
The flight and quarantine
Different as expected the flight was pretty similar to normal business. Everywhere on the airports one was reminded to keep distance, boarding and check-in took longer than usual because of the distancing measures, but I had never been asked to get my temperature tested or screened for symptoms for Corona. While flights are usually jam packed with not much space, it was barely occupied and I had a whole seating row to my self on both interconnecting flights. The airport in Doha was only open for the purpose of travelers transiting, all stores and Duty frees were closed and even emptied out, in the whole terminal only one cafe/ sandwich stall was open. On arrival in Frankfurt, getting off the airplane took a decent time longer than usual, as only 40 people were discarded from the plane every 3 minutes. My mother had picked me up from the airport and dropped me straight into quarantine when we arrived home. I am lucky I was able to quarantine by myself in my parents basement apartment that I was using for my living situation before I had set off on my adventure. My Mum had done some shopping for the essentials and left me the German goodies and food that I love eating, which is always the best part of coming home. The next morning I called up the German Health ministry in my district to report that I had returned and was officially “in quarantine”. A few days later I received a letter that stated that in written form again and educated me on the “rules” for the quarantine including a reference to fines up to 25000€ if breaching the current corona conditions. I was informed that I could get tested for Corona and appeal for an “early quarantine termination” for the cost of 150€ as I did not yet have a mandatory German health insurance. I spent my days mainly with puzzling, reading, listen to music and speaking to friends and photographing flowers in my garden – after all this was not much different from my latest 7 weeks of isolation in Melbourne. Thanks to my parents being health professionals I was able to get tested through them and received my negative test results the day after. My Dad then called the health ministry formally as my doctor and got the early termination of my quarantine approved. After 8 days in quarantine I was now a free bird, the weather was amazing and I spent a lot of time playing board games with my closest family.
Living in Germany during Corona
Now that I was actually to leave the house I was obviously eager to go do stuff, be outside and enjoy not being between the same four walls all the time. To this point I haven’t really spoken to many people about being back home yet because if I thought about it more it meant I had to actively deal with the fact how I feel about returning and most of the times to answer to the questions of why I returned and how it is to be back.
“Do you think it was the right decision to come back?”
This is probably the hardest question I had tried to deal with and to this point I don’t even try to answer it. When I set off to my adventures to Russia, cancelled Asia and flew to Australia instead I genuinely thought things would be fine. At the start of march I did not expect the situation to turn into a global pandemic that would stop the world from turning. Now don’t get me wrong, I was not forced to leave Australia and I did not take one of the emergency flights home. I chose to come home and booked a flight just as any other flight, slightly more expensive but for a flight booking 5 days before departure it was a perfectly acceptable price. I chose to come home because I realized I was staying in Australia for all the wrong reasons. I had set my mind to making it work, because I felt and knew that if I didn’t try I would always recall this experience as a failure. I set off for an adventure that would take 1-2 years: planned and visited Russia, was meant to go to Asia and then a Working Holiday in Australia and eventually maybe a working Holiday in Canada. I fast tracked to the trip to Australia and after 10 weeks in the country, 8 weeks mainly in Isolation in cold and winter-awaiting Melbourne and an awful set back experience as Aupair I realized this was not how it was meant to be.
I don’t answer if it was the right decision, because right or wrong is not up for discussion. I made a decision and I am much happier back home now than what I was for the last weeks in Melbourne. I have my family and summer is just starting to kick off here. There are so many possibilities to figure out here now, If I urge for a full time job that brings me joy and start studying a Masters in the winter semester – I don’t know yet but I know, my happiness matters more than my stubbornness. It feels good to be surrounded by family that is happy to have me back for good for a while. Australia is not out of the world, once the world starts turning again I know I will return and continue my travels but for now I have set myself the goal to explore my backyard. In terms of Corona, things here have eased. Some parts of Germany have already lifted most of the restrictions but we still have the mandatory masks for stores and shopping. Since I was never to wear a mask in Australia I still catch myself not remembering to bring or wear a mask, which is probably also why I avoid going shopping to the supermarket in the first place.
I changed from workaholic not wanting to sit still to enjoy having time on my hands
During the much time in isolation and quarantine I have certainly learnt a lot about my self and the person I want to be. I have worked my self from someone who cannot sit still to actually enjoying having lots of free time and doing day by day. Now that only applied to being back at home in my familiar environment. While I am not head over heals jumping into a new job just for the sake of it, I am just enjoying being in my home town, spending lots of quality time with my family and especially with my twin. Now, I do not just sit around and wait for the day to pass. I actually have been able to work a few times in the restaurant that I worked at before. I worked a wedding last week with 45 people attending and I definitely know that I do not want to be working in hospitality full time right now. It was hard wearing a mask for a 7 hour shift and constantly having to deal with ignorant guests that just won’t accept the conditions we have been given by the government in order to have function like a wedding during current times. Since things are easing up here, more and more people forget that we still have to abide by the rules, if we like it or not. As a waitress I don’t get to choose or have a say if something makes sense, it is just how it has to be for now and I wished some guests would have a bit more sympathy for that.
Instead of doing the work for accommodation scheme like I thought about in Australia: I now do that for my parents. I do chores and tasks for them, like refurnishing the garden patio and working in the garden in order to be able to live under their roof again until I figure out what’s next. I renovate things in my twins apartment and try to finally finish my newest 5000 piece puzzle project. My tune has certainly changed to a few weeks back when I was almost able to identify a mini life crisis or mini depression, which is thanks to being back with the family and also a change of weather since we have had some beauty summer days. I always thought I was a winter person more than a summer one, but lately the warmth of the sun has definitely picked up my mood. For now, I am on the hunt for a car to be more flexible in that little home town of mine, a few hours of work until I decided if a master is an option for me later this year. I have even started to convert my dreams of traveling within the country and am actively thinking about a little minivan conversion project – we shall see where that goes!
Franziska Niggemann 