My Bahá'í Pilgrimage During a Crazy Global Pandemic
February 26–27, 2020
Post 2: The Tumultuous Trip Begins
[Post 1] [Post 3]
Our travel troubles began the day before we left Chicago. We learned that the coronavirus was spreading like wildfire in northern Italy, which was bad news for us—we had planned to travel through Italy after we explored Switzerland. Katie had lived in Bergamo, Italy, for a few months and loved it. From Rome, we would fly to Israel, then from Israel back to Italy, and then from Italy back to Chicago. It was confusing enough to remember. Now, our months of planning were flipped upside down.
After a lot of deliberation, we decided to just keep an eye on Italy while we were in Switzerland. Maybe the outbreak would be contained. With our fingers crossed, we boarded our eight-hour flight to Europe.
We were among the few souls to brave the Zurich airport. We guessed the coronavirus had caused people to second-guess their travel plans. It was pretty eerie.
I’d never flown internationally before, and I was pretty nervous, especially with the possibility of the coronavirus being on board. But after I accepted the fact that we could catch the virus anywhere and slathered my hands with sanitizer, it was surprisingly fun! Each passenger had their own screen with tons of movies and TV shows to choose from. While Travis and Dad slept, Katie and I watched movies all night. It was like a slumber party on a plane!
Shoghi Effendi as a young man, about 1920.
After we landed in Zurich the next day, we drove a rental car through a foggy Swiss morning to a cozy Airbnb in Interlaken. We chose to stay in Interlaken because it’s associated with Shoghi Effendi, who led the Bahá’í Faith from 1921–1957.
When his beloved grandfather, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, passed away, Shoghi Effendi was stunned to learn that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had named him the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. He was only 24 years old. Overcome with grief and the responsibility so unexpectedly placed on his shoulders, he retreated to the mountains of Switzerland for eight months to recover and prepare himself for the years ahead. Naturally, we thought Switzerland seemed like the perfect place to visit before our pilgrimage.
The moment we set down our luggage, Katie asked me to come outside with her. By the look on her face, I could tell she had bad news. We walked beneath the dripping roof of an old shed, and she said our friend Prashant had called. He works at the Bahá'í World Centre in Israel and had used his magical planning powers to help us map out the trip. Prashant said that the Israeli government was closing its borders to anyone arriving from Italy. So, ciao (goodbye), Italy! We were bummed, but this wasn’t unexpected. We were determined to piece this puzzle back together.
Our Airbnb was super cute and cozy, and our host gave us a warm welcome. We had the bottom floor, and she lived on the top levels.
Katie, Prashant, and I had arranged most of the trip, so we rallied (Prashant virtually) to make a new game plan. Travis and my dad, two of the most laid-back and amazing people to travel with, weren’t phased a bit by this change of itinerary. They pitched in by shining optimism on the situation and cooking us fabulous food.
What happened during the next 24 hours was insane. We canceled our flights in and out of Italy, along with our Airbnb rentals. Then we tried to decide where we would go instead. At first we booked a flight straight to Israel, thinking it would be safest to get there as soon as possible, in case there were more bans later on. Then we learned that it would be pretty expensive to spend that much time in Israel. So we changed our minds and canceled yet another flight late that night. Finally, we decided on Athens, Greece. Greece was warm, inexpensive, and at the top of all of our bucket lists.
We did all this while jetlagged—exhausted from taking a long flight to a different time zone. My eyes were burning and bloodshot after ten hours of cancelling and rebooking things, and my nerves were shot. I passed out the moment my head hit the pillow.
Whew! My first time abroad was off to a rough start. It could only get better from here!
Historical photo © Bahá’í International Community
Travel84 Disappointment5 Israel55 Pilgrimage28 Cultures141 Discover552 Planning20 Perseverance66 Shoghi Effendi41 Pandemic23 Challenges257 Obstacles5