HAPPY TO BE HOME FROM HIS ITALIAN LOCKDOWN
Gorey man on four months in Florence
AFTER FOUR MONTHS in Florence, Italy, most of which was spent in lockdown in his apartment, Gorey’s James Grannell was happy to make it home to north Wexford after a full 24 hour long journey home.
Self-isolating alone for two weeks after arriving back wasn’t a difficult task for James, as he got used to his own company during the strict Italian lockdown which began shortly after he moved there for his Erasmus.
After the cancellation of a direct flight home, to get back James travelled from Florence to Rome, from Rome to Frankfurt, Germany and from there finally to Dublin before he finally stepped on Irish soil again.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, James had planned to be back in Ireland in May with plenty of memories, friendship and lots of travel stories built up, but that concept changed quite quickly as Italy was one of the first countries to feel the brunt of the crisis.
‘It was probably one of the weirdest trips I’ve ever had and hopefully ever will have in the future. When I went to Florence I had planned for people to come to visit me and that just never happened and I stayed longer than expected.
‘But I fell in love with Florence as a city and with the people there. In the last few weeks we would have had the chance to walk around freely, it’s like an open museum itself which is a pleasure but museums would have only opened up on June 2.
‘It might sound strange but I’d go back to Florence in a heartbeat and I genuinely enjoyed my time there. Looking back on the lockdown, it was a unique experience to live through that and to see how Italian people dealt with it, which was just phenomenal.
‘They really did put in a huge national effort and had a stringent lockdown. The virus battered Italy early on, but sometimes when you were talking to Italian people, especially early on, they almost seemed embarrassed and apologetic about it. With a lot of the media from other countries, there was a great focus on the first cases being from Italy as if there was an idea that Italian society was uniquely prone to the outbreak happening. But things changed for the Italians when suddenly Italy didn’t have the highest cases or fatalities in Europe anymore,’ said James.
During his time, James experienced a number of random acts of kindness from strangers and neighbours, but he said he developed connections with locals, especially those who weren’t native Italians.
‘I’ve had a few random times of drinking tea or having a beer with those living close. During that time we talked about not being able to go home, and there was that connection between strangers and even outsiders to an extent as we had a particular understanding of each other’s situation. There’s something moving in the kindness that exists among strangers during troubled times,’ he said.
Getting home to Ireland presented the biggest challenge for James.
‘I was aware of the strict rules in Italy regarding travel so I felt prepared, but I wasn’t prepared for quite the number of checks that I went through.
I had to show my passport to buy my train ticket in Florence, then you’re assigned to a seat and segregated within the train itself with one person for every four seat. On the train, they hand you a bag when you get on board of a mask, gloves, hand sanitiser and water.
‘There were constant checks. I had five police checks before I had even got to the terminal to get the airplane in Frankfurt, so with this system they are basically able to track you from the start of your journey until you get on the plane. It was a bit surreal in a way.
‘There was also a one way system around the train station at the airport, so you’re not coming into contact with anyone. The escalators were closed off for social distancing and they also had set areas for cleaning. There were constant announcements to wear a mask and keep two metres away from people’.
Although seeing quite secure and safe up to this point, James explained that during the night as he waited for an early flight, he began to feel a little panicked.
‘The people in Frankfurt airport appeared to be a bit more lacks. During the night I noticed people walking around with no masks on, so when I woke up and noticed this it freaked me out a bit. This was my first time outside Italy in months, and it startled me because face masks had been mandatory in Italy. I was used to seeing them everywhere as you have to wear them in public, you don’t see anyone without one. I remember thinking that if someone coughed or sneezed, I was gone’.
James explained that the travel experience was unlike any other.
‘The biggest change travelling this time was that you felt like you were being ushered all the time, you don’t come into contact with anyone and there’s a one way system you’re being directed to all the time. All of the airports were like ghost towns, with the shops pretty much closed.
‘I flew with Lufthansa, and they handed out wipes and we were told to wear masks on the plane. We were all separated out, there was just one person for every three seats and nobody really sat next to each other, there was about 40 of us on the flight. I remember the captain on the plane announcing “please