Couple’s honeymoon plans thwarted by COVID-19
The newlyweds Kyle and Jessica Willman come up with a backup plan to celebrate marriage
CHICO >> Newlyweds’ were faced with a tough decision — venture on their dream honeymoon or postpone plans indefinitely to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
It was in February when Jessica Willman received a disconcerting text from her father informing her of an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Italy.
Her then-fiance, Kyle Willman, who had taken the liberty to plan the trip for his bride-to-be, began monitoring the situation closely.
Their plan for a dream honeymoon in Italy soon unraveled, turning into a cross-country trek to avoid spreading the virus.
“I checked the news every day and decided we needed to do something else,” he said.
One week before their big day, in the midst of wedding planning, he planned a different honeymoon.
They wed on March 7, and flew to Portugal two days later, a location they once meant to spend nothing more than a layover. It was the new bride’s first time overseas.
In the middle of their first night in Portugal, he was woken by a phone call and 18 texts from friends and family with warnings about President Trump’s newly announced European travel ban.
“I didn’t even wake Jessica up because I knew it would be difficult for her to hear about this,” he said.
It was initially unclear to him if U.S. citizens would be allowed back into the country, so while his wife lay in slumber, he made a decision.
She woke up to find her husband frantically planning a path back home.
“I prayed the whole day,” she said.
They left Europe and landed in Massachusetts on March 13 three hours before the European travel ban went into effect.
In the airport, they were handed Center for Disease Control and Prevention worksheets about quarantine.
Though they showed no signs of the coronavirus, they couldn’t be sure they hadn’t contracted it unknowingly abroad.
“The thought of affecting a compromised immune system or an older adult…” she pondered. “I’d be crushed.”
Their next step was to fly from Pennsylvania to California, but after considering those around them who may be more susceptible to contracting the disease, they thought it too risky to fly.
The couple instead chose an alternative mode of travel.
“We just decided to get a car so we’d be in our own space most of the time, and drive all the way back to
California.” he explained, “We are trying to do social distancing while traveling across the entire country.”
“We had quite a travel itinerary for this week,” he joked. “We’ve been on three continents and now we’re driving across the country,” he said from the rental car.
The two finally made their way back to their Chico home on March 20.
“All the days blend together,” she said.
Though their honeymoon plans were thwarted, they’re finding reasons to celebrate amidst the chaos.
“We’re just trying to make the best of what we can. This definitely wasn’t the dream honeymoon, but we’re still spending time together,” she said. “Even though it wasn’t planned, it’s been quite an adventure.”
“There have been moments of really profound stress and disappointment,” he said. “We both come from fairly stressful professional backgrounds. I think we were hoping for relief from that, so we are at least getting some time to relax,” he said.
They met over two years ago while working for the county. They dated for seven months before he proposed, and were engaged for seven months before they wed.
“As soon as we got together, we knew we were pretty serious about each other, and that our values really matched up,” he explained. “We made a pretty quick decision and it felt right.”
“Nobody knows exactly how the course of the coronavirus event will go. You can’t really plan ahead for anything right now. We sure hope we have a chance to go on another honeymoon,” he said. “We also used most of our vacation time.”
As they recover in quarantine from their chaotic travels, the two are finding hilarity in their marriage story.
“At this point, we have to keep laughing because it’s been very unusual,” she exclaimed. “Now, I think it’s kind of funny. Of course, this would be our honeymoon.”