Brian has had a business trip to Australia planned for a while now, and I was even thinking of trying to go with him at one point. That was until I found out the flight was almost 24 hours long... So he went alone and spent almost 2 days time-traveling to the other side of the world to see beautiful new places, try awesome new foods, and attend his work conference...
Even though he was 14 hours ahead of us, we figured out the time difference and were able to catch up several times a day while he was gone. Unfortunately, his first conversation was to let me know that he had arrived safely... and tested positive for Covid... and couldn't come home until he was negative :(
So... his place on the map at the Hilton Sydney didn't change much since he wasn't allowed to leave his hotel room for 7 days (except to go to the "chemist" for tylenol and a thermometer)...
First thing I did was test myself since he had been home for a day and a half in between his last business trip and had exposed us. Luckily, my test was negative, and no one else had any symptoms, but just to be safe, I waited the 5 days and then got a pcr test (and I also did several more home tests...)
He had to stay in his room, order in room service and attend his work conference virtually, so naturally, he got bored pretty quickly... He started live streaming his daily covid tests for me to watch with the kids and neighbors while we were hanging out...
I spent my 12 days without him anxiously cleaning and organizing every closet & drawer I could find, and got A LOT of stuff accomplished! I also organized the fridges, freezers & pantry, got rid of crappy food, and spent a lot of time planning out our new style of cooking under the Mediterranean Diet.
I even started a little herb garden of my own!
We shared pictures of our meals together...
... and the dogs were busy keeping Brian's side of the bed warm while he was away!
There were a WHOLE lot of Facetime calls going on since he didn't get to see anyone for a week!
His tests got a bit lighter each day, and finally on day 9, it looked negative!
He headed to the chemist to have them "procter" his rapid test so he could rebook his flight home for the 3rd time, and he passed!
Before heading home, he got to enjoy a beautiful day seeing some of Sydney's sites!
He was so excited to make one last call home from the airport before leaving! It was the first time we had seen him out of his boring hotel room!
However, he didn't know he was coming home to this... Ben popped a positive test right before Brian left to head home :(
So, Ben was back to virtual school for the week while he was quarantined to the playroom to do math and play video games! He was so happy when Brian came back so he could hug someone without his mask on though! Thankfully, he is already back at school with a mask per the CDC guidelines, and he had almost NO symptoms at all.
Welcome home to the next quarantine zone Brian! We're so glad you're back and safe :)
