Sharing stories of nomads during the coronavirus pandemic (Vol. 3)

We’ve been reaching out to our nomadic friends to make sure they are safe, healthy and offered them to share their stories on our blog as everyone’s situation is very different, especially when you don’t have a fixed home. Since we’ve received a few of these stories, we decided to publish every Wednesday. (Make sure to sign-up to our newsletter to get these stories are soon as we publish them).

This week we are sharing the story of Ali & Alison who are currently in Mexico. Through their stories, you will learn about how they ended up where they are today, how they are currently handling this pandemic and what’s next for them.

Ali & Alison 

How are you doing?

Ali & Alison: We are stressed about the news and the reality of what’s happening all over the world relating to COVID-19. But we are doing ok ourselves.

In which country are you currently staying? For how long? 

Ali & Alison: We are in Mexico, and we have been here since the end of 2019. We are allowed to stay in Mexico for six months visa-free as US citizens. Our original plan was to stay in Mexico for four months, and so far we have not changed that plan. We intend to return to the US on May 3.

When and where were you when you realized that things were getting real with COVID-19? What was the first thing that came to mind for you?

Ali & Alison: In mid January when we heard that the virus had spread to Thailand and Japan it was clear that things were getting much worse very quickly. We were in Oaxaca Mexico at the time, and we both got very sick with fevers over 102 and 103 that lasted for a few days and then we both had persistent coughing for a few weeks after that. We had access to homemade chicken soup two blocks away and a pharmacy around the corner so we took good care of ourselves and eventually we felt better.

A doctor told us recently that it is possible we caught a strain of COVID-19 in January. We were spending time with a lot of people who had just arrived from a variety of different countries in Europe and Asia at the time and our closest friend who lives in Oaxaca also got very, very sick. We don’t know what virus we had since we were not tested, but we do know that some of our friends have tested positive and that anyone can catch it at this point. And whatever we had was the first virus we have ever shared.

What are you most worried about right now? 

Ali & Alison: We were told that even if we did have COVID-19 in January we could still catch a different strain of the virus at any time so we are taking things very seriously. We are not as worried about getting sick ourselves because we are taking precautions and we have no underlying health issues. But we are worried about the idea of getting someone else sick and that’s why we are happy to self-quarantine as much as possible. Our biggest concerns are for our relatives since we have family members who are at high risk. We don’t want to take any chances by going near them right now. We are also worried about economic impacts in the US and all over the world as people lose their jobs and are dealing with serious financial issues. 

The place you are currently in

What is the current situation in the city/country you are currently at? What are you allowed to do? What can’t you do anymore?

Ali & Alison: There really aren’t any restrictions coming down from the federal government here in Mexico, but municipalities are enforcing restrictions and business owners are respecting them. We chose San Miguel de Allende for our longest stay and final stop in Mexico because we booked a 5 week housesit there, which was canceled along with our host’s travel plans because of the virus. So we found our own home to self-quarantine in and are really glad we had planned to stay in San Miguel because it’s a place where we have a doctor, a dentist, a big grocery store, and friends in town. It still seems like the right place for us to be right now because it has a good hospital and medical infrastructure and we have a community to rely on. And because of our flight back to the US on May 3 leaves from the local airport just outside of town.

We also like the way San Miguel’s municipal president is treating the virus. He has put some restrictions in place that enforce social distancing and which will hopefully help keep the community safe. For example, all events in public spaces are canceled. And all recreational, sports, and leisure entertainment centers such as cinemas and theaters, courts and gyms, swimming pools and spas, are closed. Another example is that restaurants and bars initially reduced capacity to 50%, with healthy distancing and disinfection measures in place, though it’s expected restaurants will soon be restricted only to take-out and delivery service.

What does your day to day look like today?

Ali & Alison: We love how easy it is to chat with WhatsApp, Messenger, Google Voice, and video chats to visit with people. And thank goodness for social media. We talk to as many people as possible in our family every day, and we talk to as many of our friends as possible every day. We are making sure we stay connected to the outside world and informed about the virus and related impacts, without getting too saturated and depressed by bad news. It’s a tough balancing act for sure. We are down to take a short walk almost every day, and we make sure we avoid other people when we do go outside. We are keeping things clean and trying not to touch our faces. When we shop for the food we stock up for weeks at a time and we cook for ourselves all the time now. We spend a lot of our day focused on cooking our meals and enjoying them. We are playing lots of games at home, becoming very dependent on our two decks of cards and Yahtzee, which we always carry with us. And we are watching a lot of TV shows and movies on Netflix and Apple TV. 

How were things before?

Ali & Alison: We were actually socializing almost every day before things got bad. As full-time travelers we have been making a lot of friends in almost every location we visit. But no more socializing now! And we were taking long walks every day, enjoying local restaurants, and regularly visiting local cultural sites and communities. We have stopped doing all of those things now.

And we were getting really excited about all of our summer plans starting as soon as we got back to the US. We usually stay with one of Ali’s sisters and spend a lot of time with her family when we visit California, and we also get to see one of Alison’s sisters and spend time with her family since they live close by. And we have nieces and nephews, cousins and aunts to visit there as well. We were also planning a road trip from California through Oregon to Seattle to visit friends at the end of May. And we were really looking forward to supporting some of our favorite young people who are graduating from various schools this year. And then at the end of June, we are supposed to be leaving for three months of travels with Alison’s mom, which is what we were most excited about for 2020. It’s hard for us to keep our chins up with so many canceled plans. And it can be depressing to worry about our loved ones in other places every day but we are doing our best to stay positive.   

How is the government currently handling the situation? What triggers the government or local authority to take COVID-19 seriously? 

Ali & Alison: Things are not perfect here by any stretch. In Mexico, the federal President is not taking the virus seriously, and we know in the US the President is also not taking the virus seriously. But medical experts in Mexico are giving life-saving advice and doing heroic work taking care of people like their counterparts around the globe. And many local municipal presidents are taking the virus seriously and enforcing measures on their own. And individuals are choosing to stay home and avoid being around others in order to protect their communities.

Is there anything else the government should start or do more of to improve the current situation? 

Ali & Alison: I just asked a couple of our best friends here in Mexico for a reality check and they said Mexican people know how to ignore the government’s bad behavior and take action on their own. And that’s what people are doing all over Mexico right now. Mexico is definitely a country where the number of hospitals is low for many locations, and the number of hospital beds available is very low for many locations. Mexico would be better equipped to handle COVID-19 if they had a federal President who supported science and medical funding programs. And the COVID-19 situation in Mexico would be better if the federal President would stop acting like things are fine and shift the focus to people’s lives instead of money and his perceived popularity (we could say the same thing about the US President as well). It’s unfortunate that the federal government is not taking appropriate measures because that means the virus is spreading more quickly in Mexico, particularly in the federal district of Mexico City.

Your family & loved ones

How is your family doing? 

Ali & Alison: So far everyone in our family is doing ok. Most of them are in California and Arizona but also scattered around a few other places in the US. They are all taking this virus very seriously and staying indoors and away from other people. But we are still very worried about them. Worrying about our family is definitely what makes this virus so frightening for us. Ali has a lot of families who are medical professionals including two sisters, a brother in law, and a niece all in nursing, and a brother in the medical laboratory field. They all know how to take care of themselves and their communities and we are proud of them.

If you are not currently with your family, are you considering coming back home? Do you have this option?

Ali & Alison: It has been more than six months since we saw our family, and we really miss them right now. We have been looking forward to getting back to family in California in May. But since we have family with respiratory and immune system issues we are concerned about their health and safety when we return. So far we are keeping the same flight date we have had all year, which is May 3 for returning to California as our first stop back in the US. We will definitely be quarantining ourselves for two weeks when we return before we see any of them. And if things change with the virus we will revise our plans to protect ourselves and our family when we return. 

Your future

If you are currently away from home, what will you do once your visa runs out, and what is your plan when you need to leave the country? 

Ali & Alison: Our allowed time of six months in Mexico for this trip runs out on June 24. We chose not to race back to the US early when the virus started to spread. We decided the responsible thing to do was to respect the advice of world health experts who said very clearly – if you do not have to travel right now, do not travel. We did not want to be part of the chaos at US airports in March when people were flying back in huge numbers and crowds of people were kept waiting for hours at a time. Hopefully by the time we fly back to the US the airports will be better equipped and have systems in place to handle returning citizens from abroad. We are still trying to figure out where we should go to self-quarantine since we can’t go straight home to family.

What are we doing to help ourselves feel better during this difficult time?

Ali & Alison: We decided we need to talk to our family every day, which for some of them means daily video chats and for others means a ton of texting and messaging throughout each day. We are all dealing with high stress and anxiety right now, and we want everyone to feel loved and supported.

Another thing we decided to do is share our stimulus checks with people who need them. So we picked two people in our lives who have lost their jobs in the last couple of weeks and decided to give them our stimulus checks (and we aren’t waiting for the actual checks we just sent them both money today). We are encouraging our friends to do the same. There are so many people who need our financial and emotional support during this difficult time so we all need to do what we can! 

Ultimately, where do you go when you live everywhere but nowhere?

Ali & Alison: We still consider the US our home because that’s where our family lives and that’s where we were born. But as full-time travelers, we also try to see home as wherever we happen to be at the moment. That’s part of how we stay grounded. Originally we planned to be in the US only for May and June of 2020, and now we are wondering if we may need to stay in the US longer because of COVID-19 and related border closures in other countries. We can’t predict anything right now so we are taking things one day at a time.

Want to read other stories?

Check out the previous stories we published on our blog:

• Volume 1: James & Emily (Cyprus) & Michelle (Australia)
• Volume 2: Shoshannah (Arizona, USA) & Eric (Michigan, USA)

Do you want to share your story?

We are living in an unprecedented time and we would love to share your story with our audience and connect with our community. So if you are interested to share your story, please reach out to us. (We created a story outline template if you are looking for guidance about what to discuss).