“Today we can still go home.” So read a message that the Greek journalist recently won from Ilse and Nikola Stadler, a travel duo of mother and daughter from Germany. The two men had a story to tell after being stranded in Greece for 4 months, the worst days of the pandemic.
“My mom has had a trailer since I was a student,” Nikola explained, “so I grew up with this kind of trip, and my mom has been “vanlife” for almost 40 years. So we have a lot of experience. Say.
This long delight proved useful recently when the globetrotting duo of mother and daughter revel in one obstacle after another in their quest for Greece and beyond last spring.
“The funny thing is that my mom went with her mom (my grandmother) to Greece with a caravan about 30 years ago!” Nikola with a laugh.
With her 67-year-old mother, Ilse Stadler, already retired, her daughter, 30, made the decision in early 2020 to give up her task as an urban planner to embark on her long-awaited, which were originally meant to be two separate activities.
“I was really making plans to ride a motorcycle along Silk Road,” Nikola says. “So I expected to stay out for many months, at least nine months, in fact. My plan was to leave Greece. Then my mother had the concept of taking me there with the van, because she was looking to pass Leonidio to climb.” .
Ilse had planned to stay for just one month in Greece and then go back home alone. “From Leonidio,” Nikola says, “we had actually meant to split up and go our separate ways. But a few days after our arrival there, the lockdown started. So we had to stay there together in the van.
“Before the trip, honestly, we didn’t expect this to happen. We knew that some spaces were blocked, for example, in Milan. But the global total was never expected to close its borders and block. I guess no one’s ever noticed anything like that to come. It’s still crazy to believe.
“We arrived by ferry on March 9 with our motorhome. After spending time in Lefkada, the first dissenchment occurred when we arrived in Delphi, the first day the government closed all the ancient sites and museums.
“We make the most of it,” Nikola told Greek Reporter with his impartial attitude. She and her mother then “just walked around the domain to get perspectives from the outside … We hoped everything would be replaced so dramatically in the months that followed.
The intrepid duo then went to the old Thermopylae site, as well as To Corinth, where they were also forced to look at the buildings and ruins from the outside of the fence. Then they visited the ancient Greek city of Nauplie.
“Go to Turkey, of course, impossible. The ferry had not been operating since the 15th. The email informing my mom that her return-home ticket had been cancelled came on March 17,” Nikola continues.
“That,” she says, “was when we first knew we couldn’t get home. But we thought it might take about a month. But the next month came … and the next month.
“Some other campers in a van had to stop by the house and sent their car (which costs about 2,000 euros, plus the flight charge). We didn’t do it because we felt safe and welcome in Greece and we knew the scenario wouldn’t be bigger in Germany.
“But after the third month, the stage has become more complicated and we’re looking to move home.” Nikola says wistfully.
“When the great lockdown arrived, we were in the mountains near Leonidio, where we went to climb. We had to stay there, away from the nearby village, as we didn’t know if we’d get in trouble with the police to live in. in our van.
“Of course, it’s not easy,” Nikola says of having to live with his mom in a van with only ten square metres of living space.
It was also at this time that mom and daughter learned that their ferry had been cancelled.
The Stadlers reported that the village was almost abandoned after the coronavirus was blocked.
“Driving by land, crossing at least 6 or 7 borders is also impossible. We’ve been trapped in Greece from that moment on,” Nikola says.
However, without hesitation, the two went to Kyparissi, where they were lucky enough to be able to stay on a beach with a beach shower. “Running water is essential to stay in the same position while camping. We discovered a great position on the beach where the locals accepted us and welcomed us in a friendly way. So we stayed all the time in Kyparissi,” Nikola explains. .
“Later, when the restrictions weakened, but the ferry to Italy still didn’t work, we made the decision to make the most of our stage and continue to Array We visited more places in the Peloponnese, as well as Athens and also went to Santorini and the island of Milos.
“For us, it was an exclusive delight to cross the empty city of Oia, which is usually crowded with tourists. The Greeks were surprised to see the foreigners, but they smiled at us and said, “You are the first tourists we’ve noticed since the pandemic!” I think they saw us as a smart sign that tourists would be back soon.
“On the 15th of June we first became really disappointed because the ferry was still not taking us. The land borders opened on this date.” But, the women wondered, “can we really risk during this uncertain time to cross seven borders — some non-EU?
“We made the decision to wait because we read that they were even though everything was taking passengers on July 1,” Nikola says. “So we tried to book the ferry electronically. But our coupon that Directferries gave us could not be redeemed. The company also disabled its hotlines and did not respond to any email.
“We had to pay again, but at least they gave us the tickets for the ferry. After 4 incredible months in Greece,” he says, the mother and daughter were able, in spite of everything, to board the ferry in their caravan and get to Ancona, from where there were only seven hours to get home on the German lake. Constance.
“In fact, we’re either used to traveling longer and our circle of relatives is also used to it,” Nikola says after his long-awaited return. Not only were they very relieved to find a family environment, but they also had another explanation for why they were happy: nikola’s sister’s pregnancy, which had “really been lost” to the Greek Odyssey of his mother and sister.
The era of coronaviruses undoubtedly gave humanity many unknown reports in the past, but this fearless German duo made the most of their cases and ended up living the adventure of a lifetime.