Written by Prajakta & Ajinkya Jagtap Instagram: @two.voyaging.souls Story of Ajinkya ...

... and Prajakta stuck in Budapest,Hungary.
An anniversary in Europe! / Our roller-coaster celebration in Europe!

On the 8th of March, I and my husband Ajinkya were on our way from Pune to Mumbai International Airport, and we continuously kept thinking if it is right to travel with Covid-19 situation getting out of hand in many European countries. We had plans to celebrate our 2nd Wedding Anniversary in Paris and considering the situation we dropped Italy from our itinerary. We assured ourselves that nothing will happen to us if we are careful and maintain social distancing. So all equipped with hand sanitizers and masks we were set for the adventure of our lives. With butterflies in our stomach we were on that jet ready to explore Europe.

Our first destination was Paris, what a beautiful city I must say! Paris has many roadside cafes, bustling streets, architecturally breathtaking monuments, luxurious shopping areas and a forever joyous vibe always. We were enjoying our time in Paris because until then none of the countries had announced Lock down. Amidst all of this, we hogged some delicious croissants and nicely brewed coffee. Our marriage anniversary celebration was exciting and we definitely had a gala time in this city. With numerous memories from this place, one destination from our itinerary had merrily been ticked off.

Around 15th March the COVID situation worsened in many countries. Eventually all European countries started closing their borders. This was the time when we flew from Paris to Austria. We reached Vienna, the capital city and while walking the streets from Metro station to our Airbnb apartment we felt like we have landed into a deserted place. That’s when we first realised, we are in a problematic situation.

Austria had announced lock down just the day when we reached there. Few shopping areas, restaurants and parks were open. However, government had asked citizens to stay indoors. We still managed to enjoy the peaceful surroundings in Vienna. Amazing sunsets, calm riverside and beautiful parks kept us entertained. For us, this was the most peaceful time. We didn’t think about any to do list or visiting any attraction, rather we slowed down to have unending conversations while the sun said goodbye.

While scrolling news on his phone, Ajinkya came to know that Austria is closing its borders for all travelers and no one would be allowed to enter or leave Austria after the borders close. Ajinkya rushed to the station and booked train tickets from Vienna to Budapest.

Budapest was supposed to be our last destination and the best option was to prepone our flight from Budapest to Mumbai and reach home early and safe. That evening we reached Budapest, two hours by train from Austria. It is the most beautiful city we have ever been to. This entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. All medieval period buildings, carved architecture, old statues in every nook and corner yet modern in its own way, the city had so much to offer.
It was like a tour back to the 18th Century. Lost in the beauty of this city, we decided to stay here and explore this city before returning to India. Three days in Budapest were full of sightseeing, amazing food and tons of photographs. While we were on this tour, not a single moment has passed when we were not cautious about our actions. We nether touched any object nor came in contact with people around. Every time we did, we made sure we are using sanitizer. We were maintaining a safe distance from other people at public places like monuments, metro and buses. This wasn’t a carefree travel but it was a very careful one!

On one such evening, when we were talking on the phone with our family members, we came to know India is closing borders for all travelers (including their citizens) and our immediate action was Ajinkya booking our flight to Mumbai. We had still managed to explore a lot in this city and satisfactory feeling lingered over our minds. We had our flight on 18th March, to Mumbai. Packed our bags and left for the airport. At the luggage check in counters, we see few Indians standing out of the line, worried and frustrated. When we went to the counter, the Emirates attendant told us we cannot board the flight as, Indian government had added a clause of 14 days mandatory quarantine at first port of departure for any passenger coming from any European Union Country.

Mind going numb, didn’t know how to react, whose mistake is it Indian Government? Us? Flight operator? Our only hope was approaching the Indian embassy in Budapest. Completely boggled up and scared, we Indians went to the Indian embassy. After waiting outside the premises for about an hour with our heavy luggage we get a message that nothing can be done in this situation, and we have to stay in Budapest until India lifts the travel ban. With no other option in hand, we rebooked the Airbnb apartment and went back to stay their till 31st March which was supposed to be the initial lockdown period. On 31st March we come to know lockdown extended till 14th April, and now till 3rd May.
With this news, there’s no hope for us returning home anytime soon. The neighborhood where we are staying is the most buzzing street in Budapest. Akácfa Street in Budapest has many ruin bars, restaurants, cafes and is very close to the city center. This area is in proximity of a grocery store, Indian store, medical shop, Public park and a few restaurants.

We wouldn’t have found a better place to stay as stranded Indians like us. Every morning we wake up, read the news, trying to find out if we can return to our home in any way, but disheartened we continue to live. We are also cooking our own meals to avoid risk of Covid-19. We have limited our outings just to buy groceries. Now it seems we’ve been here for so many years. Even if we would have been in India, we would have had to practice the same situation, ‘strictly home quarantined’. So isn’t it better to be quarantined in a beautiful city like this?? Hell yeah! We are having an amazing time here in Budapest.
While Ajinkya does his functional workout, I do a Zumba session, we also go out for walk occasionally. Budapest is not in complete lockdown and we still move around. It’s a relief that Covid cases in Budapest are very less and in control compared to all other European countries.

Now we have all the time to read, binge watch tv shows, try new recipes and of course clean our house daily. I feel we are lucky that we have a shelter and food each day. We are fortunate that we were not stranded in transit in some other country or some other airport. We are grateful for all the resources we have. We do miss our friends and family, thanks to social media we are still connected. Now it’s just a normal day in our life and we have embraced this situation as an opportunity to be secluded from all responsibilities and spend some quality time together.

We learned a lot during this journey. All the minimum resources we have now, are the only things that mankind needs to survive. Travelling is not only visiting a place and clicking pictures, it is about how well you camouflage in different cultures. We’ve made a few great friends in this journey from so many parts of world and all of us somehow share the same situational crisis. It’s not easy to stay in some country for months with no future prospective, it never will be, but we managed to survive and live. There’s a smile on our faces with a hope that someday it’ll all be normal and by then world will be a much better place.
Pheww! Long story...
While I sip on this amazing hot chocolate, scrolling through my Instagram feed, longing to go back home still remains on my mind....