Budapest 2022

August 2022. Ellie’s kindergarten is off, Keren is at home on maternity leave with Lia and I have to work. We also didn’t have that much of assistance, as Keren’s mom was in Hungary. And so it happened that Keren decided that she would fly with the two girls to Budapest for six days to meet her mother there, and I would stay to work.

Six days before the flight, I decided that actually - I wanted to come too. We quickly purchased a plane ticket, upgraded the hotel room, and the excitement reached its peak - first family vacation, first time abroad since COVID-19 entered our lives. Last time Keren and I flew, Keren was in her fifth month of pregnancy with Ellie.

Three days before the flight I woke up in the morning feeling sick. The next day, when it still hadn’t passed, I took a COVID test - and it came out positive. I went into isolation, canceled the flight, and we returned, more or less, to the original plan - Keren flew with the girls alone. And she deserves tons of credit just for that.

And so I’m in isolation, doing my best to pick myself up and do everything possible to get out of isolation as soon as possible. And I succeeded. Two days after they flew, I was already rCOVID negative, and on the next day at 6:40 in the morning I was sitting on a flight taking off to Budapest. Five hours later I was already at the hotel, ready to enjoy the next four days. And that’s exactly what we all needed.