Over the summer of 2020-2021 English Teacher, Amy Mowrer went on a vacation to France with her family. With coronavirus restrictions being tight, the trip seemed rough at the end, but  Mowrer and her family had a great time. 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, things started to go sideways near the end as they tried to leave, when people on the plane were not getting permitted to leave due to COVID 19 restrictions changing while they were away. 

 “The biggest challenge was coming home. It wasn’t hard to get there, we just had to show our vaccine cards and that part was pretty easy , but getting home was the challenge because restrictions actually changed while we were there.” Mowrer said.

And even when all the turmoil turned over, the trip was nevertheless still absolutely amazing. Mowrer shares her events of what they got to do, and the difference from pre-COVID. Although COVID almost stumped the end of their trip, it made a great tourist view. So as they decided to go to France, they realized that not very many people actually got to go because the vaccine wasn’t yet widespread, and it was required to go. They got to explore more than usual, making things more pleasurable. 

“Things were really empty. Which I guess on some level is sad, but it was a nice tourist experience to get to linger a bit and not feel rushed by the crowds.” Mowrer said.

Mowrer’s husband usually goes, but it is for business as he teaches about France on a field trip. Recently  he couldn’t as the sudden world shut down did not allow for that to happen, but these rules started to lift. They took the chance to go with their family as a vacation the moment that they saw it. 

“When we gone most recently, my husband’s been working right? But he has been responsible for students and it’s been a great experience, but this was the first time in several years that he was just on vacation.” Mowrer said.

Without the rushing from COVID, and they got to enjoy the tourist view. They also got to enjoy eating in a restaurant, the food was quite interesting and led to another very satisfying experience. 

“And so there just like these really small Dutch ovens where the food gets baked in like an oven and we went to this restaurant and ordered these four dishes so we can all taste each other, it was so good.” Mowrer said.

Thankfully things had gotten better and Mowrer and her family got to return safely, but the experience is something very important. She believes, that everybody should have the pleasure to enjoy going to France once in their life.

She loves the lifestyle, the old cars, the food, and the culture. Wrapping up her trip and returning home is a large change in scenery, but she believes it is the best to call her home. Even if there were many struggles, she believes that it became worth it towards the end.