But I haven't been to the first country, and I'm stuck in the same place because the COVID-19 epidemic is spreading all over the world.
Before this unexpected long-distance love, one of them lived in Shanghai and the other in Hangzhou, and they were long-distance lovers.
Today, they have stayed abroad for 732 days.
I contacted them the other day. I'm curious, a newly-married couple, under this special situation, how will their relationship be tested, whether they will be anxious, afraid or even quarrel.
We had several video interviews because of the time difference.
In the end, they decided to tell the love story on their journey through girls in summer.
Narrator: nomadic couple-summer
"The exit is closed, you can't leave Mexico now!"
On March 12, 2020, at the Embassy of Guatemala, we felt the impact of the epidemic for the first time.
2019,10,10. Today, Xiaoding and I have spent 732 days on our honeymoon. In fact, we never thought that we would travel for so long, because our plan at that time was to start from Mexico, travel all the way south, travel around Latin America, and finally reach ushuaia.
In the first half year of departure, although everything on the journey was different from what we imagined, it was as rich and interesting as before.
We had the happiest time of our lives:
We took part in the Day of the Dead and felt the festival in Mexico to commemorate the deceased relatives.
Experience the Day of the Dead in Mexico.
Looking for cactus in the desert of northern Mexico and exploring the sacred rituals of local aborigines;
There is also the craziest jeep experience in my life, living in a national park in Mexico and living and climbing with a professional rock climbing club. ......
I lived in the magical Pazquaro town for more than 40 days. Like the locals, I buy food and cook every day, go to cafes to surf the Internet, take Spanish classes on weekdays and take short trips to surrounding towns on weekends.
I experienced rock climbing for the first time in Mexico.
But all this was broken by the global spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.
In February 2020, signals of crisis began to emerge from all around.
In the news reports, except the news of the closure of Wuhan, China, the number of confirmed cases in the United States has been increasing wildly, and the fragmented information makes us feel inexplicable anxiety.
At the same time, the topic of discussion among travelers has changed from traveling to going home.
We can only end our trip to the seaside in a hurry and speed up our trip to a friend's city, where we will make our next plan. But at that time, the epidemic had not spread around the world, and we didn't realize the seriousness of the incident.
In March 2020, we naively thought that we could leave Mexico as before and set off for Guatemala as planned.
On March 12, we went to the Guatemalan Embassy to apply for the next visa to Guatemala. The attitude of the visa officer gave us a thorough understanding of the situation
The visa officer told us that he just received official information a day ago, and the border has been closed to tourists from China and Europe. Because of the development of the epidemic, no one can predict when it will open.
In mid-March, American countries closed their borders.
I'm sure I can't continue traveling. What honeymoon is not honeymoon, love is not love, and more importantly, personal safety should be guaranteed.
There is not much time for us to think, and we realize that we must analyze the solutions that can be tried under the existing situation.
Because international flights are limited, there are no direct flights to China.
Now that the border is closed, we can't leave the country and don't want to leave the RV at home.
Therefore, we have no choice but to stand still and isolate ourselves.
On March 22, 20 19, we set the isolation site in an open and well-equipped RV camp in Chiapas, Mexico, which is very close to our friends.
I don't seem to be in the mood to think much.
This honeymoon trip around the world, which was changed by the epidemic, made me more and more agree with this sentence in the movie Forrest Gump:
"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."
Originally decided to travel around Latin America on 20 15, in Golmud, Qinghai.
At that time, we were not lovers.
That year, I just graduated from college. Xiaoding has worked for two years and just saved enough money. She is preparing to quit her job and plans to travel.
At the activity of East Asia Global Village in Shanghai that year, our friends introduced us. In the process of chatting and eating, we hit it off and decided to go together. We boldly decided to take a ride from Lanzhou to finish the Northwest Great Ring Road.
For the first time, when we put our thumb to the side of the road and asked for a ride, we were full of anxiety, afraid of being rejected, afraid of being regarded as "strange young people" by passing cars, but when we got on the first car in this way, the inexplicable happiness surrounded us for a long time, which was the first time we harvested unexpected honey.
Of course, hitchhiking means surprise and fright, expectation and disappointment, trust and doubt coexist, but we are still smooth. It took us ten days to go from Lanzhou to Golmud, Qinghai.
Along the way, we took 10 many cars of good people, including police cars, big trucks, express cars and even pickup trucks. Sometimes, you may have to believe in fate. On this road, even if the situation is repeated, our relationship has always been very tacit.
However, I have never wanted to go beyond this "partner" relationship.
We are on the Great Ring Road in Qinghai.
In Golmud, Qinghai, love is coming, I don't know yet.
Seeing that the Kunlun Mountain Pass is coming, I know Xiaoding has been to Tibet. Based on the principle of being responsible for him and not affecting his travel experience, I said to him, "You are free to choose the next stop. There is no need to go to Tibet with me again. It is ok for me to go to Tibet alone. "
By the flickering light of the youth brigade, I saw Xiaoding's eyes widened and he lowered his head and muttered, "I can go again." I didn't go to many places last time, and I didn't go to Namtso. "
At Xiaoding's insistence, we decided to go to Tibet together after our trip to Golmud.
The day before departure, in the evening, we wandered around Golmud and walked aimlessly to a children's park. The door reads: "Welcome!" "
Xiaoding suddenly pretended to be a welcome doll at the door. When I was amused by his cute and funny appearance, he came up to me step by step and said to me:
"You can be my girlfriend."
At this moment, my dull elm head seems to have received Xiaoding's signal about love.
"That want to travel around the world together! Let's start from Latin America! "
"good!"
It seems like a joke, but whether it's love or travel, we take it seriously.
So we fell in love. Although we have been tired of working since our four-year love life, we have never forgotten this mysterious and distant Latin American travel agreement.
Between wanting and getting, we need to put it into practice.
Before traveling around Latin America, we had a long-distance relationship.
I work in Shanghai, I am a researcher and a half-way monk yoga teacher. Xiaoding works as a UI designer in Hangzhou.
Every weekend, Xiaoding will come to Shanghai to meet me. But even these two short days are often full of work.
When there is no job, they stay at home and brush their mobile phones. When they go out, they just eat meals and watch movies.
Life is like a glass of boiled water, which tastes tasteless.
Slowly, we have less and less topics and less and less communication. At that time, we also clearly realized that this may not be a good state, but we suffered from no solution.
In the autumn of 20 19, after four years of love, we decided to end our love and get married.
In the days before marriage, we seem to become more confused. We often wonder, will married life be as boring and repetitive as it is now?
The night before we got married, we recalled those trips since we met. We talked about the diving trip in the Philippines on 20 16.
I still clearly remember the soft lights in the diving shop; I remember the first time I stood by the boat and didn't dare to jump. I remember Xiaoding's firm and trusting eyes when I was doing underwater movements.
All this is as clear as it happened yesterday. Now it seems that not only passion, but also love seems to have signs of extinction.
This kind of emotional situation is definitely not what we want. That night, we were all relaxed. Also began a long-lost night talk. We suddenly realized that two people who were tired of traveling had long forgotten their original goals.
In this way, we decided to stop and look at the place where we are both excited at the same time-Latin America.
If you want to play, play a big, adventurous one.
After a long talk all night, we reached a consensus: travel around Latin America in an RV. Give up pure sightseeing, just plan the route and don't do the raiders. Calm down, walk slowly, watch slowly, and make life on the road feel like at home.
Plan your route at home before traveling.
On June 20th19th10th10th, we got on the plane to Los Angeles with four bags and started our journey.
We still have four bags of luggage before we leave.
20 19, 12 years, we finally welcomed our new journey partner-truck camping RV in Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico.
After practicing in the camp for more than 20 days, we finally set off firmly in the RV!
Take a photo with the RV
Unexpectedly, the epidemic also "started" at the same time.
Since March 22, 2020, we decided to be isolated in situ, and our life seems to have been pressed to a standstill.
Every day, our spirit is highly nervous, just like "persecution paranoia" accompanied by an epidemic.
We spend a lot of time browsing all kinds of related information from the Internet every day. When we saw on TV that the Mexican President took the lead in kissing the children despite the advice of the Ministry of Health and said that he was ready to deal with the epidemic, we felt that this country must be crazy and we were going to die here.
Those expectations for Latin America before departure and the beautiful fantasy of this trip were lost during that time.
In the first two months of isolation, I can't remember how many times we quarreled. Anything that seems dull in life will "explode" our nerves:
Lazy at a friend's house late, poor video materials released, and even poor network signal are all the reasons for our quarrel.
Fortunately, we are all reflective and optimistic people. It's lucky to be able to calm down and think carefully after each quarrel:
We found a safe, reliable and cost-effective camp;
We have masks, hand sanitizers and the Internet.
We are in a place with friends;
We are in a place where food supply is sufficient and living standards are very low;
We are not alone, but also each other and neighbors;
During the isolation period, we can still have trees, lawns and chirping birds.
When your mood is stable, try to "enrich" your life. Read books, watch movies, watch records, practice yoga and chat with neighbors every day.
At the camp, make a fire and barbecue with neighbors.
One night, we found a leftover coconut in the car, learned the trick of opening coconut with the axe on the RV, and spent three hours processing ingredients to make our own chicken coconut.
This dish is a milestone in the epidemic. When the hot and tender chicken is swallowed with a faint coconut flavor, the immortal adventurous spirit of the past seems to be revived in the fireworks of life.
We also began to walk out of the camp and experience this Mexican town that was integrated with us because of its isolation.
Every night, we go hand in hand to the church gate in the town to watch the sunset. Seeing the sun slowly sinking, the whole town was painted with a blurred golden tone, and we really felt life.
Town sunset
Perhaps, travel should be without expectations and results, but enjoy it with the people you love and face all the good and accidents together.
Everything has a side and another side.
When we set out, we wanted to realize our dream of making money while traveling on this trip.
Unexpectedly, this wish was actually realized in the "difficult period" of the epidemic.
In order to make a living, although living overseas, I am constantly looking for job opportunities: Xiaoding is a UI designer and will take over design projects remotely; I became a freelance writer and recorded the magical experience of our trip in words.
At the same time, we have a similar occupation, that is, self-media video producer.
In this way, we have also become a member of the team of "digital vagrants".
In April, 20021,with the improvement of the epidemic situation, we finally started the second stop of our trip to Latin America-Guatemala after living in Mexico for one and a half years.
In July, Xiaoding received an invitation to create murals in a container community in the United States, and we gladly went there.
That day, Xiaoding's foot was injured and infected. I advised him to have a rest, but he insisted on finishing the mural creation. I looked at him with my head down, enduring the pain and racking my brains. At that moment, I was suddenly moved and all kinds of emotions came to my mind.
* * * Finish the mural together.
Now, our nomadic life continues, and if the epidemic permits, we will continue to travel to various countries in South America.
It is said that travel tests the feelings of two people the most, but we are definitely "tested". Along the way, we are not only lovers, but also friends and comrades.
Although I don't know where the destination is, we are already on the road, together.