Although I’ve been posting on my Stories daily about what it’s like being an American in Spain during mandatory quarantine, I have to admit I make it look way more easy than it actually is. I try to keep the optimism and positivity high, but I can’t deny that it has been stressful and frustrating AF. Especially since my job and sanity rely on traveling.
So I’ve decided to share my story, for anyone who is interested. Or for anyone who wants to feel better about their situation, since I’m sure mine is stricter than yours! I hope this will also inspire you to use this time for the best, and remember that this unfortunate time in history will eventually pass.
Here’s an interview I was asked to do on Fox Houston that explains a lot of this:
Jump To:
Why I Went to Spain in the First Place
On March 5th, 2020 I packed up the remaining bits and pieces of my chic West Hollywood apartment, and got on a plane for a new chapter of my life in Barcelona. The plan was to live and film a web-series I call Project Expat, which would show the packing up process, moving process, and what it’s like to move to Spain as an American.
I arrived in Barcelona on March 6th, and immediately fell in love with the exposed-brick, artsy apartment I had rented in the Gothic Quarter for the month. It was in a prime location, right in the middle of the most photogenic neighborhood in Barcelona, and walking distance to tons of cute restaurants and tapas bars. Every day I’d go to at least three new places, and could not have been happier.
My boyfriend met me in Barcelona six days later on March 12th. I was extremely worried his flight would be canceled due to the growing concerns and lockdowns of the coronavirus in Europe.
When The Mandatory Lockdown Started
On the night of March 14th, we were at dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant when we overheard the waiter say to the table of college foreign exchange students next to us, “They’re ordering us and all restaurants to shut down at midnight tonight for two weeks.”
We exchanged looks of fear and unknowing. We had been doing our best to understand the news in Spanish, but we had no idea the lockdown was so quickly being put into effect. We were actually so shook up that we stopped at one of the many “24/7 Marts” to pick up essentials, as if the world were going to go into a zombie apocalypse overnight.
To be fair, we had seen the social media posts from the US of people hoarding toilet paper, so assuming it would be the same here, we bought a couple packages. Spoiler alert, toilet paper has never run out here.
In the short period that I was in Barcelona before the lockdown, I made friends with two expat girls also from the US. It was them who kept me updated on what was happening, better than the news did. According to them, all restaurants and bars would be shut down the next day (Sunday), and on Monday, the mandatory stay-at-home order would go into place.
Well, the next day happened to be our one year anniversary. I was bummed, but tried to make the best of it, and suggested that we just go for a picnic somewhere since all restaurants were closed. But first and foremost of course, we needed to go grocery shopping, especially after hearing how crazy people were already getting in the US about toilet paper.
What Grocery Stores in Spain Are Like During the Quarantine
There was a grocery store five minutes from our place in the Gothic Quarter. When we got there it was of course busy, but people were orderly and respectful. There was plenty of food, and yes, toilet paper.
In fact, every time we’ve gone to a grocery store (it’s now been almost four weeks and we go every other day almost), the stores are fully stocked. And there has never been a lack of toilet paper. It makes me wonder why Americans are so crazy about their toilet paper, and also why the suppliers can’t meet the demand?
Our Quarantinaversary
Anyway, after dropping our groceries off at the apartment, and packing a small bag for the picnic, we set off towards La Rambla. It was strange seeing it packed with people the day before, and the next day, hardly anyone was out.
Already we started seeing police standing on the sidewalks, and I assumed they were getting ready to implement the home lockdown the next day. We walked past a few of them, and they didn’t say anything, so we just kept walking.
The next group of police officers stopped us though. One of them explained to us in Catalan what we assumed was that we had to go home. It was hard to get all of the information because we speak some Spanish, but not the Catalan dialect, and NONE of the police in Barcelona speak English. Which is bizarre to me considering it’s one of the top tourist destinations in the world…
Since we were unsure if he was telling us to go home right then or if it starts tomorrow, we took the long way back to the apartment. We walked along the waterfront at Port Veil instead, along with several others who had the same idea. It’s not the prettiest port, but it was literally the only place I could think of where we could try to have our picnic.
So we ate our cheese and bread, and drank some wine on a bench. Not the rooftop sangria and tapas anniversary lunch I was hoping for but beggars can’t be choosers, right?
We noticed quite a few people with luggage and wondered where they were all going. I could only assume it was to the airport to escape the lockdown. I asked my boyfriend if he thought we should consider leaving too, but at the time we both thought two weeks wasn’t that bad to have to stay inside.
Once we finished eating we started walking again, and saw two police on motorcycles coming down the walkway of the port. They were stopping everyone they passed. One very intimidating officer stopped us, and again started speaking in Catalan, which we didn’t understand.
Police started stopping people on the street on March 15th.
Luckily a girl walking by easily noticed we didn’t understand or speak the dialect and translated for us in English, “We have to go back to our house, the two week lockdown starts today.”
A wave of depression swept over me, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like something bad was going to happen.
I also had an unnerving thought in the back of my head…I had marched in the Barcelona Women’s March a few days ago…what if I had gotten infected and would in fact my boyfriend as well? I shared my concern with him but of course he wasn’t, and never has been worried about having the actual virus. More on our thoughts about this later.
Anyway, we were still at least determined to have an anniversary dinner, even if it had to be at home. So we cooked an extravagant meal (for us non-cookers at least), poured some wine, lit candles, and dressed up in the fanciest clothes we brought. It would definitely be an anniversary we’ll never forget…
Making Moves in Barcelona
The next morning it was raining, and the lack of sun made me realize how dark and cave-like the apartment was. In fact, I started feeling pangs of anxiety flaring up because it reminded me of my scuba diving accident where I thought I was running out of oxygen in an underwater cave.
I immediately did what I do best; pulled out my laptop and looked for a last minute accommodation. One that had more natural light and would be more comfortable to spend two weeks in. My rapid, skillful searching landed me with five tabs of potential candidates, all with either a big balcony, or full on terrace. The one I wanted most had a terrace the size of my old apartment in LA’s entire living room and kitchen, plus an epic view of the top of the judicial building near the Arc de Triomph.
I had actually taken a photo in front of the underlooked Judicial building just five days ago, and thought nothing of it but a good photo opp. I thought, “Well, since there’s too many people in front of the arc, at least I can set up my tripod without worrying about it getting stolen. Plus I got no people in the photo!
Little did I know, that shortly after I took that photo, I’d be trapped in an apartment overlooking that same building, for six weeks.
The apartment was way over our budget (but still less than what I was paying in LA), and we really didn’t need a two bedroom, but I was desperate for an outdoor space. I messaged all of the hosts asking if they would give us a discount considering most tourists are leaving, and all of them said yes, but I didn’t hear back from the main one I wanted. I actually ended up panicking two hours later and just booked it without waiting to hear if they would offer me a lower rate.
Since I thought the lockdown was only going to be for two weeks, I only booked the nicer apartment for five nights. I had already paid the cave apartment for the entire month, so I figured I’d splurge and enjoy the nicer place for a few days, then suck it up and come back to the cave.
The nice apartment was about a twenty minute walk from the cave, and I was pretty nervous about what would happen if we got stopped. We packed just a carry-on each, and all of our camera and computer gear, and I took a screenshot of the rental confirmation plus my Google translation of “We have to move apartments” in Catalan.
Going from seeing one of the busiest neighborhoods in Barcelona packed with people to not a soul in sight was weird. Definitely felt like an apocalypse happened. We were going to stop for some groceries along the way, but when we got there, there was a line outside half a block long. Turns out they were only letting about five people inside at a time, which was a smart move, because I definitely was nervous when we went the first time and people were getting too close to me.
We decided to go back later since we needed to meet the new host at a certain time which was in ten minutes anyway. We started walking again but I immediately noticed two police officers up ahead and got nervous. I decided to act like a “dumb tourist” and study the map on my phone like I was trying really hard to figure out where I was going. Luckily they seemed to not to care at all, both that we were moving, and that we needed help with directions…
Retreat to Casa Quarantina
We followed the instructions to get to the apartment building, and took a small elevator up to the “attic”. When our jovial Belgian host opened the door and welcomed us inside, it was like a breath of fresh air. Everything was white and bright, chic decor and personalized touches made it immediately apparent that they had invested in an interior designer.
Of course the best part of all was stepping onto the terrace. Right away my eyes fell in love with the view of the domed bell tower, flanked by two smaller square-domes with gargoyles on each corner. Behind the buildings I could see the tops of buildings in the main area of Barcelona, to the right I could see a giant hill with castle on top of it, and to the left, I could even see a small piece of the ocean! My boyfriend told me a few days later he knew I wasn’t going to go back to the cave apartment the second we got there.
Do You Want the Good News or Bad News First?
On March 20th, five days into the two week quarantine, and our third day at Casa Quarantina, I had already been discussing with my boyfriend the idea of switching to our new place for the month. It would mean I would lose about $1500 from what I already paid at the cave apartment, which was stressful considering all of my work was currently on hold.
I actually posted the question on Instagram to ask for people’s opinion; lose money and keep my comfort and sanity, or suck it up and stay at the cave. Mind you, the initial plan was to stay at the cave with the intention of never being there. Our plan for moving to Barcelona was to explore the entire country of Spain, and take several multi-day trips to neighboring countries. I was never in a million years expecting to have to be in there 24/7 for a mandatory lockdown.
The consensus was to splurge, so I had planned on texting our host in the morning to ask if he’d consider a discount if we extend. But when I woke up, he had texted me first.
It was to inform me that the Spanish government passed a new law that morning stating that any short term stays (in hotels, airbnbs, hostels, etc.) needed to be evacuated immediately. I immediately started to panic, and wonder where the hell we were supposed to go if we couldn’t stay in an airbnb or hotel? What if we couldn’t get a flight out? Would we just be thrown out on the street?
But then another text came through and he explained that any stays over 32 days were permitted. So technically we were good to stay at the cave, but not Casa Quarantina unless we extended…which is what I wanted to do anyway.
After sucking up my pride, I explained to our host our situation, both with already paying for the other place and me having anxiety issues, and asked, no, begged, for a discount. His initial offer was too high, but he was nice enough to ask what our budget was. In the end, he ended up giving us the full month for about 1700 euros, so about $1800, which definitely isn’t bad for the size of it and the view! Plus, for the first time ever, I could actually make my boyfriend split it with me (he stayed with me in LA 6 nights a week and never paid rent since he also kept his studio apartment…).
I felt a lot better knowing we could stay in the nicer apartment for the remainder of the two week lockdown plus a couple weeks after that, even if it meant losing money on the other place.
….Especially since the next day the government announced that they were extending the lockdown by an additional two weeks, to April 12th.
Let Me Re-Iterate How Strict Our Lockdown/Quarantine Is in Spain:
The entire four weeks I’ve been in the mandatory lockdown, I’ve seen and heard people in the US using the terms “lockdown” and “quarantine”…yet still going for walks, hikes, and bike rides….
WE ARE NOT ALLOWED OUTSIDE OF OUR HOMES UNLESS WE ARE GOING TO GET GROCERIES OR MEDiCINE! …Or if you’re lucky enough to have a dog, you get to take them out for walks. Otherwise, not even kids are allowed outside for walks!
We will get FINED one thousand dollars or more if caught hanging out outside. My boyfriend and I thought we were being clever by going to the grocery store every other day, but we got stopped a few days ago by yet another police who did not speak English, who I think told us only one person could go to the grocery store at a time. So there goes the one tiny glint of freedom we had to walk somewhere together.
The Sad Coronavirus Situation in Spain
Right now, April 9th 2020, Spain is the country with the most coronavirus deaths in the entire world. More than China, more than Italy, more than most countries combined. The news says this is because of the aging population in Spain, and amount of people with underlying health problems.
I say all countries are reporting deaths differently and other countries probably have way more as well.
It seems as though we are hitting the “peak”, which means the point where the max deaths are because everyone who was infected is now either recovering, or dying. The hope was that with everyone inside, the rate of infections would lower, but it doesn’t really seem to be happening, which I’m starting to question more and more daily.
How are people still getting infected if literally everyone is inside and has been inside for 4 weeks? That’s two weeks past the virus’ incubation period, which means people are still somehow getting infected even in quarantine. The only reasons I can think of are transmissions via “essential workers” (even though they all wear masks and gloves), or people are secretly going to friends and family’s houses.
In the last few days the number of deaths have gone down, but not enough from keeping the government from extending the lockdown by yet ANOTHER two weeks, for a total of six. And they’re already talking about an additional 15 days after that.
How We Feel About Getting the Virus
This might sound bad, but I almost wish I would have gotten the virus while in mandatory quarantine. At least then I’d come out with a chance of immunity, and won’t have to take an additional two weeks off if I catch it after the lockdown.
To be honest, I’m not even 100% sure I haven’t had it.
When I flew from Florida to California in January with my dog, I was sitting next to a Chinese family with a baby who was coughing. By the way, I’m not trying to sound racist or like a xenophile, I’m just stating facts (I knew they were Chinese because they were speaking Mandarin).
Anyway, when I got back to L.A. I developed a severe flu overnight! Granted, it was probably just the regular flu, but since the symptoms are similar, it’s hard to tell. I ruled it out though because if I had covid-19, my boyfriend DEFINITELY would have gotten it, and at least one of my friends, but no one did.
More recently, during week three of quarantine, my boyfriend and I both got small dry coughs. I also started experiencing pressure in my chest at night, but partially allot it to my now growing anxiety.
In conclusion, we are not afraid or worried about ourselves getting the virus.
What I AM worried about is spreading it to people not as healthy as we are. Which brings me to my next point;
Why We Decided to Stay in Spain Over Going Back to the US
Aside from the teeny tiny fact that we both got rid of our apartments in LA to move abroad, there’s a few other reasons why we decided to stay in Spain to ride out the pandemic.
Here’s a few of them:
- Considering the strictness of the lockdown in Spain and lack-thereof in the US, we decided it’s safer to just stay here.
- We also decided that if we were to try to fly back, there’s a good chance we’ll not only get the virus and bring it back on the way, but we’d be in the same quarantine situation, and likely have to pay more for a place to live.
- The people and news have been way less negative and fear-inducing than in the US. We decided it would be much less stressful to just stay in Spain.
- We realized the peak of Spain’s infections would peak soon and the US wouldn’t reach it until later, so there was a better chance of getting freedom sooner in Spain.
- We didn’t want to deal with grocery and toilet paper hoarders.
- If we did need it, access to healthcare and medicine in Spain is substantially cheaper out of pocket than it is in the US
- …..We’d rather live in Barcelona.
HOWEVER! I have started weighing our options again. My main deciding factor is which place will recover fastest, and give freedom back first. Right now, the US is talking about letting non-essential workers go back to work already, and people are allowed to exercise outside. In Spain, they still have not given a glimmer of hope as to when we will be allowed outside and have even mentioned extending the mandatory home confinement into May.
So right now, my thoughts are that we will stay here until the latest new end date of April 28th, and if it extends past that, we will start thinking about going back to the US until it’s over.
UPDATE: Some non-essential workers like construction workers have been granted access to go back to work today on April 13th. See more daily updates at the end of this post!
What I’ve Been Doing to Stay Busy
Surprisingly, but not really, my to-do list has stayed extremely long these last four weeks. I’ve been an entrepreneur and digital nomad for the last ten years, so as along as I have my laptop, I have plenty of things to do.
Here are a couple of things I’ve achieved so far or are working on while in mandatory lockdown in Spain:
- Finishing writing my book, “Yes, I’m Traveling Alone”
- Editing Project Expat Episode 1 and Episode 2
- Creating, booking, and interviewing top travel icons for an IG Live series called Travelers Talk Lockdown
- Negotiating incoming deals (so far I’ve gotten a sponsored IG post, 4 sponsored blog posts, and today I even got a future travel collaboration in Japan!)
- Promoting my Boutique products and Online Courses
- Writing new blog posts and finishing drafts
- Hiring a new Staff Writer
- Creating imaginative content with what I have
- News interviews, show features, and collaborative posts with other creators
- Edit old photos from Africa to use for Instagram Posts
- Learn Britney Spears Choreography
- Cook new recipes
- Read Books
- Video Chat with friends, family, and my pets I had to leave behind…
My best friend Adam and my fish Zanzibar he adopted My mom and my dog Oscar in Florida 
Zoom with people from my Philippines group trip!
…as you can see I was meant to be an entrepreneur not a domesticated human.
I also created a list of 26 Productive and Fun Things to Do At Home, check it out!
What My Typical Day Looks Like
First and foremost, I just want to mention that when I’m not traveling, my days are pretty similar to how they are in quarantine. Well, aside from going out to eat and to happy hour every day.
In the morning I wake up whenever i want, but I try to aim for 9am or 10am at the latest just for the sake of feeling productive. There’s a 75% chance I immediately put on a bathing suit, with the full intention to work outside. In fact, the first thing I do after checking my IG for comments to respond to, and emails received overnight, is look outside to determine if it’s a bikini day or not.
Then, after responding to comments and emails from bed, I pop in the shower for my morning steam. Then I’ll make some breakfast if my boyfriend hasn’t already gotten up and do so. My current favorite breakfast dishes are lox on a baguette, or my famous veggie scramble.
Since no one from my main audience or clientele is awake when I am (they’re mostly in the US), I have less urgency to get things done. So depending on my mood, I’ll either practice my Britney Spears choreography tutorials, read my book, or go straight to working.
Once I get into work mode, I don’t stop for several hours. Before i know it it’s usually 3pm and I remember to eat lunch. Then it’s back to work until just before 6pm my time, which is 9am PST and 12pm EST — my designated daily IG posting time. I spend a solid hour uploading my post (I create captions in the moment and never schedule them in advance) and engaging with the comments on it. But of course, since I have ADD, I will also continue working on my laptop at the same time since this is also the time when my emails start to come in.
Before I know it, it’s 8pm and I hear a horn sound outside that indicates it’s time to go outside and clap for the healthcare workers. I jump up from whatever I’m doing, and go outside with the rest of my neighbors to clap and cheer for the people working in the hospitals during the pandemic.
Afterwards I usually go back to whatever I had dropped doing to go clap, and get sucked into that for while before realizing it’s getting late and we need to cook dinner!
BTW! We’ve gotten really good at cooking in quarantine! Check out this post of all the easy recipes I’ve been creating!
Somehow my boyfriend and I have an unspoken schedule of who cooks when. Sometimes we both cook, or sometimes one of us does while the other continues to work. By the way, my boyfriend is a meditation and yoga teacher, so he does virtual zoom classes, has private virtual classes, is creating courses, and also writing a book. He actually has substantially less interest in travel than i do, and says he does it because “That’s what he has to do in order to be with me”. He also reminds me whenever we get in fights about gratitude that he “Moved to another country for me”.
My response to that is usually, “You’re welcome.”
Anyway, dinner is rarely eaten at the dinner table since we turned that into the indoor office. Instead we eat at the circular coffee tables in front of the couch, and sit on the floor like we’re in Japan or something.
Then it’s movie time, but since we’re getting kind of bored of them, we usually end up playing Mario Kart on our phones. We also try to keep up with friends and family back home during this time, but it gets a bit hard since we’re usually pretty tired and tipsy by the time they’re awake or free.
We crawl into our fluffy bed around 1am, I go into another world of lucid dreaming, then we start all over again in the morning…
American in Spain UPDATES!
April 8th: After hearing about yet another extension of the lockdown, I decided to attempt ordering kiddie pools for the terrace. Thanks to people helping me on IG, I was able to get one off Amazon.es (Spain’s Amazon site), and a girl who lives here also helped me get one off Carrefour’s website!
April 10th: Woke up after another sleepless night. Can’t tell if it’s anxiety or if I have a mild cold. I keep getting really hot with fast breathing and a restless mind. I try listening to sleep music on my meditation app, which puts me to sleep, but I wake up a few hours later as soon as it stops. Today on the news they announced the official extension of the lockdown to April 26th, with thoughts already to extend it past that to May 10th. My boyfriend says he doesn’t want to go back to the US but I’m starting to struggle more and more seeing people allowed outside there with facemasks, and absolutely no plans to relax the confinement here.
I got to do another awesome Insta LIVE, today with Brooke from WorldWanderlust. It was refreshing talking to another travel blogger whose life is also on hold. We also reminisced about a travel collaboration we got to do to Tahiti a few years ago.
My boyfriend and I attempted to play a drinking game to Wolf of Wall Street…we both lost.
April 11th: The lowest number of deaths in 24 hours was announced today, with about 504 fatalities. i’m still hoping and praying this is the downward spiral of the peak. Also got food poisoning from eating old mozzarella and felt like I was dying for a couple hours. Once I felt better though I set up one of my new kiddie pools on the terrace.
April 12th: Easter Sunday, and also the original end date of our mandatory home confinement. Barcelona is heavily Catholic so the government was trying really hard to let people free by today but it’s no where near ready to happen. I’m not religious but wanted to celebrate anyway, so I set up my new pool, had some rose, and attempted making little chickens out of deviled eggs. Got in a fight with the bf because he kept going on his computer to work, which we do EVERY DAY, instead of trying to have fun with me.
I actually started getting anxiety and stress because it made me wonder if our romance was dead, and we merely are just like roommates now. But finally he decided to attempt understanding my complex method of thinking, and suggested we alternate giving each other massages outside. That worked for a while, but I’m still stressed about feeling the “we don’t have fun” factor while being in lockdown…especially with 2-4 weeks left…
April 13th: Non-essential workers such as construction and “industry” workers were allowed to go back to work today. Death tolls continue to decrease even though there is STILL debate about if numbers are even being reported correctly. The government is at least confident that we are on the downward spiral of things, and they do not expect a second peak of the virus. That means we have an actual chance of being allowed to go outside for leisure soon!
I walked to the quickie mart for water and wine and as always, see lots of people casually strolling with their dogs. In my opinion, if that’s allowed, they should let everyone out for an hour per day, especially little kids.
April 25th: Officially the 40th day of mandatory confinement. Anxiety has started spiking at night again, and there’s no real rush to get out of bed in the morning. Tomorrow (Sunday) children will start being allowed outside for one hour per day. Still no word on when adults will be.
The official State of the Alarm is extended to May 9th and supposedly it cannot be extended again after that. I think the government will say it’s lifted but still only let people outside for an hour per day. Today the rate of new infections was less than the rate of recovery for the first time since the lockdown started. If it continues to decline, we’ll have more freedom.
We went ahead and paid for another month at our Casa Quarantina, so we have it until May 19th, and will see what things are like here then. If freedom is still limited, we may try to go to the UK, Mexico, or our last option will be back to the US.
If you feel like my story is helpful, motivating, or entertaining in any way, I’d really appreciate it if you shared it on social and leave a comment here! Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. A good moment to share these pictures. This place is full of people in any season, any day and any hour, is now completely empty. It was such a strange feeling. I do love this country and I’m confident that all the people living there, tougher, will win over the COVID-19 pandemic.
I know they will too! We are already seeing drastic drops in deaths and new infections, and a lot more recoveries per day than new infections! We also get to go outside for walks starting in two days WOOHOO!!
Stay strong!
I think your updates section might be a month off aka it says March 12 was Easter when it was April 12. <3
PS The quarantine relationship struggle is super real! I'm currently stuck in rural Pennsylvania while my husband is activated with the National Guard for COVID response. Not fun. I'm also a former Angeleno (WeHo and Hermosa represent!) who now lives in Brooklyn, so being stuck inside during constant rainy grey weather is killing me!
Ah yes you are right, thank you! My brain apparently hasn’t registered that it’s a different month yet hahaha!
And wow, that must be hard!!! I’ll hope for sunny days for you and time off for him! Ironically this is the first time I’m really traveling with someone and of course I get “stuck” with them, ha!
Great post! It’s interesting to hear what the lockdown is like there. I hope you get set free soon!
Thanks girl, I hope we get set free soon too…I don’t know how much longer my anxiety can handle!!
You guys sure are making the best use of your time there!! Glad you decided to stick with the nicer apartment for your own sanity 🙂
For sure!!! Now just wondering if it will end up being worth it to have stayed in Spain versus the US where we could at least potentially go for walks!