A journey with detours: When the explosive test is positive 😂🙈✈️

It's 4 o'clock when my alarm clock wakes me up from my sleep. Quickly I realize that my journey, which I have been planning for a year now, is beginning. Even though I had enough time to prepare myself for this moment, I feel a little uneasy. Will the journey go smoothly? What are my roommates like? Will I find my way in Sardinia? All such questions go through my mind. But there is hardly any time to think, because my flight to London leaves at quarter to 7. You probably wonder why to London. The reason is that there are no direct flights from Germany to Cagliari outside the season. The alternative would have been a stopover in Milan, but that would not have been so advantageous due to the spreading coronavirus in northern Italy.

When I arrive at the airport, I check in my luggage and say goodbye to my friend with a heavy heart. A few shed tears later, I am standing in line at the security check. I have been through the process several times before, but this time something new awaits me. As my luggage leaves the control zone in various boxes, an employee performs an additional test and runs a card over my electronic devices. I don't think anything of it and wait patiently until I get the OK and can pack my things. But then suddenly a police officer approaches me and I get nervous. What does he want from me? He asks if that is my luggage and if I could identify myself. They apparently performed an explosive test that turned out positive. For a brief moment, I think it's a bad joke, but when he asks me further questions about my journey, I realize that he is serious. He asks a colleague to check my belongings again, and then gives me the OK. Luckily, because boarding will start in a few minutes.

Relieved to have arrived on the plane, I experience a short and calm flight to London. Bad weather with a mixture of rain and snow greets me at the airport. A short trip to the city to pass the long waiting time is not an option. Now I have to wait until the afternoon and pass the time with the help of Netflix & Co. Hopefully, this evening I can take off my scarf and enjoy pleasant 13°C in Sardinia.