When I imagined the end of the world, I never imagined it alone. With no family, no friends, no wife and to top it off stranded in a foreign country whose language I can’t understand.

Now, I know a virus with a two to three percent mortality rate is far from being world ending. But, it sure feels like it when walls are being erected by every nation around you. I mean, I know I’m Mexican, but could you please not. I have a pregnant wife just a few hours away and I would be really grateful if I could be with her in these times.

That was me, just a few days ago. A Mexican with a US nationality stuck in Serbia because he had to go out of Schengen Europe before he could come back to his pregnant Slovak wife in Slovakia. Modern world, modern couple, modern problems.

Problems that could have been avoided if the FBI hadn’t lost my background check papers, postponing my Slovak residency application for thirty days. Or if Slovakia had a visa, like many other countries, for couples going trough such a process. Or if I hadn’t met a Slovak girl in Thailand five years ago.

Not that any of that matter, I was stuck in Serbia, the borders were closing and who knew when I was going to see my wife and that big belly of hers again. What I did know was that it could still take up to thirty days for the residency card to arrive, and that was if I was approved. Imagining about it not arriving in time or worse not getting approved made my Airbnb room feel smaller and darker than it already was. All kinds of thought came rushing through my mind. What if she gets sick? Who’s gonna carry all the groceries for her? Will there even be any groceries left? Will she have enough toilet paper (ok, maybe I didn’t think about this one)? When will I feel my baby boy’s kicks again? He always kicks so much when I play guitar and sing for him.

And so I started singing. It’s what I like to do when I start feeling stressed. Nothing helps me forget about the world’s problems more than loosing myself in a song, the sadder the song; the better. It’s cathartic. After a few songs I was starting to feel better and then I got a message from my wife…

10:33 I got a message that the courier will bring your residency card today!:)

If I could kiss that courier I would, but it’s not recommended right now and he’s not around. I checked the trains and there was one train leaving from Subotica to Budapest that day, it was at 2:00 pm. You should have seen me packing those bags though, two minutes max, must have a been a record for me and I’ve packed many bags before. The shower was a bit slower, as it felt good to let the warm water massage my stiff shoulders. Soon after, I was breathing the fresh air outside that damp Airbnb and on my way to beautiful Slovakia.

They closed the borders the next day.

You’d think that I would finally be reunited with my loving wife. But, she has been in the Czech Republic for the past few days helping her sister, who just had a baby. As I’m writing this, Friday the 13th, they canceled her train. No international trains nor buses are running between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Czechia announced it would be closing its borders this weekend… I will come back to this when I get news from my wife.

16:17 Keep your fingers crossed, we are about to leave my sister’s house… 16:17 I will keep them crossed. 18:10 How’s it going sweetie? 18:21 Noelko moj, Vitko just left me at the train station. He is heading back to Brno already… 18:21 Phew…que bueno! Is there many people on the train? 18:22 So far not…a few. 18:24 What are you up to? 18:25 That’s good. I will see you soon then :). I’m writing a story about all of this haha. 18:25 Are you? I am curious!:) 18:26 I’ll show you when you get here :).

They do say love knows not about borders. Unfortunately, COVID-19 doesn’t care about them either and since we both had to travel, we’re going to quarantine ourselves for two weeks. Wishing you all the best, stay healthy.

Text and photos by: Noel Rojo