| It sounded simple: my family and I had the Corona blues and thought a bit of relaxation in sunny Spain was in order. Plus, my wife hadn't seen her elderly Catalonian father for about a year. Nearly two weeks of hiking and biking through the Mediterranean pine woods, bathing at remote coves, and eating lovely food went a long way to replenish the drained batteries. That is, until the renewed outbreaks in Barcelona and parts of the Costa Brava raised alarm bells. France and the U.K. raised warning signals. Germany followed suit by declaring Catalonia a region of risk. Testing centers would be set up at major entry points to Europe's largest nation and random controls would be undertaken, we heard. Would we be able to make it home? Had this whole trip been a bad idea? One senior German politician even suggested it was immoral to go on holidays while the pandemic was still ongoing.  A solo diner sits at a deserted restaurant in the Moll de Gregal area of Barcelona. Photographer: Guillem Sartorio/Bloomberg The 1,800-kilometer car trip home was a pleasant enough: borders were open, and the rumored controls and testing hadn't materialized. Then, reality hit: our two-week sojourn was to be followed by a two-week quarantine — unless we could produce negative Covid test results within 72 hours. It became a race against time. We received a polite but firm "no-can-do" from our family doctor, found four test centers recommended by our local health department were inoperative, and got turned down by one of the city's largest diagnostic centers. In the end, my wife and I were tested at an airport center meant for passengers arriving by plane. It would take another 12 hours to find testing for our kids. All negative. Since then I hear things have improved. More testing sites have opened. Family doctors have received proper instructions and diagnosis is available in vacation destinations such as Turkey before people start home. This is just the beginning of a massive wave of vacationers yet to return from their holidays. Thousands of Europeans are venturing abroad in search of a bit of normality and will continue to travel, whether for business or leisure. To make that happen safely will require much more thought, whether that means employing virus-detecting dogs, or safer planes and trains. We need new tools to make travel bearable again. — Raymond Colitt | 
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