Travel is one of my favorite things. I love trains and planes and road trips. I also love airports for people watching. But the last flight I took was back in March. We were coming back from Mexico just when they started telling Americans to hurry home. Back then we didn’t know how serious the pandemic would get. We weren’t that stressed about travel but we starting to get stressed about what would happen when we got home. My work ended up keeping me home for a week before I could go back to work.
Skip to Dec 1st. 9 months later and you’d think I have ever flown post 9/11.
I had to take a trip for an appointment. I had to go to this appointment and it was one I worked to get way back at the beginning of the year. And even though I tried to get it as a virtual appointment, I ended up having to book a flight back to California. I wish I didn’t have to go, but it is what it is. I would have driven but that would mean 4 days of driving, multiple hotels, and a lot of missed work.
It’s a little disorienting at first. The set up for TSA is a little different in keeping people six feet apart and plexiglass around TSA folks. Disorienting enough that it took an extra second to figure out where to go when. And that extra second I looked like had never flown before. Where do I stand? Where are the bins? The TSA agents were like come on lady, get it together.
I think there are going to be a few post pandemic experiences like this in our future where we will definitely be disorienting. Things we previously loved like travel. Or even simple things like eating in a restaurant.
How is the airport? Mostly empty. People wearing masks. And like every where we go, some people wear their mask like a chin strap. I just tried to stay away from everyone when possible.
The Next 38 