If you are getting ready to travel or would like to travel during this confusing time you may be where I was; lost, unsure, and nervous. I didn't know what to expect or what to prepare for. My husband and I were fortunate enough to go on vacation to Florida to visit family and get away. With this came airports, flights, security, new rules, and odd travel essentials.
To start, airports are scarce right now, less people, fast lines, and touchless check-In. A little counterproductive though, since the airline staff still handles your bags and your card to pay for your bags, but they won't touch your ID. So, I would say things are not quite consistent but definitely faster.
You of course have to wear a mask the entire time unless you are eating or drinking, or the other exception the security has to see your face and match it to your ID. Planes are not at complete compacity, I would say at least 70-80% full. Rows are 3 seats on each side of the plane, sporadically there was a seat empty in between two people. I wouldn't say every row, because there was definitely rows that were completely full with 3 different people not traveling together. But if you are one of the lucky, like my husband and I we got an extra seat to ourselves, so that was nice.
We flew United Airlines, and as far as they go, they have taken out all extra magazines in the seatbacks except the safety card that seems like no one looks at anymore. They talk about the extra safety precautions they are taking and the extra cleaning that is taking place to help stop the spread of the virus. Right when you step your first foot onto the plane, you get a "United CleanPlus" Sanitizing Wipe. These wipes are 70% alcohol. I used one once just to see what they were like. Umm, yuck! Holy Smokes those things are strong and very potent. That will definitely take away your sense of smell if COVID hasn't.🤣
Make sure your mask is over your nose, the flight attendants will make sure to tell you if it isn't. You take your seat like normal, take off is the same. You still get casual drink service, sodas, juice, water, coffee, etc. Instead of individual wrapped snacks, they now give you an "All-in-One Snack Bag" which is an 8 oz water bottle, pretzels, sometimes a Stroopwafel, or sometimes a Lotus Biscoff cookie my favorite are the Stroopwafels. They have also included two of the sanitizing wipes. Actually to be honest, it is a good idea, and should have been brought about before the pandemic. I am not sure how it is any different than the individual packets of snacks they used to offer, I didn't see an explanation on how they were wrapped or "kept safe" for COVID-19 reasons, so who knows.
The flight attendants do more trash rounds now, constantly taking away every piece of trash every 5 minutes. One thing that is for sure, planes are way more cleaner and the chances of getting any type of sickness now while flying is definitely lower. Everyone always talks about how it is easier to get sick while flying, being cooped up on a enclosed metal box with a bunch of other people coughing, sneezing, etc. So now airlines are doing the job they probably should have done awhile ago. Keeping things clean and sanitized to the level that they should. To bad it took a worldwide pandemic for them to implement better cleaning practices.
I will say wearing a mask the whole time is the worst part. It rubbed my nose raw, and by the end of our last flight I felt like I was suffocating. So to be honest, I tried to cheat the system by constantly drinking water and eating little bits of snack every few minutes. So, there is a little sneaky pandemic travel tip for you, eat and drink a little the majority of the flight.
There are definitely pros and cons for traveling during the pandemic, but if I remember correctly there was also pros and cons for traveling during NO pandemic. I do hope we can get back to not wearing masks on a plane if we choose and more personal interactions with people.
So in that case, I say take that trip, get away, you deserve it. Of course wherever you are, if you are not able to because of restrictions or quarantine time, I get it and I am sorry, but if you are able to, this is the perfect time. Flights are affordable, airports are not as busy and airplanes are cleaner.
I hope this helped you, and gave you a little insight into what it is like to travel during a pandemic. Ultimately Don't be afraid! Take an adventure! ✈
Kommentare