Traveling During the Travel Ban
As we enact social distancing and strict travel bans, airline employees remain exempt so I continue to travel…
As the United States and many other countries around the world enact social distancing protocols and strict travel bans, airline employees remain exempt from government stay-at-home orders. As many of my friends are sequestered at home leaving only for groceries, I continue to walk through airports, planes and empty hotels. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how different things have become in such a short period of time..
Continuing to travel has given me quite a different perspective and I’ve been witness to random acts of kindness and random acts of weirdness. Just yesterday I overheard a man in the tell a café cashier that he would buy everyone’s lunch in line after they’d waited over 4 hours for a delayed flight. A few moments later I saw a man spraying a small bottle of Lysol haphazardly in the air around him creating a fog cloud as he fearfully backed into a corner of the gatehouse.
I understand this a difficult and for some people scary time. And no matter how you feel about the politics involved, we are all affected by the drastic changes that are taking place. Humans are naturally social creatures and we want to share and interact with others and flight attendants are no exception! After my last trip two of my coworkers and I grabbed coffee in the terminal and stood chatting about the day. We laughed about our jobs and shared stories of crazy passengers, being disinvited from dinners or being avoided altogether due to our careers and the corona virus.
At one point I reached for my camera and announced that we needed a photo to capture the moment. For a split second I felt myself glance up to see if a passerby would mind taking our photo, then instantly realized that would be a socially taboo request. Something I’d done for others many times and have asked others to do for me, has simply become unacceptable! So I awkwardly held out my hand to snap our selfie, ready to press the screen when I heard a woman’s laughing voice ask if she could take our photo? I looked up to see a wide smile and extended hand and almost felt guilty to accept her help. Noticing my hesitation she reassured me it was no big deal, so I handed her the phone. After graciously snapping the pic she handed back my phone and pulled out a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Winking at me as she rubbed her hands together and said “We’re all in this together, so I take precautions but I won’t stop living life out of fear”. Before she walked away I discovered she was a nurse traveling to volunteer her time and had been in the airport for several hours that day waiting for a flight.
Now I agree that taking our picture was an extremely small gesture but after some of the craziness that has been going on, a touch of normalcy and a smile made my day. I imagine in the days ahead, there will be lots of other little things I’ll realize that I’ve taken for granted as I yearn for things to return to how they were just a few short weeks ago. In the meantime, I am going to be cautious but I won’t stop living out of fear!