Viewing International Travel thru a COVID Lens

 

I am glad to be able to travel at all, but I do have a new wariness regarding the whole travel process during a pandemic.  Airlines seem to be doing their best to put safety measures into practice, and passengers are trying to comply, yet there is a general air of confusion and chaos to flying these days. 

The first COVID guideline to go by the wayside is WATCH YOUR DISTANCE.  Instead of lining up single file, we are now asked to crowd around a small group of check-in kiosks to get our boarding passes and baggage tickets.  With 14 pieces of luggage, three being oversized, it was near impossible to negotiate the crowd, and social distancing just wasn't happening. The ticket lady helping me asked me to kindly step aside while she entered information and interacted with the display.  It was then impossible to hear what she was saying above the din, so she called me back and pointed out that I needed a visa to enter Ethiopia.  But I'm not going to Ethiopia!

The flight to Chicago was packed to the gills.  I was in the middle seat, trying not to breathe.  The attendants attempt to deplane people by rows had failed miserable, as passengers were eager to get out of this toxic, in-your-face environment.  

Then the real chaos started.  Ethiopian Airlines requires all passengers to visit the desk at the gate for new boarding passes and covid test checks.  But nobody new this and tried to board normally with their original boarding passes.  Furthermore, each country seems to require covid tests within different times of departure, and the attendants at the gate were looking it all up.  You try telling a passenger with limited English that he can't board his plane home because his negative covid test was taken outside the 90 hour window! Things were not going well.  The flight attendant was trying to get people to stand on taped markers for social distancing, only to then send then all over to the smallest desk space you can imagine for re-ticketing. I squeezed in and produced both receipts for post-travel testing to be done upon arrival, and for the 10 extra bags, before we could attempt boarding.

The flight attendants onboard were struggling equally.  For some reason the seat rows had been numbered incorrectly, and we found someone else in our seats.  Someone else was in their seat, and so on.  You can imagine that having 6 rows of passengers all get up with their belongings and change seats was not easy, especially when you are supposed to be socially distancing. 

To my dismay, when finally seated, I found my seat splattered with what could have been food, or something worse.  The window also was smeared with unidentifiable yuck.  I asked the attendant for something to clean it with and found that yet another COVID guideline was being ignored: WASH YOUR HANDS AND SANITIZE AFTER USE.  There was no sanitizer on board, and I was asked to use a blanket to clean my seat.  Fortunately I had brought my own sanitizer and kleenexes, and was able to clean most of it.  The Kleenexes came in handy for a trip to the lavatory later where I found there was no TP either.

I suppose I was lucky that I was allowed on board with a bottle of hand sanitizer, some airlines would confiscate it at security.  This time they confiscated Jon's roll of Duct Tape, with no explanation.

At Addis Ababa airport we watched as a large number of cleaners moved around wiping down seats.  But when we entered the cafe, the tables were crowded together with no elbow room, NO MASKS, and we all had to share the same sugar pot and spoon. 

Some passengers are taking care of themselves and following their own guidelines (or their company's guidelines).  We saw many passengers in full hazmat suits, visors and masks which they never removed for the duration of their travel. 

Touchdown in Abuja was just another opportunity for chaos.  Employees tried to sort everyone out, line them up and check documents. Diplomats in one line, foreigners in another.  But few people took notice, and kept switching to the shortest line. Those without proper Covid papers were sent off to correct this, and then there were more lines for visas and customs. The porters fought over a chance to carry our 14 bags, and we were directed towards the 'declare' room where officials swarmed round and went through all our things.  Outside the traffic made it difficult to navigate our bags to the pickup van.  Once there, we were greeted with a "How was your flight?" and a temperature check. 

After a restful sleep in our apartment, we wake up to more chaos: the kind where you can't find the scissors to open the new adaptor to plug in the electric kettle to make some tea.  Where did our maid stash the toilet paper, 'cause there is none in the bathrooms? How does the gas cooker work? However, this is my chaos, one I understand.  It is of my making.

COVID has created a chaos all of its own, and everyone is trying to make their own peace with it as we travel through this pandemic.