travel in the time of coronavirus

This week, I had a crazy, whirlwind trip to New York City for work — overnight, 15 hours in planes and cars within a 30 hour period. Talk about returning to travel in a baptism by fire!

There were parts of those 30 hours that felt surreal: air travel included wiping down seats, and on my flight to New York, the flight attendants were handing out disinfecting wipes as we boarded. Everyone used it to wipe down their seats, and the plane reeked of alcohol.

Is it weird that the smell was comforting?

Air travel currently requires all passengers to wear masks in the airport and on planes, but once I arrived in New York City, I was surprised at how few I saw: really, only the people in the service industries — waitstaff, store clerks — were wearing them. Apparently, over 70% of the population has been vaccinated, so the city is feeling pretty confident, despite the fact that the Delta variant is on the rampage. Luckily, the weather was good (and hot), so I made sure to eat meals in the open air, but wore my mask in elevators. Still, I admit that I’m nervously watching for any signs and symptoms ever since I got home.

Even though I’m fully vaccinated myself, and have been for months.

I wonder if there’ll ever be a time when I travel without worrying about catching some virulent disease. Part of me thinks never.