Oh Alanis Morissette, you were singing our song before we even knew. One year to date I started this blog and one year to date, I am taking my first flight in months, hindered by a no-fly mandate.
Four months, at least six cancelled trips and countless face masks later, here I am, Omaha bound. This week in Phoenix, the temperature has hit 666 degrees, we are in hell and don’t worry, they are out of toilet paper here too. They don’t call Phoenix the Valley of the Sun for nothing, literally that is all there is: sun. For some, the idea of a cloudless sky more days than not is a dream to most. For me, I would give anything for a small stint of rainy days, a respite from sweating ALL THE TIME. Thank goodness for air conditioning, however there is a chance i will have to request a Go Fund Me page to pay my electric bill for July.
I always equate summers in AZ to winters in the midwest, when you know a rough stint is coming, like the record temperatures of 116 this week, you get the necessities, hunker down and lay around the house, away from the elements. This would all be fine, if we haven’t been getting the necessities, hunkering down and laying low for 4 MONTHS. So I am escaping. I am face masked, sanitized, socially distanced and breaking loose from feeling isolated – mentally, emotionally and physically.
The irony of this post heavy on travel content is that just one year ago to this very day, I started this storytelling platform (it is not a blog). I was kicking off what proved to be the biggest travel season I had to date, for work and for play, giving me the perfect opportunity for observations galore to share
And now fast forward to 2020 – who would have thought? That should be the slogan for the year – “who would have thought’ – get that on a throw pillow. The only thing I am observing these days is how lazy I have gotten that I can see my Nest thermostat from my couch and still use the app on my phone to turn the air down. I am also starting to Facetime with friends about people on shows and have conversations with as much enthusiasm about their breakups and makeups as actual humans I know. That is not necessarily new, just more pathetic sounding. You guys, I bought a dog, if a pandemic creates the illusion that I am responsible enough for that commitment, we need to shut this shit down. I digress, but all this to say that 2020 was not where any of us thought we would be… understatement of the year.
Being at the airport today is weird – the lack of traffic in the terminals is hard to ignore, especially on a summer Friday afternoon that would normally be packed with families traveling for summer vacation, corporate travelers hurrying back for the weekend and airline staff stationed everywhere to answer questions and be available for the best flight experience. Grab and Go stores have limited selections and restaurants and bars here are desolate and dark. The new vibe and lack of humans at the busiest terminal in America’s Friendliest Airport could easily be confused with a flight leaving for Antarctica in January.
One thing that has become clear to me during this pandemic is there are always the shitty people and always the good people. Even in times that feels like we are banning together, fighting the same fight, humans are inevitably just humans. Take the mandated face masks for example – there will always be the people that will defiantly refuse face masks because it is their right or they are uncomfortable or frankly they just don’t want to wear them and think they don’t have to. Literally no one wants to but it’s just what we do. I have never had worse, more acne ridden skin than the last month of my life, including a really painful 6 months when I was 15. Thankfully I have a mask to cover it up! But seriously, face masks are required, sassy ‘tudes optional. Check that shit in your carry on, no one is really jazzed to be doing this and the annoyed tone doesn’t help.
Traveling isn’t what it used to be even a couple months ago. The airports aren’t any easier, the lines aren’t any shorter, you need more distance between you, you need less touching and most importantly, just an ungodly amounts of hand sanitizers all over the place. Will we get back to what it used to be? Who knows. Do we want to get back to EXACTLY what it used to be? Maybe not – there were a lot of gaps in protecting our health and safety that have gone by the wayside that maybe aren’t such bad things to ship shape up on.
All of this to say, I am grateful to be able to fly today. I am grateful for my own free will to follow the rules, keep myself and my fellow travelers safe and sit down and shut up for 2 hours of my life to get out of here to do something fun. As trapped and hindered as people feel right now, not being able to live their normal lives, I am grateful to have freedoms, even in this temporarily inhibited environment, that some people will never experience, even in the best of circumstances.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk…. but no seriously, thank you for the last year. I have had more fun than I thought just blabbing, not knowing if anyone even scrolls to the end.
Also, shout out to the couple random followers I have gained from the business cards that I have left on tray tables during my flight with just the logo and website, no explanation. Shameless plug – if you want some to leave here and there where we start traveling again, it is my organic pitch at marketing for no other reason than to see where this spans.
Hopefully, I will be back to my regularly schedule programming sooner rather than later and never use the phrase “new normal” again. Stay well, stay safe and stay sane.
View From Row 15 