Flying in a locked down world

Ted. As I mentioned in my last post, our plan was to fly back to Georgia on March 30. Since that time, we experienced daily flight cancellations and rebookings [Anne - is this even a word?] as the airlines continued to whittle down the number of planes in the air. As I struggled with the rebookings, I recalled the words of boxer Mike Tyson; “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

I’m not sure if all flights will be grounded but if you live near a major city, just look up and you’ll notice there are virtually no contrails anymore. The last time I saw that was in September of 2001!

As of 11:00am on Sunday, March 29, we were booked on a flight scheduled to depart Monday afternoon, March 30. With no cancellations for 24 hours, we were feeling pretty good when we received another text informing us that this flight had also been cancelled. Worried that we were never going to get out of New Mexico, I found a flight that was departing Albuquerque in just three hours. Judy and I discussed it briefly and decided that “a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush” so we booked it and began a mad scramble to pack. Our friend wasn’t available but our gracious Airbnb host, Peter agreed to drive us to the airport. When we walked up to the gate, it was spooky. There were almost no people. The welcoming words from the gate agent were "Please back away from the counter."

There were only about 6 passengers on our first flight to Houston. We wiped everything down and settled in. The flight attendant brought us snacks and soft drinks in the can (no cups or ice). Half the passengers had masks on the whole time.

Our freshly sanitized lunch

We arrived at George Bush Int’l Airport to find that one of the world’s busiest airports, which handles over 40 million passengers each year was a ghost town.

Dozens of planes just parked til normal times return

"Where's the beef?"

Closed til further notice

We walked around looking for a bite to eat but only found two places, both with long lines. We had a couple of passes to the one lounge open in the whole airport so we ended up there, where we relaxed over badly needed cocktails accompanied by chips and pretzels (no real food served).

Sanctuary!

Boarding our next flight, we were relieved when the plane backed out of the gate on time. Out on the runway the plane paused (never a good sign). The pilot informed us that there was a mechanical glitch and we returned to the gate (“Dang it!”). An hour later, we departed and ultimately landed in Atlanta just after midnight to see our good friend, Greg waiting by the curb.

Now we begin another two-week quarantine before joining our kids where we hope we can lend a hand by entertaining our four grandsons. Yes, it’s a nasty job but somebody has to do it!