In the last couple years, I have become even more in love with flying and traveling. At the beginning, of this year I had some big plans to travel a lot this year… COVID-19 had other plans for my travel (LOL!). This past week was the first time I had flown since the pandemic really heightened in America. I had a bunch of people ask me about the experience so I decided a blog post would be the perfect way to share.

First off, I didn’t fly out of the country. I went to Florida for a few days. DIA. (Denver International Airport) was the strictest airport I was in. 90% of the people in the airport had masks on the entire time from the moment they walked through the doors. Every other line of security was open to maintain social distance; however, no social distancing was really maintained because in the security line (at least the people I was around) were right up on me just like they would’ve been pre-COVID. I flew Southwest so in DIA that means you’re in the C terminal. The C terminal had only some places open. I am not really sure the reasoning on this, perhaps it is owner’s choice, perhaps it was regulated I don’t really know. This was a bummer for me because I LOVE getting a Vanilla Latte from the Coffee Bean in the Southwest terminal, but it was closed (cue the depressing music). Southwest only boarded in groups of 10 to maintain social distancing and kept all middle seats open. A mask is required the entire time on Southwest flights except for eating and drinking. Eating and drinking looks a little different than it previously did with Southwest. Southwest is only offering canned water with a straw, and snack mix, no other drink or food service was provided.

On this trip, I had a layover at Chicago Midway Airport on my way to Florida. Chicago’s airport was different than DIA. Masks were about 50/50 in the terminal, some of the restaurants were open, but not all of them. More food options were open in a different terminal than the one I was in. When I landed in Fort Myers, almost no one had a mask on, but part of the restaurants in the airport were still closed.

On the way home, I had a layover in Atlanta. The Southwest terminal in Atlanta was wild. Similar to Chicago people were about 50/50 on wearing masks. The food situation in Atlanta was where it got interesting. In all of the other airports there were a mix of things open, some restaurants, some coffee shops, and some convenient type places. In Atlanta, there were NO convenience-store type places that were open. There were also only a handful of places open in the Southwest terminal. I did not leave the Southwest terminal so I do not know what was open in other areas of the airport. I only saw 3 places to get food when I arrived in Atlanta. I ordered from one place specifically to get a bottle of water (I had my water bottle, but using a drinking fountain seems like the most unsanitary thing to do in a pandemic). I waited 30-40 minutes to get food and my water which I didn’t end up getting because that specific place had run out of bottles of water.

Here are my pro-tips I learned from flying this past week:

1. Bring a mask, disposable ones are the most breathable I have found. This will help with your face sweat less and your trip will be more enjoyable.

2. Take snacks, really take your own snacks. You don’t want to be disappointed when you realized there is no place to get a water and bag of peanuts in the airport.

3. Maintain a positive attitude, flying right now is so different, but complaining that it’s not the same as used to be will not help improve your trip.

Also, as a gentle reminder if you’re traveling, everyone has different views on COVID-19 and the actions that are being took, being respectful and non-judgemental will always make for a better experience.

XO,

Madison