Traveling during COVID

Today kicked off the first day of my 6.5 month adventure. For the next few months, I will be participating in a Study & Intern program run by the U of MN in Toledo, Spain. The program starts on January 20th and runs through May 7th. For the 2 weeks before my program, I will be in Barcelona with Judith and her family. Then, I’ll take a train from Barcelona to Madrid and meet up with the rest of the students. We will then get on a bus and go to the Fundación in Toledo.

Flight 1

My first flight was from Minneapolis to Chicago Midway. I wore a KN-95 and a cloth mask the whole time, only taking it off to eat a quick bite of food or to take a drink. Thanks to Global Entry and by extension, TSA PreCheck, I got through airport security very quickly and had about an hour before it was time to board my first flight. While waiting to board my flight, I worked on editing my blog so that it is easier to read and use. While boarding, I discovered that the plane had a capacity of approximately 140 passengers but there was only 52 of us. This made it really easy to sit away from everyone, especially since Southwest Airlines has open seating. I had an entire row of three seats to myself and distanced from the other passengers as well. The flight itself was pretty quick and there were snacks and water offered during it. One thing that was surprising is that Southwest lets their passengers use iMessage and WhatsApp during the flight, which was nice and let me keep in contact with my friends and family on my way to Chicago. I spent the flight listening to music while writing this.

Transfer Between Airports

Since I flew Southwest to Chicago, I landed at Midway International Airport and then had to transfer to O’Hare International Airport for my next two flights on Aer Lingus. I had 4 hours between when my flight landed at Midway to when my next flight started boarding at O’Hare. Since I had a bit of time, I took the CTA between airports and that ended up taking about an hour and a half or so.

Flight 2

My second flight was from Chicago O’Hare to Dublin on Aer Lingus. After transferring between airports, I rechecked my bag, went through security, and headed to my gate. I was surprised at just how empty the airport was. Yes, we are still in a pandemic and no one is really traveling internationally at the moment, but I had assumed that since it’s O’Hare, it would be a lot busier than it was. I ended up grabbing some Burger King to eat before my flight because it was the only thing open in the terminal and I hadn’t gotten the chance to eat lunch. While waiting to board, I found a spot to charge my phone and computer and worked some more on my blog. I counted the number of people at the gate about 10 minutes before my flight, and there was no more than 25 people in the area. Needless to say, there was plenty of space on the plane, considering that it was an Airbus a330-300, Aer Lingus’s largest plane in their fleet, with a capacity of approximately 317 passengers!

Once everyone had boarded the plane, we pushed back from the gate and departed about 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. While in the air, we were offered refreshments, and dinner. I chose to eat butter chicken instead of the vegetarian pasta option. Since there was no one in the seat next to me, I put up the armrest and stretched out, taking advantage of all the space. I spent the rest of the flight attempting to sleep, but failing. So instead I watched a movie, listened to some music, and looked out the window at the stars.

Flight 3

My third and final flight was from Dublin to Barcelona, also on Aer Lingus. All I had to do after landing in Dublin was pass through passport control, which took less than 5 minutes, and then wait 2 hours for my last flight. My last flight was a bit fuller than the others, but was still pretty empty. It was really cool to look out the window during this flight because I got to see the sunrise as we flew. Since we were flying in the direction of the sunrise, it was a fast sunrise compared to normal. It took a couple hours, but it wasn’t too bad, as I was excited to see Judith and her family.

Arrival in Barcelona

After arriving in Barcelona, I passed through passport control again, where they asked me why I was in Spain and a couple of other questions, and then I proceeded to the health control. They didn’t do much besides scan the QR code of the traveller form that everyone was required to fill out, and asked for proof of my negative COVID PCR test, which I had printed out and ready to go. After that, I collected my checked bag from baggage claim, passed through customs, and made my way outside to where Judith’s family was waiting. She had no idea that I was coming and was very shocked to see me. It was very fun to surprise her and even more so to see her again. I’ll spend about 2 weeks here in Barcelona with her family, and then I’ll go to Toledo for my program.