It had to happen...after months of telephone conferences and Zoom meetings, it was time to break away from the lockdown.
We went to California.
Over the past few months Victoria has been mentoring a number of travel consultants who work in conjunction with Cadence, a highly regarded West Coast travel agency located in La Jolla, California. And so, plans were hatched. Victoria would visit two of southern California’s iconic resort hotels with the powerhouse CEO of Cadence, Wendy Burk, and culminate our visit with a gathering to commemorate the “graduation” of Victoria's mentees.
We know that many haven’t traveled by airline for a while, and it was a tale of rediscovery for us, too. Arriving at O’Hare via limo, we pulled up to Terminal One to make the journey to San Diego IAP. The airport was relatively busy, but substantially less so than in more normal times. A guess would be that there were perhaps a quarter of the people in the terminal than on a typical weekday morning. Emotionally, it’s a mixed bag—it’s difficult to see the unsettling impact on the airline industry up close, but it certainly made the whole process of transiting through the terminal faster. The TSA security process was exactly as it’s always been, with the exception that travelers are asked to briefly pull down their masks as the agent checks the match with your ID.
We went immediately to the United Lounge. Most shops in O’Hare are now open, but the whole “social distancing” thing is apparent, with a fair number of tables having been removed. Arriving in the lounge itself, there were notably fewer individuals. Again, tables and chairs are now spaced more widely, but it’s largely unnecessary, as the lounge was at perhaps 10% of capacity.
Boarding a United aircraft is now a different experience. Those with seat assignments are boarded first, and First Class is boarded last. Honestly, it’s a pretty efficient way to handle things, apart from the fact that it reduces people brushing against each other in the aisles. Boarding was fast and efficient. Each passenger was handed an antiseptic wipe as they entered, and everyone I could see took advantage of the opportunity to wipe down the surfaces around their seat. The aircraft cabin itself was immaculately clean. Not knocking any particular airline, the cleanliness of aircraft cabins had become an issue over the years; maybe this is a positive that will come out of this episode.
All the food you are served on board is delivered in sealed packages. The flight attendants will hand you unopened beverage containers, but are not allowed to deliver them opened. Throughout the flight, the cabin crew was efficient and responsive.
At the other end, San Diego IAP, the terminal was remarkably quiet, and, unlike O’Hare, many of the shops, airline lounges, and dining venues were closed. This all makes transiting through the terminal pretty fast, but we do long for the days of hustle and bustle.
We’ll get to the events in San Diego in our next blog installment, but the trip back to O’Hare was essentially the mirror image of the trip to San Diego...quiet terminals, easy transit, and a clean aircraft.
The question of when we’ll be able to travel to the places we long for rests largely in the hands of government officials, but we can confidently report that, from what we observed, the airports and airlines are ready. Everything we saw suggested a level of attention to hygiene and safety that was reassuring. At least for the immediate future, the largest visible impact was the fact that many businesses in the terminals were closed, including the airport lounges at San Diego.
It felt darned good to be once again slip the surly bonds of Earth, zooming along at eight miles a minute, far above the landscape below. Travel is magical. The sights, the sounds, the feel. And, to be sure, the wonder of flight is something we’ll never again take for granted.
Tomorrow we'll talk about Victoria's visit to two iconic resort hotels.
We went to California.
Over the past few months Victoria has been mentoring a number of travel consultants who work in conjunction with Cadence, a highly regarded West Coast travel agency located in La Jolla, California. And so, plans were hatched. Victoria would visit two of southern California’s iconic resort hotels with the powerhouse CEO of Cadence, Wendy Burk, and culminate our visit with a gathering to commemorate the “graduation” of Victoria's mentees.
We know that many haven’t traveled by airline for a while, and it was a tale of rediscovery for us, too. Arriving at O’Hare via limo, we pulled up to Terminal One to make the journey to San Diego IAP. The airport was relatively busy, but substantially less so than in more normal times. A guess would be that there were perhaps a quarter of the people in the terminal than on a typical weekday morning. Emotionally, it’s a mixed bag—it’s difficult to see the unsettling impact on the airline industry up close, but it certainly made the whole process of transiting through the terminal faster. The TSA security process was exactly as it’s always been, with the exception that travelers are asked to briefly pull down their masks as the agent checks the match with your ID.
We went immediately to the United Lounge. Most shops in O’Hare are now open, but the whole “social distancing” thing is apparent, with a fair number of tables having been removed. Arriving in the lounge itself, there were notably fewer individuals. Again, tables and chairs are now spaced more widely, but it’s largely unnecessary, as the lounge was at perhaps 10% of capacity.
Boarding a United aircraft is now a different experience. Those with seat assignments are boarded first, and First Class is boarded last. Honestly, it’s a pretty efficient way to handle things, apart from the fact that it reduces people brushing against each other in the aisles. Boarding was fast and efficient. Each passenger was handed an antiseptic wipe as they entered, and everyone I could see took advantage of the opportunity to wipe down the surfaces around their seat. The aircraft cabin itself was immaculately clean. Not knocking any particular airline, the cleanliness of aircraft cabins had become an issue over the years; maybe this is a positive that will come out of this episode.
All the food you are served on board is delivered in sealed packages. The flight attendants will hand you unopened beverage containers, but are not allowed to deliver them opened. Throughout the flight, the cabin crew was efficient and responsive.
At the other end, San Diego IAP, the terminal was remarkably quiet, and, unlike O’Hare, many of the shops, airline lounges, and dining venues were closed. This all makes transiting through the terminal pretty fast, but we do long for the days of hustle and bustle.
We’ll get to the events in San Diego in our next blog installment, but the trip back to O’Hare was essentially the mirror image of the trip to San Diego...quiet terminals, easy transit, and a clean aircraft.
The question of when we’ll be able to travel to the places we long for rests largely in the hands of government officials, but we can confidently report that, from what we observed, the airports and airlines are ready. Everything we saw suggested a level of attention to hygiene and safety that was reassuring. At least for the immediate future, the largest visible impact was the fact that many businesses in the terminals were closed, including the airport lounges at San Diego.
It felt darned good to be once again slip the surly bonds of Earth, zooming along at eight miles a minute, far above the landscape below. Travel is magical. The sights, the sounds, the feel. And, to be sure, the wonder of flight is something we’ll never again take for granted.
Tomorrow we'll talk about Victoria's visit to two iconic resort hotels.