Traveling in the time of Covid

How do you travel across a continent in a time when you're not even supposed to leave your house? Turns out the answer is "with a mask, and a lot of dirty looks from other people."

I drove from New Hampshire to upstate New York, in order to isolate after quitting my job (again) at the hospital. I stayed there for a little over a week, and then there were the flights: Four of them. The airports were more deserted than I'd ever seen in my life, but it was rather pleasant, up until the third flight: the longest one, during which I was seated next to a six-week-old baby who sounded like a wet cat, and in front of a person who decided the only way to spend a 900 hour flight was to sit with her knees in the back of my seat. It took everything in me to refrain from going full Tonya Harding on her.

When I finally landed in Anchorage, I got into a taxi driven by a full on psychopath, who spent the full five minute drive (longest five minutes of my life) starting out the conversation with "I'm not racist, but..." (no good can ever come after that) and then going on to tell me about how the other cab drivers are trying to put curses on her and steal parts of her soul because "they can tell I'm anointed." Have you ever been terrified that within half an hour of landing in a state you're about to be kidnapped and taken to a new version of Jonestown? No? Just me? Welcome to Alaska.

I did make it to a hostel for the night, where they had made special preparations in order to isolate me. (Seriously, I cannot recommend the Bent Prop Inn -- either location -- enough.) The next morning I hopped a little charter flight to King Salmon, where I was promptly whisked away to my quarantine house. An hour after settling in there for the next fourteen days, I was informed that there was a change in location, and I was moved to a small house with a cell mate. By the end of this, Rylee and I will either be best friends, or mortal enemies. So far so good though.

I had to get fingerprinted (not bad) and Covid tested (wildly unpleasant) but aside from that have just been sleeping, eating, and losing all sense of time, while everyone waits to see if I'll die of the virus or boredom or both. 

I've just been informed that I'm not allowed to have anything connected to the dodgy hotspot (which is how I've been communicating with everyone), so if you don't hear from me for awhile, it's either because there's no longer any internet, or because I've succumbed while in quarantine, which would be a real shame, because I haven't even seen any bears yet.

Wish me luck!

Comments

  1. JillyBJune 29, 2020 at 5:39 AM

    More bears please! Glad you survived the trip

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. C.July 28, 2020 at 12:18 AM

      Your wish is my command. I just posted a metric crap-ton of bear pictures.

      Delete

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