Sorry forgot the link!
THIS is the guy/site I’ve been using. They are amazing. Actual real live people who speak English answer the phone (or call back within a very short timeframe). Steve spent 50 minutes on the phone with me explaining (and re-explaining) the ins and outs.
1 Like
But the test results don’t come back that fast, and the viral load has to be high enough to cause a positive response. Quite possible there are people who have covid but the load isn’t high enough to cause a positive result (or at least not when the test was administered). IMO, keeping the masks on on an airplane is a good idea. People are just too close to risk a cough or a sneeze. The rapid tests may reflect whether one is contagious, but it just seems an unnecessary extra burden. Say you are running late, or wanting to change planes at the last minute… might not work.
If you are running late then you don’t get on a plane. We are required to get to the airport few hours prior for security purpose, why not for the Covid test. If you don’t have enough viral to be positive maybe you are not contagious either. It really do depends on how accurate and sensitive a test is.
If we had to get to the airport any earlier than we already do, (a) my DH would have a fit and (b) that just means more time being exposed to covidiots who don’t wear their masks correctly. No thanks.
1 Like
I think we all remember there was time any flights going to the States required additional security. We had to be body scanned and our carry ons were opened and inspected. Once that was done, we had to stay in the designated waiting room. We all did it for security purpose.
Rapid test takes 15 minute to do. We all sit by the gate for much longer than that.
2 Likes
That assumes the people doing the rapid tests are organized and efficient. It takes time to try to do them on everyone (old, young, cooperative, less-than-cooperative, etc). It will add much more than 15 minutes. And the luggage security checks and scans did/do not cause any increased health risk to the other passengers. Pandemics are different. No thanks.
2 Likes
I’m assuming the 2 users above are about to take their conversation to PM, if they feel it needs to continue.
1 Like
My studying paid off… I passed the test! H still needs to get his results in, but I can’t imagine he’d be positive while I’m negative and both of us have been avoiding people for a couple weeks now.
PCR test - results for me in less than 24 hours. I expected it to take longer TBH.
Putting finishing touches on things around the house now and dreaming about beaches and palm trees with warm water and pretty fish. My body is perking up just thinking about soon adding Vitamin D.
For me, winter is so much easier with a southern trip to look forward to, but I didn’t like living in FL year round. We did that for 5 years before returning north. I need seasons, but I need a break in winter I guess.
I’m glad H can work remotely. As he tells people, it’s not that he’s taking a month off. He’s just relocating the office because it’s more pleasant to look out on palm trees and blue water than the dreariness of leaf-less trees and dormant lawns/fields. I’m the one who gets a month vacation. The chores don’t relocate with us.
Where we used to camp in FL, others were often there the same time we were. The exclamation we heard last time was, “Look, the office workers are back!” This time it should be all new people to meet since we’ve skipped FL to go to St Thomas.
11 Likes
I am back from a fabulous trip to Ecuador with lots of outdoor activity, friendly people, and great food. It’s sad that a developing country has a higher percentage of its citizens vaccinated than the US. Mask compliance was near 100%. I felt much safer there than going to my local supermarket earlier today. Getting the required Covid test to return to the US was very easy. There is a lab at the airport that is open 24/7 with results in 45 minutes.
On the way back, there was an unruly American passenger who kept arguing with the flight attendants about wearing his mask at all times and correctly. The flight attendant threatened to have him put on the airline’s no-fly list and he finally complied. Embarrassing.
I’m looking forward to my trip to Iceland in March.
8 Likes
I hope there aren’t flying idiots when we’re at the airport. If you don’t want to wear a mask properly or obey anyone’s rules because “freedom” is the hill to die on, take a road trip to somewhere that agrees with you.
Iceland has been near the top of our bucket list since we’ve been flying over it. It might reach the top of our list this summer.
Ecuador is appealing now too - where did you go?
I stayed in Quito but took a number of day trips to other cities. I will go to Galapagos another time as it requires at least one week by itself and preferably more.
1 Like
There are a lot of covidiots at the airports. No one polices them except on the airplane, and even then its sometimes not as firm as you might think or like.
3 Likes
From the front lines of SJC…
NO line at the SWA bag check area. NO line thur TSA pre-check. NO line at the SWA Hawaii - pre-clear kiosk (assuming you had all the appropriate info and your QR code). However, as we finished with our pre-clear a line of about 30 people formed behind us. A connecting flight had just arrived.
Very sparse occupancy at the lounge. We were given the rules - mask on at all times unless sitting at a table and eating. Two warnings and they you get booted. Reasonable offerings in the food and beverage department. Bar is open 
I’d say it’s 99% mask compliance in the terminal So far, this is much easier than pre-covid.
Flight can hold 175. Booked for 135 - and is considered pretty full for these days.
So far…so good.
5 Likes
Safe travels! SJC is our favorite airport. It was quite deserted throughout the entire pandemic… enjoy some sun and tropical 
!
1 Like
Thats great news, @dietz199 . We just book RT flights to/from SJC instead of SFO. The prices for the flights to/from SFO were NUTS on our preferred airline.
1 Like
I am quite comfortable traveling domestically- especially shorter flights. I found the airports I’ve been in had almost total mask compliance. Not much of a crowd, and about the same risk as anything else I do.
1 Like
To relay our data point, there seemed to be 100% mask compliance at Philly’s airport and 100% on our AA flight to St Thomas. No one seemed the least bit fussy about it at all. It was quite nice flying with sane people, the vast majority of whom were 30+ years old.
The latter could be self selecting. Yes, what we’ve seen of St Thomas so far expects complete compliance with masking. At the airports (both) you needed to have USVI’s permission to enter in the form of a green QR code which is applied for with negative test results in the past 3 days. They also were taking temperatures at STT airport, and we needed paper copies of our negative test results to check into our condo. Actually, those could have been emailed in, so no need for paper, but they seemed to expect paper.
Interestingly enough, there were no less than a dozen announcements in Philly that one had to have a paper boarding pass where they personally had checked for the QR code and marked the pass as such. Having a typical phone boarding pass was not sufficient. Yet even with so many announcements, quite a few people - all ages - tried to board without the paper pass. You could tell it was frustrating to the workers, though they remained nice about it.
On St Thomas itself, people are wearing masks - in the grocery store, on the streets, etc. At the beach, not so much, but anywhere around people, yes.
If one wants a mask free destination, this isn’t it. If one wants protection due to testing, vaccines, and masks, feel free to consider it.
We left this:
and are now sitting at this table looking forward to exploring over the next month:
For what’s probably obvious reasons, I don’t plan to be on CC nearly as much as when we were mostly isolating to ensure we tested negative.
Creeklanders get their dopamine rushes experiencing and exploring new places. There are many beaches (snorkeling, scuba) and assorted other things that are a wee bit more appealing - at least during daylight hours.
I just wanted to report back on our experience in case anyone else is contemplating a vacation destination and was curious about the mask vs not details - as per our data point, at least.
I doubt this is the island we’re going to want an eventual condo on (doubling topics with the downsizing thread), but it’s definitely worthy to explore!
16 Likes
Enjoy! We were there last month and it was great.
1 Like
Where did you eat? We’ve seen several McDonalds, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, and KFC - and want none of those. We love mom & pop spots - or great views.