Here in Puerto Rico there are very few tourists or residents wearing masks - a few in stores, but not many, but a lot of tourism workers in restaurants or activities are. Plus, we took our son’s new kitten to the vet a couple days ago and they were completely masked, letting no owners into the building, just coming outside to ask questions and offer explanations with the pets going inside.
There was one exception at the vet. One bulldog adamantly refused to go inside. His owner had to go in the door for the dog to reluctantly enter, then the owner came outside quickly. The dog was trapped inside. It was super cute to watch!
I have noticed locally that, outside of health care facilities (which require mask use), the most common wearers of masks are those working in restaurants.
We went to a staples TSA precheck appointment yesterday. The confirmation we received clearly stated we were required to wear masks…so we did. We were the only people in the whole place (including those waiting on line before and after us…and the guy processing the applications) wearing masks. I took mine off. Husband kept his on.
I going on a cruise in April. I’ve been watching a lot of you tube shorts on the things to do on the ship, at the ports, etc. Also a lot about the restaurants and food on board, the buffets, the ice cream. The pop up ads are for Weight Watchers.
Lol. Though as I like to say “I went on a cruise and lost 75 pounds.” Ok not ON the cruise but it was my inspiration to lose weight. I actually did start on the cruise after seeing all those massively obese people. I decided right then and there to do it. I ate whatever I wanted but only ate half of what I ordered. I lost 2 pounds on the 10:day cruise and another 73 pounds in the next 10 months using My fitness Pal (good old fashioned calorie counting). 5 years later I’ve maintained the loss.
Is anyone concerned about the state of air travel? In recent months, we’ve had:
A plane taxied across the runway while another plane was taking off
Planes were landing and taking off on the same runway at about the same time
A plane almost nosedived into the ocean after takeoff
Multiple incidents of planes clipping each other’s wings on the ground
FAA system glitch caused nationwide flight shutdown
Passenger tried to open emergency exit door midflight
Lots of fighting onboard among passengers
Airlines want to have only one pilot in the cockpit instead of two to save money (AA proposed to pay its pilots up to $590k a year)
Do we have a problem with not only the shortage of personnel, but also the shortage of skilled personnel in the air travel business? Is it purely due to COVID or some other more fundamental issues?
We’ve taken note and wondered if it’s truly more things happening or more things making the news. I’m not sure.
Then we remind ourselves just how many car accidents are out there between us and the airports and enjoy the view while sticking to our hope that we are never on a plane, train, bus, or automobile that makes the news.
Yes, it’s still orders of magnitude safer to fly than drive. I chuckle when couples tell me they never fly on the same plane. Really? Then you’d better never drive in the same car.
H and I returned home last weekend after our 4,200 mile ski/road trip from San Diego to Canada and then Montana and Wyoming before returning home. We wanted to go to Canada last year, but since they still had Covid testing in place to cross the border we decided to wait until this year. It was a wonderful trip although very cold when we skied in Banff Sunshine and Lake Louise. We had a dogsled ride to the Continental Divide while in Lake Louise and it was 5 degrees, but amazing. We also skied at Revelstoke which was a very hard mountain with fresh powder, but we did it. On the way back we skied Big Sky in Montana and Jackson Hole in Wyoming. We had skied Big Sky and Jackson Hole in early March 2020 just before everything closed down. H and I had a great time on the road listening to music, podcasts or just talking. This is our 4th year doing these winter ski trips and it was the most snow we have ever had. Fortunately our 4WD Tundra did very well in all conditions.
Reading about the cold is enough for me! I’m glad H and I both prefer south for our winter trips. Glad you had a good time though. It takes all types to keep the world functioning well.
I have been on 4 flights in the past month, our first since the start of the pandemic. On one of the flights a woman got into an altercation with another passenger over a seat, and was eventually escorted off the plane. She was loud and throwing around a lot of curse words, and said something to the effect of “I’ll see you when we get to the [destination airport]!” which is what caused her to be taken off the flight. On another of our flights, a passenger in front of me was either mentally ill, or on drugs. He was jabbering (loudly, to nobody and everybody) about how iPhones were going to destroy the world, and can be made into bombs which means there are many bombs on this plane, then he went on a rant about Colgate toothpaste. It was quite unnerving and I felt sorry for the other guy sitting in his row. Fortunately this was after the plane landed while we were headed to the gate and waiting to disembark, but it was obvious something was “off” with him throughout the flight.
Never in all my years of flying have I witnessed any incidents like either of these. I was glad that the flight crew took care of the irate and threatening woman situation in a calm and professional manner.
@Creekland - we don’t vacation in the summer because we live by the beach in a place people want to vacation. We love to ski and since we don’t live where it snows we enjoy our winter trips to the snow and cold!
We have skied at Sunshine and Lake Louise. Incredibly beautiful. I can’t imagine not experiencing it at least once! We were lucky when we went. We prepared for frigid temperatures but it was in the 20s the whole week we were there.
Reading stories about people getting into altercations on planes I keep wondering how do they afford and go through the steps to purchase the tickets? Plane tickets are expensive IMHO. And require planning. These aren’t people doing this on the streets or in a train station. They really go through all that to spend money and purchase a ticket and then get into a fight with someone. Or spend even more drinking before the flight which then causes them to get into a fight.
I’ve also wondered what’s going on in their minds. Do they expect to win? “Oh, I’m sorry, sir/ma’am, you’re absolutely right. We’re going to make this person move and you can have their seat - or would you prefer that one - or both?” You can replace seat with luggage or whatever the fight was about.
What do they think their end game is besides being taken off the flight and potentially arrested? I’m stymied.
I think mental illness is involved in a lot of cases. My SIL is undiagnosed but definitely has psychotic episodes. She is perfectly capable of booking tickets for travel. I could see her coming unglued on a plane. She was on track for tenure as an art history professor when she spiraled downward. She will accept no help. Her four siblings and two adult children have tried for years without success.
Yes I think you are right about mental illness. I don’t believe the woman in my story was drunk. She eventually settled down a bit and took her assigned seat, and then proceeded to tell people that she was on meds which is why she blew up. But the damage was already done, the threatening comment had been made and they still came and took her off the plane - and we could hear her pitching a fit in the jetway. We were left wondering what happened next to her - do they put her on the next plane out?
(said in jest, of course, but…)
She was on track for tenure as an art history professor when she spiraled downward. She will accept no help. Her four siblings and two adult children have tried for years without success.