Traveling During Covid-19

Four flights, 40+ hours of international traveling, and I still had a negative Covid test. Here’s how I did it!

The time had finally come, I finished my senior year of undergrad, my visa was expiring, and I had to fly back home. Of course there are lots of bittersweet memories about ending my time in China in home quarantine, but I will address the ups and downs of my first time living abroad in another post. For now, let’s stick to the leaving part.

For the record, I am not encouraging anyone to travel right now, save for necessity. I had to leave the country soon, and despite having a short visa extension, I had to rock and roll out. So, take this more as advice for necessary travel, not leisure.

My trip did not start out so great. I was trying to get as much of my stuff back to the US as possible, so I ended up lugging a bunch of suitcases down 5 flights of stairs, all while my cat was throwing a temper tantrum. With a lot of anxiety and travel time ahead of me, I set out.

Getting to the airport was fine, roads were empty, etc. Entering the airport was not so great. In China, they require you to show a health certification showing that you are not under quarantine, and it is associated with your WeChat account. Being the dumb blonde I am, I kept showing the health check workers the code… in English. Your girl has been in China for four years, and is still making that mistake. So I switched it to Chinese, had my temperature checked, and went on my merry way.

I ended up arriving 2 hours before I could even check in. Well, better early than late, I suppose. I got a coffee, bathed in sanitizer, and eventually gave up my bag and went through security.

Flight No. 1

Before boarding the flight, I had to fill out a health sheet. It asked for simple information. Name, date, address, symptoms, etc. No problem.

Upon entering the flight, that is when I went a little nuts with cleanliness. From the time I left the apartment, the mask never left my face. I mean it! Especially since the plane was only about 2 hours long, I was not about to risk anything. Somehow I had it in my head that I would catch Covid on the first flight, and be sick and miserable for the next three. It is completely ridiculous considering the incubation period, but it made me take the precautions I needed to.

I sat down, wet-wiped the seat in front of me, my seat, the tray table, and everything in my surrounding area. I then took another bath in sanitizer. Crazy germaphobe? Perhaps. But the guy sitting across the aisle was in a hazmat suit, so I looked completely normal.

And that was the first flight!

Flight No. 2/3

Landing in Shanghai was a nightmare. That’s all I can say about it. They collected the health form after leaving the plane, and I was running trying to make a two hour connection. However, I was stopped and asked to fill out the exact same form again. Fine, scribbled it down, tried to get going. They wanted the WeChat code again, I gave it to them (in English), and was on my way.

I had to pick up my bags and check in once more, since I was flying on a separate ticket. After clearing baggage claim, I was running pretty short on time, and had about 1.5 hours to make check in, clear security, and make the international flight. But get this! I had to fill out ANOTHER health declaration form. Apparently my status could have visibly changed from one end of the hallway to the other.

When I got to the check-in counter, I almost passed out.

The line had to be about a mile and a half long. It wrapped around and around and around… So I took my chances and went to see an attendant, who told me to just get in line. Cool. I do, and come to find out that international passengers from five different flights were being seen at three counters, and first class counters were off limits. It felt really disorganized.

I’ll spare you the details of standing in line (I made friends!). I made it to the counter, checked my luggage, and was given my boarding pass. The conversation went a little like this:

“Boarding time is at 21:20.”

“That was twenty minutes ago.”

“Yes.”

So I hauled out, breezed through security, and made it to the check-in counter. Boarding had not even begun. So much for stressing yourself out.

Boarding this flight looked exactly like the last one. I slept through the whole first flight, and the layover in Seoul. I had my eye mask on, and I count that as extra protection.

Leaving this flight was a little bit more, shall we say, annoying than the other one. There was another health form (thank goodness it was different), but I signed it with a smile knowing I was back stateside.

In San Francisco, the passengers deboarded the plane 10 at a time. Sitting in row 32, this meant I had to wait quite awhile. When I finally got off, the entire walkway was being used by volunteers checking temperatures and collecting the health forms. This is the first time I had to stand in line and social distance, since I hadn’t gone out much while in China. I made sure to stay as far apart as necessary. The guy behind me thought it would be cool to breathe down my neck.

The customs process really wasn’t too long. I was asked a few questions, given a CDC card, and began my 9 hour layover.

Flight No. 4

Personally, I am too paranoid to sleep in airports alone. Especially since I could not check in, and was toting all of my luggage. Luckily, I had slept about 9 hours on the previous plane, and my internal clock was saying “it’s daytime”! I decided to explore the San Francisco airport.

If you have been in an airport overnight, you know there are very few options. And thanks to my new best friend Covid-19, the four options that Google said were 24 hour restaurants were narrowed down to one. Thanks to construction in the airport, I killed about 2 hours just trying to find out how to get there. I ended up grabbing a bagel and a coffee, and watched Gossip Girl in the parking garage (social distancing FTW!!!)

It is important to note that I kept my mask on for the entire duration, except while eating the bagel. I kept washing my hands, sanitizing my suitcase, and staying away from people. If you’re also a social person, this can be difficult to do when you have time to kill, but to me it is worth avoiding “La Rona”!

Additionally, the PA system in the airport screamed about masks every 15 minutes. I appreciate the responsibility, but I never expected to commit the warning to memory…

I boarded the last plane, went through my little disinfection routine, and read a book. It was such a relief to be at the tail end of a long journey.

When I arrived at my house, I sprayed my suitcases down, stripped my clothes off and stuck them straight into the washing machine. I scrubbed up and down, and headed to sleep at 5 pm.

Four days later, I took a test. It was recommended to wait between 3-5 days after the flight, or to self quarantine for two weeks. A week after my flight, I tested negative!

Traveling was hard, coronavirus made life 10x more annoying, but it can be done! So avoid it if you can, but know that by following recommendations and maintaining proper hygiene, you can get from Point A to Point B. Be safe!

If you have any specific questions, or some personal advice to share, feel free to leave a comment! We could all benefit 🙂