Air Travel in the time of COVID19

Wow, what a trip it's been; not only the past 3 months of various stages of lock-down, stay home, quarantine, self-isolation whatever they call it wherever you are, anticipated extensions of rules, airport closures, border closures, daily stats of new cases, deaths, to mask or not to mask, conspiracy theories, cause debate, second waves, third waves, mitigation strategies, economic collapse, fearfulness, media manipulation... the list goes on and is based on your perspective. Now there is something interesting, a global event  shaped by our lived experience that forms our perspective, and how many different perspectives does that add up to? This is the subject of another article to follow. For now I only want to unpackage our lived experience transitioning from Yangon, the biggest city in Myanmar to Calgary in Canada, closest city to the Rocky Mountains.

We are expats. I have lived in 9 countries since 1997 when I left Canada, I have 2 son's the youngest now 13 so for him its been 6 countries. 
Our last stop was Myanmar, more specifically Yangon and after 4 years we left there in the midst of the annual monsoon drenching that will last another 3 months. Our travel is tagged to their mother's humanitarian work where she is re-posted every 3-5 years: Myanmar was a 4 year post, Nepal before that 3 years, a year in Ecuador, Beirut 3 years and before that and they were both born in Malaysia. Now we wait for news of the next post, her organization, as many, confounded by the new paradigm of uncertainty.  Before all that I worked as a humanitarian frontline worker living in Vietnam, East Timor, Afghanistan and over the years have worked in several other hotspots where human folly plays out as conflict and strife. Now and for the past 8 years I am a therapist, focused on wellness harnessing approaches and tools that have evolved over 1000's of years, mainly from Indian and Chinese traditions to help bring balance to the body systems. I have a website: https://www.elementalwellness.life/

So this wasn't our first move... though this one was different, very different and it has to be said it wasn't so hard, with kids now in their teens and pretty well dialed in to planes and airports and what is going on travelling has become pretty easy. What was hard was the context of travelling during the time of Covid; what would usually be pretty straightforward was suddenly fraught with uncertainty. From booking to paying to meeting requirements to travel, to checking in...  And we were all saying good-bye Myanmar, the friends, the house lived in for 4 years, and Karma, the family dog (not a happy dog) would have to stay behind for his rabies vaccine waiting period for 3 months! The boys Mum too would remain and join later in the summer with a planned move to Europe.

My sons finished their virtual schooling June 18 and we made plans to get out of Myanmar. There was a bi-weekly 'relief' flight to Seoul, Korea and an uncertain weekly  UN Humanitarian Air Service flight to Kuala Lumpur. We opted for the former, with western Canada being our end destination flying to Korea was on the way. Unfortunately the Monday flight gets you in early on Tuesday and there is no Tuesday flight to Vancouver until the next day, and you can't stay in Seoul more than 24hrs without being quarantined there... so we ended up going via Narita and Vancouver with Calgary being our end destination... nothing so simple about booking that I can tell ya.

5 airports, 4 flights, 3 travellers, 2 Mondays, 1 destination. 

There is a great website btw to help decode entry to different countries https://flattenthecurve.global/

We checked in early arriving by 6:30 pm for a 9:00pm departure, we were helping friends who will move to Calgary from Yangon in August by using our extra bag allowance to carry '3 bags full' for them. Pretty cheap, I negotiated a discount down to $100 ea extra bag then all 6 bags were tagged through to Calgary... sweeeet! Nothing I like more on a long multi airport trip than saying good-bye to my bags at the beginning and hello at the end! 

There were no questions about final destination (we have Canadian passports), no request for the 'fit to fly' certificates, Covid negative tests, etc... nada. Smooth sailing and why shouldn't it be? Myanmar, country of 55 Million people porous border with China and Thailand and yet only 6 deaths and 317  cases (time of writing), no increased mortalities in the population over 3 months... surely is one of the lowest Covid19 risk places on earth (one of the highest for dengue fever which so far in 2020 has killed ).  And please, let's not talk about testing; once I understood the 'accuracy' of the PCR test and how testing was being done either randomly or using a prescribed method or in a targeted (new arrivals, symptompatics, case tracing) manner, I stopped watching the stats, especially comparing countries... a terrific way to waste time. 

The Yangon Airport was of course deserted. I think we were the only flight. The moving goal-posts of Airport re-opening dates have been a real feature here usually announced 3 days before-hand first it was mid-June then end-June, mid-July and now end-July is the newest prospective date to re-open. Though rumour has it perhaps the Airport will reopne in October. The Korean Airlines 'relief' flight (I believe it is so-named because it relieves the pressure in Myanmar felt by 'trapped' expats and Myanmar people trapped elsewhere...) has been running 2x/week since the beginning of airport closures and Seoul's Incheon airport was one of the first to reopen and so people are now flying east to Seoul to then fly west to Europe, convenient though to go to North America and other places in Asia. Good strategy by the Myanmar and the Koreans!

Sensibly Myanmar stays in step with Thailand on 're-opening' as do clusters of other countries in ASEAN ; Bangkok being the biggest travel hub in SE Asia. And Thailand is being super cautious knowing it has a responsibility not only to its own population but to the region, and the world. Nice folks, and smart. The China factor presents an interesting conundrum, who is going to open up to China first? And when will the political/economic pressure come to bear to open to the big money of China tourism? 

It was kind of funny when our gate number changed 30mins before boarding... I mean why, when there were no other flights!? We made our way to the new gate through darkened deserted departure areas, the airport wifi didn't even work, and the only public announcement was the one reminding you to keep distance, mask up and wash hands every 5 mins. A kiosk with coffee, fizzy drinks, beer, cup-noodle and candy bars brought up the rear as our passenger group straggled to the new gate. I had my last Myanmar Premium beer! I like Yangon airport, it is clean, quiet, not too big or busy, has all the amenities (full disclosure) including a Burger King where we ritually pay homage to junk food exceptionally indulging when departing, but not this time; like all other shops and restaurants, even Burger King was closed.

We were greeted at the door by flight crew in their new dapper Covid duds, well-protected, the evident presumption of contagion supercedes the logic that given the low incidence in Myanmar and that 'stay-at-home' has been in place since April, we could hardly be infected. Can't be too careful and what airline wants a single case to originate on it's flight!? So we were distant from other people, food came and had been plasticized more than I've ever seen, at least on this leg we got wine... all other flights there was no wine... that's when you know things are serious and you have to question the wisdom of flying in the time of Covid... I mean no wine? Seriously?

So it began, sterile uncrowded planes from one airport to the next, Yangon (RGN) to Seoul (ICH) to Tokyo (NRT) to Vancouver (YVR) to Calgary (YYC). It has to be said, planes these days at least with Korean and Air Canada are pretty clean places, better than your average Tim Hortons or Starbucks for sure. The recirculated air is hepa filtered, everyone is masked, some more than others and you might get your own row which is a nice perk for the over-night's and if you don't then there is at least a seat between people. Our first was an overnight and only 5 hrs long unfortunately because we each had a row to ourselves and could stretch out.

We had 6 hrs wait in the shiny Incheon Airport terminal building outside Seoul, no complaints except nothing was open when we arrived and when they did open at 7am, there was really nothing to be had. We self-declared our Wellness and in return got nifty little certificates.

Our wait was fine, able to charge up all devices and even get a wee bit more sleep on nice chairs and sleepers in spacious environs; we sat far in excess of the 2m distancing required. The airport is all glass, steel and marble and was pretty eerily empty, would have been great to have a skateboard or inline skates.

Out on the tarmac you could sense through a rainy morning the issues at hand, not only here but globally, fleets of luggage carriers, planes sitting idle for weeks and months add up to people idle too, poverty rising with unemployment, airlines going bankrupt, airports going bankrupt and then your mind wanders towards the impact on tourist economies and how absolutely devastating this continues to be. 

Before long you start wondering about lock-down as a means of doing what exactly.... containing the virus? Actually yes to some degree, but mostly it was implemented to avoid overwhelming healthcare systems and give time for public health and medical exploration as to the best way forward ... that's what 'flatten the curve' was all about. What about countries with already overwhelmed healthcare systems and precarious economies (most lower income countries)? Is lockdown a viable strategy for them where there is little capacity for government support to small businesses and the newly unemployed, no public safety net... only the prospect for broader misery and deeper poverty (which btw translates globally to more hungry children). Lockdown for many countries, Myanmar being one, has been a serious mis-adventure, one that has ruined the economy and caused great suffering and continues to do so as the economic 'second wave' has not yet hit. But more on that in another blog. Onward.

The flight from Seoul to Narita was surprisingly 'crowded' if you can call 2/3 full crowded, it is a less than 2 hour flight and well, to be honest we were not the best dressed in terms of PPE!

Really, the international flights were bubbles of cleanliness, I can speak only of the planes we were on; my understanding is that elsewhere, places where masks are being challenged and mistrust of government advice is more the norm, flights may not be so hygenic, but all of ours were amazing, and we were breathing sanitized hepa filtered air!

On the plane to Narita we had to fill in 6 forms... some of which had no English translation, the flight crew helped but didn't know since we were in transit for only 3 hours whether we had to complete them or not. In the end, I mean really, the 3 of us and any other transit passenger, chucked their forms in the bin! Tut tut.

 

Tokyo airport was like the others, granted it was early but most things were closed, people kept distance sat apart, everyone was masked. As we were leaving Dunkin Donuts opened so we got some 'breakfast'. The departure boards curiously showed more cancelled flights than those 'on time' and I'm not sure why the cancelled ones would be on the board at all, must auto-poll and post the data and they can't turn it off or something.

Our flight to Vancouver, the longest leg at 9 hrs was painless aboard a rather nice 777. We somehow ended up in Premium Economy which, if you have the whole row as we did I don't advise because the armrest is where the tray table is and doesn't fold up so you can't lie down across seats! Sigh. Who knew!

The Air Canada flight crew were as usual well aged (like a fine wine) and their usual courteous blasé selves, I swear Air Canada flight attendants are taught to be staid and just the right side of polite so as not to lose their jobs. Asian airlines, crews are younger and more peppy, helpful and don't have that 'don't piss me off, I've been doing this 30 years attitude', because in Asia people are grateful to have a job and that they get to travel is a huge thing. 

We were seated pretty much in our own rows I'd guess they spread the customers out and seat placement on the advance seating chart adjusts with the numbers booked. Sterility wasn't overly evident on this flight, PPE wasn't over the top, but neither were there pillows, nor blankets despite the length of the flight. I think this is a bit of a cheat from AC, always looking to cut corners. We know that pillow-cases or pillows are usually disposed of and blankets are collected for laundering after every flight so where is the risk? Not to mention that they only have to carry less than 1/4 of what they normally do. 

The dinner came (no wine or fizzy drinks...why?) all the food wrapped in plastic. I'll say that it was pretty good like 6/10 even though nothing on it had seen a farmers field anytime recently. Like hospital food, you can complain endlessly about airplane food but what's the point, you have to simply be grateful for being fed 10km up in the sky zooming along at 1000 kph... soaring in the jetstream in the middle of a pandemic. 

And so we landed through the cloudy drizzly morning, having crossed the dateline over the Pacific we were back to being Monday morning again. Sigh. Two Monday mornings, lucky us. Vancouver Airport was also empty, time of day and Covid combined it was eerily quiet. We had our Covid self-declarations in hand, it is a form with information and a tick-box list that we understood and agreed to self-isolate for 14 days in one location, go directly from the airport, have someone deliver food, etc. There was a space for a phone number, address and email address, I had my Myanmar mobile number and I was pretty sure that wouldn't work so I gave a Calgary friend's number, our Air BnB address and my email address. The form said we would be contacted within 3 days and possibly every 24hrs. I wondered how the form and information would even get to Alberta and when.

It was so nice to pass the familiar Salish spindle whorl, an eagle around a man welcoming travellers, the world's largest and to see the Salish Houseposts greeting people to Canada is warm and reassuring that you have arrived. That is the usually bustling immigration hall, in younger years of arriving back it's here I'm usually pulled out of the queue for extra-special treatment by Immigration officers, not this time, we waltzed straight on down.

We approached Border services all three of us and presented the 'single household' Covid declaration form to the officer. I was a bit surprised that it was here that our form got the look over and to confirm that we understood the tick-list. When I mentioned about the phone number he didn't flinch, in fact he didn't really seem to care and had an attitude while asking us questions that I found curious; either he didn't think it was something to take seriously or he didn't think it was his job to ask... something like that.

Apparently this is what is supposed to happen, didn't really happen that way, was softer, less strident.. https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/multimedia/ncov/air-avion-eng.html and well to be honest, less serious.

Anyway, the officer's parting words as we passed into Canada were 'Welcome Home' so that was nice. We were hungry and since our bags were checked through we hustled to Domestic departures, I was surprised to see as I passed the exit for International Arrivals no Covid checking people, no nurse greeting to see if all was well, no one checking to see that people were in fact getting in a vehicle to to directly to their self-isolation location. Nope people just milling about and exiting waiting for friends, all having come off the same plane, all from overseas, most Canadian. Was a bit odd.

Doing as good Canadians do when on a morning flight, we headed to Tim Hortons eh! This is where for the first time in months I felt the most exposed to the virus. I think we caught a shift change as there were quite a few worker types milling about getting coffee and breakfast, unmasked for the most part, a crowd looking pretty much like normal. This was a bit surprising given what we thought we knew of the response to Covid here and it was not the armageddon we were prepared for. 

The flight to Calgary was less 'hygenic' than any of the previous 4 but it was a domestic commuter hop, most people flying anyway should be at least symptom free. Arrival was uneventful and soon our 6 bags appeared off the baggage carousel. I was running about looking for a place to buy a SIM card so I had a phone number but none to be found. We exited, our friends were there waiting, one to pick up the 3 bags that we had carried and the others with a spare car so we could self-drive 'directly to our place of isolation' as per instructions.

Our cute little place of self-isolation on a sunny day, the days were not all sunny ;-)

We had arrived, I understand why returning Canadians have to self-isolate I do... I don't get why we can't be trusted to go for walks in parks or beaches, the requirement is that you stay on the private property or if in a hotel stay in your room. Pretty restrictive, where is the understanding that sunlight and exercise support immunity and wellness? Methinks they missed something not trusting the population and this is a mistake, educated people are better off with the opportunity to self-govern. It's when they stray that perhaps government needs to step in.

That said, we have been trusted to behave these past 14 days; my friend has received 2 automated phone calls and I have had 2 emails reminding me of the rules. We heard on 01 July that Canada had done a good enough job of containing the virus that we are on the list of countries able to enter the EU! So they must be doing something right. A frontline healthcare worker here in Calgary told me yesterday that for her Canadians should be thanked for staying home and locking down the way they were required... she says a major health crisis was averted. If that's the case then for sure the people of Myanmar deserve big cudos as well! 

That's it... Welcome to Canada in the time of Covid, our next travel will be to Europe! Stay tuned!

Full Moon in July over Calgary, Alberta