My fiance and I made our way to Chicago to quarantine, see family, and tour venues. Living in Florida, the only practical way to get back to Chicago was to fly. He took a temporary leave from work and I am working from home so we are able to quarantine under Chicago's Emergency Travel Order.
First, was buying the tickets. Before the order went into play we were scheduled for August 28th through 31st. We booked through Southwest and right now they have free rebooking for areas with travel restrictions so our flights were then changed to August 12th to 31st, giving us the two weeks plus 5 days to get everything we needed to be done in the city. The issue we ran into there was a constant change in flight number or connection location.
Second, getting prepared. I follow @black.owned.everything on Instagram and through that page, I was able to find GoFlyy a black-owned company that sells kits for traveling safety through the pandemic. It took about a week to deliver but contained everything we needed to navigate through the airport.
Third, the travel itself. We get to the airport with gloves on, mask, and N95 filter installed, and the TSA Pre-check is closed. There is one other family going through TSA at the time and it takes a total of 5 minutes to get through. All restaurants except the stop-n-shop area are closed so that is your only snack relief in the entire building. The only time you can let your mask down is to eat, drink, and show your face to the TSA checkpoint. Again, with Southwest, you can cancel anytime and reschedule as well as all middle seats are empty until at least October 31st. Boarding is only in groups of 10 at a time. Our first flight had only 15 passengers and the second probably 30.
I would say it is okay to fly right now, just make sure to protect yourself. Wear your face mask, gloves, and eye shield if you have one. Sanitize
frequently and make sure to check your local travel restrictions for your destination BEFORE booking.
Safe travels ❤️
Thank you! Let me know if you have any other travel questions!
Interesting blog and that is a nice kit!