Well, I have about an hour before my plane boards for Tucson. I haven’t travelled by air since the VERY beginnnig of the pandemic, late February/early march 2020. I was in Florida visiting my friends Jenna and Terry Synnott when the first cases were announced in Florida. My wife and I had been watching the information coming out of China for some time and were already convinced the shit was going to hit the fan. She had already begun stockpiling stuff. I think it was only one week after we got back that the library where I work went to virtual-only operations, four teams rotating on a weekly basis in the building to do porch-pickup for patrons, and it would be 14 months before I personally returned to work in the building.

During those 14 months around one million people died from Covid-19. I’m not sure what the exact number is now, but something like 1 out of every 350 Americans has died from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Had we not gotten the vaccine so fast I can’t imagine what society would be like right now. Things got messed up enough as it was/is.

So it’s a big deal for me to be able to get on this plane without losing my mind, and know that I am somewhat, relatively, safe. Not 100% safe. That is never the case. Yes, I could pick it up on the plane, or here in the airport. But I’ve got an N95 mask on this entire time. Staying away from people in the airport as much as possible. I would say only 1% of the people in the airport are wearing masks, which as I said on the short podcast I made earlier this morning, is just nuts.

In other airport news…nothing has changed. People still walk around talking loudly on their phones. “Business people” still hold meetings out in the open, talking loudly on their computer or phone, revealing no telling what kind of “precious” secrets of their nefarious plans.

I love people watching. I can be kind of cynical, but every person has their own story. You never know what someone is going through. I know this very well. I do the best I can to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Life can be hard and cruel.

This will be my first time ever flying First Class. Yes, I’m that guy now. Kind of a waste on a 2-hour flight, but still it should be comfortable. I may demand a foot massage. That’s a reasonable demand, right?

Travel is very involved for me when I go somewhere to skate. I have a bag for my clothing. Then I have a rolling duffle bag for my boards and gear. Then I have my carry-on backpack with my electronics, notebooks, pens, my little microphone for home phone, my laptop, and lots of charging cables. You would think I’m going to be gone for a month and not just three days. I had considered buying a new iPad for this trip, but didn’t get around to it. I have my Asus Chromebook, which is a good travel machine. Not as useful as my Macbook Pro, but also not a big deal if it got damaged or stolen. I’ve had this one a couple of years now. It’s one of the more expensive ones. For years I travelled with a $200 Chromebook. It worked fine. Then I splurged on this one, a touch-screen model. Well, the touch-screen stopped working early. I think I ruined it by cleaning it. But other than that it is a good little machine. I use the hot spot from my iPhone for connectivity. This Chromebook is also really light, which is nice for travel.

Well, it’s about time to go release this coffee back into the wild and get ready to board the plane. Gonna get to Tucson, probably relax for a while and get a nice hot shower to wash the pathogens from the airport off my body, and meet the skaters at the spot.