PORTLAND — Traveling — or staying home — during the pandemic holiday season? Whatever the choice is, you’re not alone. Someone else is probably doing or debating the same thing.
The curfew requiring bars to close early, and the prohibitions on eating indoors, prompted David S., a 50-year-old Chicago resident, to travel to Portland, Ore. in November, then Las Vegas, Nev. and finally Delray Beach, Fla.
“Perfect weather and fully open,” David said from Delray Beach on Tuesday. He plans to stay through Christmas.
David, who works remotely, has visited five other states since March. He watched election night coverage in a Milwaukee hotel, as covid cases in Wisconsin surged.
He wears a mask “only when required” and has met several others like him.
“A lot of people have had enough. Some states...CA, NY, etc. are really pushing it,” he said, referring to lockdowns.
Comfort Levels
One of the interesting things about the pandemic is the varied responses to it.
According to NPR, more than two million people have decided to travel this week despite public health pleas to stay put.
Some Portlanders are masking up and flying out.
“I feel safe but more anxious, and cautious. I used to feel ‘at home’ and brought to my happy place in an airport. Now it feels sad,” said Dan M. on Tuesday as he sat in a cafe at Portland International airport.
A son of a flight attendant (and, like David S., a classic freedom-loving Sagittarius), Dan spent much of his adult life flying standby and enjoying the perks of free or discounted flights.
“Airports used to represent the beginning of a new adventure and now it just reminds me of not being able to be free to travel the world,” the 35-year-old said, as he waited to take a redeye flight to Maryland to spend the holidays with his father.
Jayson N., a 28-year-old finance worker in Manila, Philippines, wanted to celebrate his recent birthday with his mom. At the end of October, Jayson flew 12 hours from Manila to England. He quarantined for two weeks at his mother’s home in Nottingham before exploring other cities like Oxford.
“Of course traveling during these times is very risky because of the situation,” he said.
Jayson’s mom works in a factory that makes baked goods. The pay is better in England than in her home country.
Jayson works 5 p.m. — 2 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and many of the photos he takes are during his breaks at night.
“Absolutely I would not have traveled if it were not for my mom. The weather is worse here, it’s very cold, and people do not speak my language,” Jayson said.
He was supposed to fly back to Manila last month but due to travel restrictions postponed the flight (England is in the midst of a tight lockdown after a new strain of the coronavirus was detected).
“I don’t know when I’ll go back. I’m fine with that and I’m not worried at all because I am with the most important person in my life (kinda cheesy. haha),” Jayson said.
Roadtripping
Anna L., another Portlander, has nine siblings — many, like her, with families of their own — and she’s currently camping out in a trailer with her two children at her parent’s compound in eastern Oregon. Meals will be staggered so everyone is not in the same place at once.
One of the families announced they’d been tested and since the results were negative, they were not planning to wear masks. That caused a second email from my friend’s mom to her brood, reiterating the rules: Masks on, except when eating.
Anna was not able to be reached by “blog posting time” on how it’s going but if anyone is actually reading this, I will update later.
Update 12/28/20: Some 29 people, including two babies and one pregnant woman, celebrated Christmas together. And two dogs.
“Family distancing was pretty good, and surprisingly still felt really connected to everyone. My mom did a good job organizing it all,” Anna said.
Seniors Alone
In Chicago, Leroy G. lives in a senior building in Wicker Park. The community room where people gather and play bingo, is closed. The shuttle bus that takes him to the casinos no longer runs. It’s too cold to make the three block-trek for coffee.
“I feel bad cause I can’t do nothing. Ain’t nothing I can do about it,” Leroy said on Tuesday. He’ll be watching church on TV for Christmas and talking with his family on the phone. He’s making coffee at home instead of visiting Dunkin’.
Ilene H., whom I hesitate to call a senior since she’s very youthful, will also be alone this holiday unless she goes to her brother’s/my uncle’s. She will be Skyped into a gathering in Seattle at her son’s/my brother’s place. We hope she’ll eventually want to follow her two children and only grandchild to the Pacific Northwest, but for now she’s knitting, rewiring her thermostat after watching some home improvement videos, crushing me in Words with Friends and even continuing to work part time during the pandemic.
Like Jayson, I also traveled to see my mom, masking up and flying out in September. I quarantined/worked remotely from her place in the suburbs of Chicago. On the last day I went into the city, where I managed to get the beginnings of strep throat and suffered a scary few days thinking it was the coronavirus.
That slight panic after taking both Covid-19 and strep tests and not knowing which, both or neither I had… it scared me enough to stay away from traveling, for now.
Primal Activities Paused
A few Saturdays ago I walked to Mississippi Avenue, which always kind of reminds me of Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park.
There, I met Anna at a picnic table outside a bar and my two housemates who drove rather than walked, joined us. It was very cold so the four of us only lasted an hour or so.
On the way out, Anna stood by a fire near the entrance to warm her hands and feet before the walk back to her car.
“No gathering by the fire!” the bouncer said, just as I was about to join Anna.
We laughed. Isn’t that the most primal thing we as humans can do, gather by a 🔥?
The bar has rules so we stopped, but it got me thinking about degrees of togetherness and how the pandemic has impacted relationships.
Gathering by fire. Asking a stranger to take a group photo, dancing at a concert, tasting a sip of a friend’s cocktail, shaking hands at a conference, a hot buffet at a grocery store or an all-you-can eat restaurant, street festivals, photo booths, sing-a-longs. The list goes on and on.
Are you traveling? Why or why not? What or who do you miss?
