March 31, 2021

Today, March 13th, I am on the plane, traveling to New York – JFK – to visit with my aunt and two small cousins, as they recently moved to Brooklyn to pursue their expanding business.

After being an hour delayed due to unforeseen technical issues, we finally took off and flew out over the Pacific Ocean. I had almost finished the first movie and was enjoying the beautiful view. I am so glad I got a window seat! Let me recap what has transpired planning for this trip:

Thursday, March 4th, I talked to my aunt and uncle, and we talked about whether it would be a good idea for me to visit and help with the kids while my uncle needed to pop over to Montana for work. I pondered it over for a few days. I had asked a friend if he had needed to get tested and just how big a hassle it would be to travel, he told me that he had had no issues whatsoever. All right – Monday afternoon, I made up my mind and booked a flight for two weeks two hang out with my aunt and two cousins! Exciting – I have not had the pleasure of seeing much of my family the last few years, as it has been almost three years since I was back in Denmark. The last time I saw my family was February 2020, just before we locked down when I also went to meet up with my aunt and uncle, and at the time, just one cousin in NY.

I booked the flight, and I received an email with guidelines for traveling. It stated that to enter into the state of New York, you need to have been tested within three days. Now, I am still confused about what precisely three days is – before arrival or departure. I booked an appointment for Wednesday morning to get tested, but Tuesday night changed my mind and booked it for Thursday morning instead; only to stress about whether it would leave me enough time to receive the result before I took off! Not that I was dreading having Covid – you just never know – what if they wouldn’t let me into NY without the proof. Nowhere did it say that it would be enough to have the vaccine!

Testing:

Since I have been housesitting in LA for the last month or so I needed to find a place to get tested in some close vicinity to Venice. The nearest available site was somewhere in Crenshaw. 20 min later, I arrived. Sweeping day – so I had to park about 1 km away. There were three people in front of me, which allowed me to observe how they did things. I had, of course, watched the tutorial video online and was aware that it was a cotton-swab DIY around your mouth for 20 seconds! They wrote my registration number onto the bag with a sharpie which worried me a bit – but at this point, I just had to have faith in that they all knew what they were doing. After a 30 second swab around my mouth (just to be extra sure!) I put the swab into the vial with the liquid in it, and shook it around, sealed up the back, and disposed of it into the big container.

The following day at 7:23 AM, I received a text message saying that my test had been collected and was a the lab and was ready to be analyzed, and I could expect my results within the next 24 hours. All right – so -hopefully, at least before I had boarded my flight at 8:20 AM! At 9:20 PM Friday night, just as I was getting ready to sleep, I received a text saying the result was ready: NEGATIVE! Uhhh… that was good – it would definitely help me sleep better.

Departure Day:

While I generally tend to be a snoozer – I knew today was not going to be a snooze morning, and as the alarm rang at 6 AM, I got right up and out of bed and headed for the shower. 6:35, I checked the LYFT app, the driver could be here in 6 min – no, that was too soon, I was not ready. I got ready, checked, and finally, I got picked up at 6:50 AM in a fancy car where you do not have to touch the doors! The car was all sealed up, with glass between the driver and myself. I inquired how he was doing, he politely replied, but otherwise proceeded to listen to his Spanish radio, and we drove to the airport without exchanging more pleasantries! I was dropped off at the airport 15 min later and suddenly felt like I needed to learn how to ride a bike again! Ok, security, show a boarding pass, keep distance, show ID, keep distance, place bags in trays, computer and Ipad and toiletries in one, carry-on bag in another, and personal item in a third. All right, I looked around, and it didn’t look like people were taking off their shoes, so I didn’t. I walked through – all was well, just to notice that nobody was wearing their shoes on the other side – eh – all right – but – security hadn’t said anything. In their attempt to make things more flexible and supposedly easier for people and ‘social distance,’ they had accomplished the exact opposite, and the chaos was complete! I have never seen that many of the trays go to the side to be double-checked, which left the two people overloaded and behind, and I think I spent 15 min just standing there waiting for two of my three trays to make it through the scanner again! Meanwhile, nobody was maintaining any distance!

Finally, I was through security, only to find I had to go to another section of the terminal, which required a shuttle, and I waited in line again. Two young men behind me were stressing out about whether they would be able to make their flight to Honolulu. I hope they did! A woman in front of me was going to Mexico City to be reunited with her husband, so she was in a good mood. So many emotions all over the place! I made it to gate 131 and could FINALLY sit down and eat something with 15 min to spare before boarding. They would board us starting with the last rows first and then proceed forward – which is how it should ALWAYS be! I got to my seat. Put a movie on and relaxed, only to learn we would be one hour delayed, and I once again dug into my food I had brought. We will see how much food I end up consuming by the time I reach JFK, after which I probably do not want to eat another scone for a while!

Masks are a different story! Everybody wore masks, with the occasional nutcase wearing it below the nose!! I am amazed at just how many different kinds/shapes/designs exist! I am wearing my mask; homemade, with elastics behind the head rather than behind my ears. I have been dreading wearing a mask for a whole day! I haven’t had to do that at all since lockdown – I have all along had immense respect for the essential workers who have to wear masks all day, every day! It isn’t as bad as I dreaded, but I have also taken the opportunity to pull it down when I take bathroom breaks, or eat an apple etc. and then otherwise right back on! You gotta do what you gotta do!

I had googled which airlines were better before I booked my flight and Delta had a really good rating and policies. Nobody sits next to strangers, unlike some of the other flights I have heard about where they sit shoulder to shoulder. I looked up and noticed the screen where the guy diagonally in front of me was watching Lethal Weapon; just as Mel Gibson got out of bed, and we got a nice shot of his bare backside. Well, now I know what to watch next ;)

Getting from the JFK to Brooklyn:

I had some interesting experiences getting to and from the airports! Upon arriving in JFK, stressing about forms and whatnot, and in general, just being impatient about wanting to get to my aunt’s house and see her and the kids, now an hour delayed, I knew that Uber would be better than public transportation (which I might actually have been wrong about, as getting from Brooklyn to JFK 14 days later with public transportation was a piece of cake!) – anyways, I walked toward the the exit, and a young man approached me and asked if I needed an Uber, and I am like, yes, as a matter of fact, I do! He pulled up his phone and said the price is $105, and I said, are you not a regular Uber, and he says, no, but if that is what I want, the line is there, and it will take about 30 min. I bargained the price down 15 dollars, and we agree and proceed to the car! Whether he was right or not, at this point, I just figured, to heck with it (disclaimer – looking back – this is probably not the most brilliant idea, to jump into cars with strangers at the airport like that who don’t have official papers. Ay – but hey, I am here to tell the tale!).

We got to the car, and he tore off his mask, and says, ugh I hate these things, you can take yours off too! And I was like, eh, no thank you, and kept it on! I sat in the front, and he started driving. Asim (I believe his name was) was quite an experienced driver and a master at merging in and out between cars, lanes, and occasionally driving in the emergency track, surpassing many vehicles from the inside! It reminded me of driving in Cairo! He told me that Covid is a hoax, and that it is a governmental scheme to get rid of the old and expensive generation. I try not to get into an argument with this guy, and calmly asks if he thinks all of the governments across the globe have been able to collaborate on this scheme together, and he replied yes, and I acknowledged that that is quite an accomplishment (luckily he didn’t get my sarcasm!). He proceeded to pull out a video on his phone with a guy being filmed calling a covid-hotline where a woman was dismissive and could not answer the caller’s questions and confirm that the vaccine doesn’t work. Now, I do not know who made this video, but it is clearly a scam. I doubt any covid-hotline person would respond like that, and what are the odds that they get the one who would for their little video! But, once again, I just said, oh wow! Not trying to indicate that I thought he was absolutely nuts. He told me about how he buys cars that he sells to Dubai and fills a container with old cars. I asked about the milage of an old car he had sold, and he says, oh, they just wind that back, before they resell it! Note to self: if ever in Dubai and want to buy a car, do some research on the car salesman! Anyways, I will not get into EVERYTHING we talked about during the almost one-hour drive! Suffice to say – I hope I don’t see him again!

Returning from NY to LA:

On the flight, the passengers were similarly distributed – but my luck would have it that I ended up sitting next to somebody even though all the rows behind and in front of me, there was one empty seat! Sigh. I had counted on making the most of the time on the flight, like I had on my way over! But without the extra elbow space and an extra table for my Ipad, I just couldn’t be bothered even to attempt. Besides, unlike on the way over, it was now 4 PM, and I had been up before 7 AM, and I was tired! I made it through Tenet – which was surprisingly good (the parts I did see – I did snooze through some of it. But the fact that I think it deserves another look one of these days must mean it cannot have been completely bad!). Anyways. I was dying to eat my brought food, and at one point, I was eyeing the woman sitting next to me who was snoozing, and I inhaled a bit of food! Then, I took a snooze myself, and only when there were about 2 hours left of the flight did I get out my Ipad and made it through two articles. I was oddly antsy. I was tired, and I was tired of sitting still! I was furthermore seated over a wing, so there wasn’t either much to look at out the window! Even when I wasn’t listening to anything, I had my headphones to indicate to my neighbor and the rest of the plane that they had to leave me alone! We exchanged the only words when I asked her if she wanted the ‘goodie-bag’ we had gotten, containing a few crackers, a bag of almonds, a small bottle of water, and a wipe. Considering that I had eaten my brought food, and she at no point had taken out any food, I thought that there was a chance she might be hungry and perhaps the extra nuts would help her!!! She gladly accepted the bag, and I turned away, and we didn’t speak again!

Getting from LAX to the house I am staying at in Venice was a bit of an ordeal! Well, not in the worst sense of the word! But, just not what you want to deal with when you are tired! Uber and Lyft etc., have been banned from the airport terminals, and you have to walk to the airport’s entry, where you have LONG rows with numbers and letters, and you can pick a spot on either the Uber, Lyft, or taxi side. I decided on Uber, and picked 4C. Ok, I am ready for pick up. Now, the system has changed immensely since the last time I had used it! Or maybe this is just the airport special – as they know people are desperate to get somewhere… I picked a fare – but instead of assigning me a designated driver, repeatedly, it would pop up on the screen: do you want this Tesla for 76 dollars: yes, or wait for another ride. Eh no. And so it continued. Every so often, there would be a regular Toyota popping up at the agreed price, but I suppose I was battling with everybody else standing in row 3-4 A-D! so, just because you press yes, doesn’t mean you get it. Chances are somebody else was a second faster than you at responding! After like 10 missed attempts at getting a car, I was somewhat losing my patience with this. It wasn’t like in NY where there actually is a public transportation alternative to get home! I felt rather trapped! Finally, it worked, and I was assigned Mario and his blue Toyota. Mario had a history of 9.990 rides! When he arrived, and I sat in the car, I exclaimed, wow, Mario, 9.990 rides, well done, that is impressive. Mario replied: ok. And, that was it for the conversation between Mario and myself. I suspected that maybe he didn’t speak much English but a few minutes later, somebody called, and he answered, in English, and asked if he could call them back in 20 min – that is when I would be dropped off! So… there you have it!

Quarantining in NY:

Approaching landing, the pilot informed us that upon arrival, we need to fill out a form – which can also be found online and filled out! (this was not enclosed in the email from the airline!). I was tripping for the plane to land so that I could look for the website and fill out the form! It was something like five tabs/pages that had to be filled out with information about where I have been and where I will be staying etc. I got it done and walked off the plane. Close to baggage claim, three army-clad guys were standing there with forms to fill out; I said that I had already filled it out online and flashed my phone, and he waved me through without even looking at the screen! All right. That was easy enough. Five days later, I received a text from New York asking if I was quarantining or if I had taken two consecutive tests, which would allow me to leave quarantine before the ten days were up granted they were negative. Reply: C. I did. Nothing happened. On day 9 of my quarantine, I received the same text. Reply: C. I did. I received a reply that said: thank you for responding. I thought it was a bit odd, since the 10 days were about to be up! Either way, quarantining hadn’t been challenging with my aunt and cousins, as we had played around in the house and garden, and Whole Foods had delivered food!

Quarantining in LA:

As I was ready to leave NY, I suddenly thought, oh damn, I hadn’t even considered if I needed to get Covid-tested before departure and arrival in LA. What if they won’t let me in! Sigh. Too late now. I will deal with that when I get there! Once again, towards landing, the pilot told us we had to fill out a form, and I shook my head, and thought, oh come on, Cat, why didn’t you remember. Once again, I found myself stressing for us to land, so I could open up the browser on my phone and search for the form. To my surprise, it was not nearly as comprehensive as the one from NY, on the contrary, it was just a statement, and we had to check off if we agree and consent and just fill out our name and contact information. Neither were any army-clad guys awaiting us at the airport, even though the pilot had told us there would be forms available. I didn’t see where one could get those. Online, it said, that failure to fill out the form could lead to a $500 fine. How they will find out? Will they actually follow up with everybody who has been flying? I don’t know! And luckily, I do not need to worry about it as I did fill it out. But, I neither received a confirmation email which also surprised me! Quarantining in LA will also be easy as I will be teaching from home! I had purchased a lot of food prior to departure; I have a freezer full of food, and butter, milk, and kefir ready in the fridge. I will look into getting covid tested one of the next days and will see if that gets me out of quarantine early; however, unlike in NY, this has not popped up as an option. So, I will have to look into it!

Vaccine:

I received my first shot on Monday, March 8th. While I qualify due to my status of being in ‘education, I had previously postponed it,’ as I felt that it was ridiculous that I qualified before the essential workers. I teach from home, and I wanted them to get it before me! Now, with the prospect of wanting to travel and it would be safer for my family, network, and myself, I decided that now was a good time to get it!

Signing up for it was a bit of a hassle! I checked the curative website, and nothing was available; three hours later, and there were many slots available. I picked a time and then had to fill out a bunch of information, including my health insurance data, which I did not have ready at hand, as I was in the canyon hiking around! I took a risk and simply wrote 123456 and figured I would deal with it later. Confirm. Yes. Await email. Press link to confirm: sorry, the time you chose is no longer available; pick another time. Start over. Fill out ALL of the same information again. Confirm. Yes. Await email. Press the link to confirm: sorry, the time you chose is no longer available, pick another time… ARGH.. ok, this time I picked a time that had something like 30 available slots, unlike the other two times that had only a few. I filled out all of the same information again. Confirm. Yes. Await email. Press the link to confirm: you have now scheduled your appointment for Riverside Convention Center Lot 33 for 11:30 AM. Ayyy, ok. Feeling a tat of luck that it was also the Pfizer vaccine available over the Moderna made me feel even better about my choice to get vaccinated now! Not sure there are any grounds to believe that one is better than the other! However, I feel I have heard better things about Pfizer – and yeah – time will tell… besides a sore arm where I got jabbed in the arm – I had no side effects. I followed the email guidelines and signed up for the app, which is not an app but a website! – and filled out my information about my vaccination with the CDC. They then sent me emails every day for almost a week, asking how I felt, just a short survey. To my knowledge, most people have not, in fact, filled this out. I know it was optional, but I would think that collecting and gathering information like this is a huge help! Either way. I have done it!

At Lot 33 - Vaccination day: – waiting in a long line outside on the parking lot – a girl from school was five people ahead of me, and we at one point texted each other rather than shout past all the people. I got to the counter and showed all of my printed-out documents with proof of being in education, ID, medical insurance card, and my curative number. I could then proceed to the next available table, where the nurse asked me the same questions I had filled out online when booking the appointment: have you received another vaccine within the last two weeks, have you felt sick with covid? Have you been exposed to covid? Are you pregnant? No, no, no, and no…. all right. Jab time. The girl from school was right next to me at the other table, and we could proceed to sit down for the next 15 min. Efficiently, they had you take out your phone, scan a QR code, and spend some of the 15 mins signing up for your next vaccine date.

Fast forward to March 29th, a day after I got back from NY. Despite my quarantine, I drove out to Riverside all masked up and got to the new location – and old Sears building. There was no line, yet they had us walk through all of the snake-pathways indicated by orange traffic cones and yellow flagging tape. I suppose it was good with a bit of walk as I had done a lot of sitting. A major traffic accident had added 45 min to my drive from LA to Riverside! I had my papers ready. I had saved everything from last time in the glove department of the car! When I got to the counter and the guy wanted to check me in, he asked if I consented to get the shot today, and I was thinking – eh, I am here, aren’t I?! But politely responded, yes! Then he asked if I had my insurance information since nothing was on record! Yes (not sure what the woman had done at the first appointment!) – anyways. All is good. I walked over to table 15, which was flagging me down with their small green flag. The nurse once again asks me the same questions: vaccine within the last two weeks, feeling sick, pregnant. No, no, and no… she commented on my shirt and said it was great for getting the vaccine, and I said, thank you! Obviously I chose it for the same reason – no sleeves! I walked over to sit for 15 min, and a nurse came over to ask how I was feeling. I said I felt good. She reminded me that I should check my watch to know when my 15 min were up! Ah, yeah, good point! Then she asked if I had any questions. I always have questions! I asked how many people have reactions within the first 15 min, and she said barely any, and that most are related to anxiety and that they might faint! All right, good to know! I told her that a friend of mine hadn’t had symptoms until after 12 hours, and she said that it was 14 hours for her, but then she had taken another nap and taken it easy for the rest of the evening, and then she was fine! I said that I do not have time not to feel fine since I have to teach tomorrow, and she just looked at me! Yeye, I said, I will deal with that tomorrow; luckily, it is just introduction day! I asked if she had experience with whether there is a difference in people getting the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine, and she said no. She explained that it is the same technology, so the fact that I knew many people who had reactions after Moderna was just a coincidence! And to be honest, I do not know that many who has gotten Pfizer yet – so maybe she is right, and it could just be a coincidence.

Assuming that my symptoms would not hit for another 12 hours or so if I, in fact, would get any, I drove back to LA right away and had no problems for the rest of the day. When it was time for bed, I took a preventative Tylenol – why not! And… so, I didn’t experience any of the common side effects. However, I was stressing so much about whether I would get any side effects and if I could then not finish my slides and teach at 5 PM Tuesday, I was so extremely tired all day and pretty much ruined it for myself. So it is difficult to say if I am tired and fatigued because of the vaccine or simply because I didn’t sleep because of stress! Wednesday, I woke up with the worst debilitating headache. Tylenol does not seem to be doing the trick! I realize I didn’t drink enough either, and I have tried to make up for that today (Wednesday), but that still doesn’t seem to help! We will see how Thursday goes!

Closing remark: I am very glad I went, as I had a wonderful time with my family and got to recharge my batteries. Am I ready for some kind of vaccine passport? Yes, if that means I do not have to stress about getting tested and fill out forms. I very much look forward to going back to Denmark, hopefully, sometime during 2021! Time will tell!