I was going to use a picture from “It’s Wonderful Life” but I HATE that movie. It is the worst Christmas movie. That poor man had a shit life, had to sacrifice his dreams, and he was supposed to be grateful because at least he was alive? Life is such a scam. Demand more for yourself. 

I don’t know about anyone else but I have been anxious ever since the travel ban was put into place. It’s awful knowing we can’t just get up and go whenever we feel like it. It’s like being in some sort of prison. We don’t have lockdown in America so people are doing everything else normally, even going on vacations and trips, with the exception of being able to travel internationally. Up until now there’s been no end in sight. But then a thing happened.

It was announced that travel would be opening up between Amsterdam and Rome. I knew travel would open up soon, but not this soon. It’s not exactly Paris, but it’s a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dark, cruel Covid world. These flights are operating through Delta, and are, so far, only flying out of their Atlanta hub. There will be four flights a week to Amsterdam, and three to Rome. You’ll have to take 4 Covid tests throughout your travel to avoid quarantine, but at least you can fly. That’s something. 

Alitalia started their NYC to Rome flights on December 8th. Their testing is much more reasonable at only needing two tests. But I have no issue with testing. I haven’t contracted Covid so this may be arrogance, but if they want to test every hour to open international travel back up I say go for it. Sign me up for all the tests. Whatever gets us back to normal. I will gladly wear my mask and happily Naomi Campbell my area. But I’m sure it will come to a point in the future where we won’t be able to fly or enter other countries without proof of our vaccinations. 

Unpopular opinion but I like wearing masks. As a child one of my favorite movies was Outbreak and the theater scene scarred me for life. If someone coughed I would always hold my breath until I was sure the cough germs flew out of my airspace, so in a way I’ve been training for Covid since I was 8. 

And masks are nice. They ensure you don’t breath in anyone else’s germs. How is that a bad thing? I remember watching Terrace House when lockdown was in place back in April, and in one of the episodes one of the roommates is sick and he wears a mask in the house so he doesn’t get anyone else sick. When I saw that it all clicked into place for me. Billions of Asian people have been right this whole time. Not even talking exclusively about Covid, when we’re sick in general we should wear masks to avoid getting others sick. It’s basic consideration and something we should all practice from here on out.

It will probably be a while before we get those $200 RT European flights back (I imagine the cost of testing is being offloaded onto the consumer in some way), but thank goodness for the airline companies greed because they will sell their soul to Mephistopheles himself to start making money again, and that includes ramping up travel before the vaccines even get off their dry ice. It looks like slowly but surely we are inching our way back to BC (before Covid).