Collected Item: “Short-term Travel Restrictions, Long-term Anxieties”
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Short-term Travel Restrictions, Long-term Anxieties
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text story
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
The first trip I took after COVID-19 travel restrictions was to Seattle. My mother, a nurse, planned the trip; she needed the escape after the trauma of working in healthcare during these times. She disguised it as a trip for my brother's birthday. She packed our bags full of hand sanitizers and masks, even though the trip lasted only three days. We planned to wear masks any time we were in public even if it was no longer required. Any pictures we have from the trip feature a mask either hanging from a wrist or our ears.
Before the pandemic, my family loved traveling, and I studied out of state for my bachelor’s degree. We took at least two small trips a year. If you had asked me about my favorite sight in 2018, I would have told you it was the lights of LA when you fly into LAX, the airport closest to home. For that reason, I called the window seat on every trip. On our first trip after the pandemic, I asked for an aisle seat because it felt less claustrophobic.
The airline required us to skip a seat between each person in an attempt to maintain social distancing. They also required that we wear masks at all times. For the first time, my brother got the window seat instead of the middle seat, which we were told to leave empty. He took this opportunity to spread out more than usual. My mother earned the task of keeping a mask on my five-year-old sister, who hated them. As expected, the flight was significantly emptier due to the need to skip seats.
In Seatle, we stayed in an Airbnb and used Uber to go to the places we wanted to see. I did not have a point of reference for normal crowd sizes at the time, but I remember there being enough people that I was uncomfortable. Often they kept a good distance from me but I still felt anxious about it all. I voted no on the trip from the start and spent our time in Seattle leading the family to less crowded areas. However, I realize now that the places we visited then were underpopulated at the time.
We returned to LAX as planned after the short trip without anyone acquiring any symptoms. My mother still made us all take a covid test upon returning home. With that success, she had our next trips lined up for us as though nothing changed. Slowly, I grew more comfortable with traveling but I still can not stand crowds or enclosed places with people
Before the pandemic, my family loved traveling, and I studied out of state for my bachelor’s degree. We took at least two small trips a year. If you had asked me about my favorite sight in 2018, I would have told you it was the lights of LA when you fly into LAX, the airport closest to home. For that reason, I called the window seat on every trip. On our first trip after the pandemic, I asked for an aisle seat because it felt less claustrophobic.
The airline required us to skip a seat between each person in an attempt to maintain social distancing. They also required that we wear masks at all times. For the first time, my brother got the window seat instead of the middle seat, which we were told to leave empty. He took this opportunity to spread out more than usual. My mother earned the task of keeping a mask on my five-year-old sister, who hated them. As expected, the flight was significantly emptier due to the need to skip seats.
In Seatle, we stayed in an Airbnb and used Uber to go to the places we wanted to see. I did not have a point of reference for normal crowd sizes at the time, but I remember there being enough people that I was uncomfortable. Often they kept a good distance from me but I still felt anxious about it all. I voted no on the trip from the start and spent our time in Seattle leading the family to less crowded areas. However, I realize now that the places we visited then were underpopulated at the time.
We returned to LAX as planned after the short trip without anyone acquiring any symptoms. My mother still made us all take a covid test upon returning home. With that success, she had our next trips lined up for us as though nothing changed. Slowly, I grew more comfortable with traveling but I still can not stand crowds or enclosed places with people
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#ArizonaStateUniversity, #HST643, #SpringASession2025, #HistoryofTourism, #Seattle, #AnxiousTravel
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
self
Give this story a date.
2021-05-14