Travel Diaries - Flying during the pandemic situation.

Flying during the pandemic situation, we entered the airport sanitizing the luggage prior. Thermal gun screening.  And a self-check-in. 

The CISF police got a huge screen through which they look at our pass through the screen. Easy breeze. To my surprise, I could see a huge queue with no physical distancing for bag tags. 

I was relieved as indigo got several counters and there's only one person at each and every counter waiting. 

"Do you have an E-Pass to travel?" asked the person. "I don't have it," I replied. "We'll do it for you through the backend." She suggested. An easy solution. 

I walked into the security check-in.  There were so many people at this place that it seemed impossible to maintain 2-feet-physical-distancing. The security got a head mask, frisking us with metal detectors without any contact. 

We were offered a plastic shield and a white gown to wear. It seemed to be the new normal. The pilots, hostesses, every crew got on them. 

We took off at 8.40, right on time, and landed before the arrival time at 10.10. We were served only water on the plane. The hostesses were helpful and often reminded of the mandatory task. 'wear the masks and the face shield.' 

A layover at Hyderabad airport for a couple of hours. I spent some time at the bookshop. Checked out a few attractive book covers. Tishani Doshi's new book seemed interesting. Read a couple of poems and hung out at the place.  The masks are the new normal. People were on a buying spree. From necessary to the luxurious stuff. They got everything open. Chumbak reminded me of Pragjna. 

We took off at 2.30, a five-minute delay but, we hit the destination 40 minutes earlier. Woah. Landed at decent Tirupati airport. 

Flying during the pandemic situation caused me anxious but, adaptable to the new situation.