What Is Travel Like In December 2021

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Jenn: Hey everybody. Welcome back to travel tip Tuesday. And I just got back from thunder bay, Ontario, and I wanted to give you a rundown of what flying is really like right now, or at least was like a couple of days ago when I got back because

Meggan: probably different two days later changed.

Jenn: So this is just my experience. I don't know what to tell you, but this is my experience of, of how it went. So I feel you, I will be completely honest. I flew Halifax, Toronto, thunder bay and back all on WestJet, which is usually my airline of choice. So, Hey WestJet if you want to sponsor this podcast, I wouldn't be sad about that.

First of all, I just want to tell you that as of, I think the end of November, you do have to be fully vaccinated to fly if you're over 12. I assume that as vaccines rollout to younger ages, they will probably move that age down. But that's what it is. As of right now, it's all it's planes and trains. Um, In Canada. So I was flying within Canada. So I did not need a negative COVID test in order to travel. Just so people

Meggan: praise be,.

Jenn: Yeah. Yes. Because our, our testing sites and Nova Scotia that are done by public health are not, they don't give you a test for travel purposes that you do have to pay for those.

So it's a little more convoluted. I don't know as much about it cause I haven't done it, but I do know that you can't get them at the regular testing. So I will say I checked in for my flight on the WestJet app, which is what I usually do. And I had to upload a proof of vaccination and it had to be the one with the QR code.

So, and you need to have it on your phone or on your computer saved as a JPEG because a PDF will not upload. Into the app.

Meggan: Okay.

Jenn: Well, you have to, like, you can take a screenshot of it on your phone, which is what I did. And it worked totally perfectly. It was completely fine. And I, there was a thing asking about symptoms. I think when I was checking in, which would have been 24 hours before my flight I went to the airport while they tell you that you need to show up even earlier. So it was saying two hours before your flight for domestic. Three hours before your flight for international, I think is what it said. I did show up two hours early security in Halifax. I mean, my flight was at nine 30 in the morning, so I got there around seven 30, or there was hardly any lineup for the security and Halifax. I waited like five minutes. So I had a lot of time to kill. I did notice they were sending everybody through the full body scanner in Halifax. I don't remember if that's what they were doing pre pandemic,

Meggan: you know, it was just a slow morning. Maybe like recheck all these people, just maybe,

Jenn: and that's totally possible. It might have nothing to do with the pandemic or it might, I don't know, but that's, that's what they were doing that particular

Meggan: Maybe it looked likea shifty crowd of people.

Jenn: I don't know. They did. I had my hair in a bun and they did pat down my hair after I went through the scanner.

So that's not the first time that's happened to me. So. I will say once I got through security in Halifax, there was not much open. Tim Horton's was not open.

Yeah,

Meggan: you couldn't get a Tim Beib

Jenn: I could not get it. It was very sad. I mean, if you've been in the Halifax airport in the international and domestic kind of area, that's not the U S area.

You go up the escalator after security andTim Hortan's is right there. And that was. It was not open I D and it was like seven 30 in the morning. So it's not like I was there at the, you know, 4:00 AM.

Meggan: What is this world come to?

Jenn: I don't know. And a lot of the little store, like the kiosks were not open at all.

Yeah, it was very strange that there wasn't a lot of places to get food or drink

Meggan: was starbucks open?

Jenn: I didn't go.

Meggan: That would have been my big question.

Jenn: It was really strange. Scary. Yeah. I was like, I'm glad I packed some muffins from home because usually I do go to Tim Horton's or like somewhere to get a drink and something to eat.

You do have to keep your mask on in the airport if you're not actively eating or drinking. Did I see anybody walking around enforcing it? No, but most people were complying with it. So that was fine. They, you know, recommend that you socially distance in the airport and not sit beside people that you're not traveling with, et cetera, et cetera.

Yeah, so I flew to Toronto and even the Toronto airport didn't have much open that Tim Horton's was open there. So I did get a tea and a bagel in a toronto.

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. So when, when you're boarding the plane, that was pretty usual. They call you up by by zone number as they usually do. You hand them your passport or your ID and your boarding pass, and they get you to take your mask down so they can check your identity. Um, Yeah, which is totally fine. And then that's it. So getting onto the plane and there's a flight attendant at the front handing out. Wipes, which was really nice.

You don't, I mean, they were on all of my flights, someone they're handing out wipes, so that was nice. Cause I didn't pack any to take with me. So they were there and you could take it when you're getting on the plane, wave everything down. And then they came around like pretty much right after takeoff and collected them, which was really nice.

They did serve food and drinks as usual. So they, they ask you not to take your mask off to eat or drink until the flight attendant, you know, booth is past your row kind of thing. So you can take your mask off to eat or drink and then put it back on. , they came and delivered the food and drinks and then they came and collected the garbage.

And then ifyou don't give them, that let's say you're not done with your cup or your whatever. They won't take it again. Like that is your last chance to get rid of your garbage. Because after that they will be safe. They tell you on an announcement, take everything with you off of the plane, including garbage.

So. I was never a person who would leave garbage in the seat pocket in front of me, but a lot of people did. So they ask you, please don't do that and take your garbage

Meggan: animals.

Jenn: You should have been taking your garbage with you the whole time, but anyway,

Here we are.

The other thing was doing the safety demonstration.

Now, this is interesting, you know, they do the safety demonstration, every flight. I did not notice until my last flight that they did not talk about the oxygen mask. Until my last flight. Flight four of four. And so in that one, they instructed you to take off of your, you know, medical or cloth mask to put on the oxygen mask.

None of the other flights mentioned it don't know why.

Meggan: I mean, maybe they're just ho hello. People are stupid. So, but maybe they're just hoping people would realize to take that off first, but I think they probably need to be told. So I guess it's probably a good hit,

Jenn: I guess it was just, that was really bizarre to me,

but yeah, otherwise flying was pretty much the same, I think. And it was weird sitting next to a stranger who's, you know, right here. Right, right in your bubble. I did have nobody besides me on my last flight. So that was really, yeah. That was otherwise most of my flights for full I will say flying home into Halifax into Nova Scotia, you have to fill out the Nova Scotia, safe check inform. So it just pretty quick you fill it out on your phone or online or whatever, and you have to present proof of that telling you that you're good to go. Before you're allowed to leave the baggage area. So there's somebody there checking you had to upload again, your proof of vaccination and you have to give them their address and all of this stuff.

But yeah, it basically gives you a green thing. Like you're good to go. And then they look at that and they let you leave.

Meggan: Did they give you like any rapid test or anything at the airport? Or could you have taken any?

Jenn: After, after you leave the baggage area, there was a table set up with volunteer volunteers or people who are working there.

I don't know. Anyway, they're giving out they gave out rapid tests, so they give you two, they give you one to take that day that you've arrived. And one to take on day three. I did both of mine. Both of them came back negative. So. I will say that I found, I found the rapid tests much more annoying to get, or then like the one that the PCR tests that like the nurse does, the swab has bigger on the rapid test and it's hard to shove something up your own nose. It just is. But otherwise they're pretty easy to do. And then you just wait 15 minutes. They look, they look like a little pregnancy test. And and then you're good to go.

Meggan: So we're lucky to be able to get those.

Jenn: I feel very lucky to be able to get those. I did book myself in for a PCR test with that I had yesterday just to doubly make sure before I go back to working with the public this week, just because I

Meggan: responsible of you

Jenn: being responsible.

So. Wrapping all of this up, my top tips right now are having your proof of vaccine on your phone as a JPEG. It's very important. And plus you need it to show w you know, getting into restaurants and all of those things, probably we're going and here be prepared for things to change quickly. You don't know when things are going to change make sure, you know, the entry and exit requirements of where you're going.

Just, there was a bunch of people that got off our flight and did not know about this Nova Scotia safe check in form. And they did not say anything about it on the plane, which I thought that they might. You know, thinking back to filling out custom forms on planes before, right. I thought, oh, maybe they'll say something, but they did not.

So Google that before you leave. And yeah, relax and be kind because everybody is just doing their best.

Meggan: They are, and kindness is free. It's free. It doesn't cost a darn thing.

Jenn: Yeah, so I hope this helps you. If you are planning to fly soon as always, you can chat with us on Instagram and Facebook at the travel mug podcast, and you can find more information on our website, travel monk, podcast.com.

And we'll chat with you again soon. Bye!