March 10- Departure

By the time my first flight, from Kansas City to Houston, took off, I wished there would have been a way to filter out every mention of Corona Virus from my social media feeds.  In between the common-sense posts from virologists reminding us that hand-washing was the most important preventative factor, there were stories of people stealing boxes of anti-bacterial wipes and surgical masks from hospitals (many so they could resell on-line to the paranoid at extortionate prices), people hoarding food, people avoiding church, people worrying about booking trips 6 months from now.  I never considered cancelling the trip- but I worried a lot, mostly about being quarantined if I coughed or maybe having a hard time getting home if the airlines cut back on flights.  I turned out to be right about the latter concern.

My first hurdle:  working out the issue that kept me from checking in on-line the day before.  My passport scanned successfully but the system wouldn’t check me in.  As I suspected, United’s computer system kicked me out because they needed to see a Bolivian visa- except that it wasn’t needed anymore.  The interim President had declared last December that US citizens no longer required one for stays shorter than 90 days.  Fortunately someone who seemed very familiar with the situation verified that and noted that I’d need an itinerary to prove that I was traveling onward on less than 90 days.  I had that.  Big sigh of relief.  They didn’t even ask to see my Yellow Fever Vaccination Waiver certificate.  (I wasn’t going to areas where it was a big risk, there’s a worldwide shortage of it and people over 60 run the risk of severe side effects.)

The airport was unusually quiet for 9 AM on a weekday and boarding was exceptionally fast- the flight was only half full.  We took off on time.  Another big sigh of relief- I wanted to spend as much time as possible enjoying the Polaris Lounge in Houston.

Kansas City (MCI), unusually quiet.

Houston, Polaris Lounge

After a nice lunch and a couple of glasses of wine I headed to the gate for my flight to Lima.  The seating area didn’t seem to be as large as the one on my AA flights between DFW and Honolulu last year but they sure were an improvement over Coach.  I also found that although I had a Window seat, I had only about 1/4 of a window visible.  Weird.  I watched a documentary about David Crosby and “Dr. Strangelove” from the movie selection.

In-flight map.  Are we there yet?