In 2009, I started doing traveling sales jobs that have kept me on a plane almost every week for the past 11 years. I’ve slept on airport floors, been stranded in the middle of nowhere, and missed hundreds of events back home throughout the years. I’ve loved it; at times, I’ve hated it. The travel-life is not as glamorous as some might think, but it’s what I chose for myself.
ATL, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, busiest airport in the world and my second home.
It’s also afforded me the opportunity for personal travel around the world, which is why I started this blog in 2015. For the seven people (including my mom) who remember this blog, you may recall the name “A Broad Abroad.” Turns out, that name is trademarked by a Yahoo! travel writer (shout out to Paula!), so I turned this site off in 2018 to avoid getting sued.
I’ve turned it back on with the name “Bozo on the Gozo” because A) this name isn’t trademarked and B) I don’t take it that seriously. My writing is satire and sarcastic for your enjoyment - hence the tagline, “a salty bitch sharing everything I hate about traveling - for giggles.”
E Terminal at ATL with empty bays at every gate.
No passengers means no stores are open in the terminals.
I’ve also turned the site back on because COVID-19 happened. When COVID was finally acknowledged as a pandemic in March, my travel-life changed drastically. Bouncing from airport to airport, hotel to hotel, city to city, it all stopped. Overnight. With no warning. At first, I didn’t know what the impact would be. Our company stopped all corporate travel, but I still had personal travel on the books: Jackson Hole, Peru, Mexico City, Yellowstone, Portugal, Namibia, Botswana. You know, just a casual 2020 travel year.
3,000 flights per day to less than 50.
After a few weeks without being on a plane, my mental health started to deteriorate. From running through the airport and barely making my flights to the sanctuary of the Delta Sky Club when I needed to get work done, I didn’t know how to function day to day without the hustle and bustle of the airport.
Then, my first personal trip got canceled: Peru. Y’all. The mental breakdown that followed once Peru got canceled was on an epic scale. I was not OK, and I broke. Rage and sadness consumed me. So, I did what any person having a psychotic meltdown would do. I cried my eyes out, then went to the only open bar in Atlanta and drank myself into a stupor followed by an epic meal at Waffle House.
Plane Train is usually body to body. Now, no one.
New safety measure in TSA showing social distancing guidelines.
Parking also shows the 6’ separation.
To keep my sanity, I started to look at travel options when Georgia started reopening. Now, before you tell me that’s insensitive because I’m putting people at risk and spreading COVID, let me tell you why I disagree. I stayed home for 12 weeks. The curve is flattened in GA. No matter what the news tells you, you CAN get a COVID test in GA, you CAN get admitted to the hospital, and you CAN get an antibody test.
I know this for a fact because I had shoulder surgery two weeks ago and had to have a COVID test to stay on the surgery schedule. There is capacity at hospitals because I saw it for myself while going in for surgery. Plus, my travel was within GA (Atlanta to Savannah). I stayed within state lines and followed the state and airlines safety guidelines by wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer, wiping everything down that I came in contact with on the plane, etc. At some point, I have to think about my own mental health, which I did this weekend by assuming the risk and making a choice to travel. I mean, I’ve already had dengue fever and malaria, so why not another incurable disease? Too soon?
Usually, you have to reserve a parking spot here. This lot just expanded because they were always so full. Now, EMPTY.
Parking shuttle also practicing social distancing.
I don’t know what I expected to see in ATL, but this certainly wasn’t it. The Atlanta airport is the busiest in the world. It went from 100M passengers per year to no passengers. The airport is more abandoned than the set of “The Walking Dead.”
Food and drink options are prepackaged.
Reminders all over the airports to wash your hands.
Airlines dispensing hand sanitizer throughout the flight.
The airlines and the airports are doing what they can to make people feel safe and comfortable enough to travel again. There are reminders at every gate and every terminal showing social distancing of 6’. Hand sanitizer is everywhere. Everyone is wearing a mask. Staff are wearing gloves. Plastic dividers keep limited contact between gate agent and passenger.
11 passengers on this flight to Savannah.
Sky Clubs closed due to lack of passengers and flights.
Safety screens put up at all Delta counters.
People still loiter to board though. First class boards LAST now, but the loiterers remain.
So, it pains me to tell you that my favorite airline is not going to survive in this current climate. If you’re an ATLien, you know that Delta is the prime operator. ~75% of the 100M yearly passengers fly Delta. Delta rules the gates, the concourses, the runways, and everything in between. They have one of the best loyalty programs in the world, which makes passengers lose their minds when boarding… myself included.
These Delta screens should show over 1,000 flights for the day. Instead, they show 22 for the day. EMPTY.
Delta is also the reason I came out of blog retirement. My weekend in the airport was shocking. Delta employees over 80,000 people. Hartsfield-Jackson employees over 60,000 people. This doesn’t include the surrounding hotels, rental car companies, parking services, or neighboring restaurants. Will Delta survive? Will ATL survive? Will I be able to go to Peru? Or leave the country again? Or keep traveling for my job? Or have the opportunity to sleep on another airport floor?
This bozo sure hopes so, but only time will tell…