Covid-19, among other things, brought almost all international travel to a standstill, at least for several weeks and now it is followed by periodic lockdowns and closures of major international airports. For a person like me, who loves international travel and going to 2 or more foreign countries per year was almost routine, it has been hard staying home in Chicago for the past 15 months.
Finally, I went on my first international trip and started this blog from the SAS lounge in Copenhagen, Denmark. My destination – Stockholm, Sweden. Thanks to Covid-19, there are fewer flights and one of the first casualties was the less traveled direct flights between Chicago and Stockholm. Hence the stopover at Copenhagen.
Flying to foreign countries used to be simple. Most countries did not require visas or granted them on arrival to US citizens. We used to worry about Malaria, Yellow fever, and other diseases. Now people worry about who is carrying what kind of Covid-19 variant from another country. Before travel, it became a daily internet search to see the requirements for entry to our destination (in this case Denmark and Sweden) and the requirements for entry back into the United States.
Thanks to my work in healthcare settings, I was eligible and got vaccinated in December and January (two dosages of the Pfizer vaccine). Being vaccinated is not enough, most airlines and countries require specific covid tests (which minimally takes 4-6 hours for the labs to process) done within 24 hours of boarding and Sweden requires the test to be done within 48 hours of arrival. I arrived in 47 hours from the time of my test! You can understand why I was a little nervous. Also, just before I boarded my plane, CDC put Sweden in Level 4 red alert – translated – DO NOT TRAVEL BECAUSE OF COVID.
I had to plan my travel a bit more in detail. I scheduled my test in an acceptable location. I figured since Northwestern Hospital had recently done the first double lung transplant on a covid patient, it should be an acceptable place to have the test. The test was simple – blow your nose first, then a nurse put a long swab deep into my nose (extremely uncomfortable) and followed by me involuntarily sneezing several times. Results mercifully came out negative delivered to my email in about 10 hours.
The trip to the airport had to be a bit earlier (3 hours) and I was armed with a passport, ticket, original CDC vaccination card documenting my two dosages received, and a printed copy of the negative covid-19 test. The line at the airport was not that long. According to the agent, international travel was still lagging far behind domestic travel. He admiringly told me that Americans are being welcomed everywhere because of Biden’s huge success of the vaccination program. He, nevertheless, meticulously checked my vaccination card.
The flight was boringly normal except for everyone wearing masks, limited choice in food selection and movies, cleaner air (thanks to newly installed air purification and filtration system), and brief conversations. Arrival formalities including customs took minutes and before long I was among the Swedes who follow their own path – social distancing is the norm here and has managed Covid-19 without ever totally shutting down their economy. Most people follow government health directives which are usually advisory, not mandatory.
After almost a week in Stockholm, I headed back home. Again, I had to deal with the airline staff in Stockholm and then the connecting flight to Copenhagen. Just as all the passengers seemed to be happy at finally getting to enjoy the freedom of traveling and vacationing, the airline’s staff seemed to be equally unenthusiastic about their job and taking care of others. I guess living by themselves has taken away the DNA of pleasing others which airlines try so hard to inculcate among its staff. We received minimal service, limited menu, mandated mask orders for the long 9-hour transatlantic flight, and did not even know whether they were smiling or making faces behind their masks.
Much has been written Swedish model of fighting Covid-19 with advisory directives, not closing schools, and using a hybrid work model of limited office staff and people working from home. Now they are almost fully open, but most are away in the countryside for extended summer vacation. Most Swedish people get 6 weeks of paid vacation and use every one of those days enjoying themselves!
During my visit, I always meet a cross-section of people – academics, retired folks, and occasionally young people. One pleasant change from previous trips – we have again become one of the most admired countries in the world, principally because of the hugely successful mass vaccination program. Europeans also seemed happier with a more predictable US President in Biden and his reaffirmation of alliance with Europe.
Travelling, away from familiar surroundings, once again confirmed my long-held view that the problems and challenges in the world need to be addressed globally with appropriate accommodation for local needs. Environmentalists have always held that view and COVID-19 has proven that pandemics cannot be handled by any country by itself. Realistic policymakers also understand that it is almost impossible to develop a singular policy even for pandemics which can be applied and enforced in 200-+countries in the world. We may have to go through a series of intermediate stops and steps to reach the goal of uniform cooperation across the board for addressing issues of pandemics and the environment. Even greater cooperation will be needed to address the challenges of racism, discrimination, poverty, gender inequality, and access to healthcare and economic opportunities.