Breathing easy & having fun in sun
It felt like being on cloud nine when I wrote this column on the flight home from a heavenly weeklong trip to Lanzarote.
A dear friend had given me, on the house, the keys to their villa with a swimming pool on the picturesque island.
I’d also spent a few days in Alicante, Spain, before hopping on a cheap flight to the Canaries.
It is hard to believe the trip was my first time on a plane in three years.
I’m a nervous flier at the best of times, but absence really makes the heart grow, if not fonder, at least less twitchy.
It was all smooth sailing at the Spanish airports too, which had me scratching my head about the recent fiasco at Dublin Airport.
Readers planning their first trip since the world went into a terrifying tailspin in 2020 will be relieved to hear I’m home four days and am still Covid-free, touch wood.
I may look like I dozed off in a tanning bed, seeing as I foolishly did not apply sun cream.
And my right knee is clicking like crazy after I dashed for a train.
But the most important thing is, I’ve no snuffles nor a perturbing cough.
Now, I’m by no means a hypochondriac like Woody Allen in his movies.
Yet, I’ve never been comfortable without wearing a mask indoors, despite being tripled jabbed.
On this trip, however, you could say I jumped in at the deep end, in more ways than one.
I mingled with others outside of my bubble and even felt comfortable without a mask in indoor settings.
We went to restaurants and visited several friends’ homes. I
I wrote this column on the flight home from... Lanzarote
On this trip... I jumped in at the deep end in more ways than one
have lost count of the number of hands shook and cheeks kissed on this joyous trip.
One lifelong pal, who has to be ultra cautious as he’s undergoing regular bouts of chemo for an incurable cancer, flew over to Spain last week and he too felt “as safe as houses”.
Sure, someone living under a rock during the pandemic may not have noticed anything out of the ordinary if they now painted the town red in Lanzarote.
I cannot recall spotting one single mask on any waiter or salespersons in the endless row of tourist shops along the long beachfront strip beside Playa Blanca’s port.
Saying that, I would still urge readers not to throw all caution to the wind.
At the very least keep a gel sanitiser at hand on your holliers, because the infection rates are still far from being a drop in the ocean.
Remember, it’s still compulsory to wear a mask at pharmacies/ hospitals and on all public transport over there – be it planes, trains or automobiles.
Even though the EU authorities’ recommended that face masks are no longer required on planes from tomorrow, they will be still mandatory on all flights in and out of Spain and several other European countries for the time being.
Relax, because you can still breathe easy at the actual airports themselves, as masks are only required when you board your flight.
All in all, it’s a very positive sign that the EU finally feels it’s safe enough to do away with mandatory masks for air travel.
I’m all for personal choice, but don’t be surprised to see me wearing one the next time I’m up in the air.
But thank goodness we’re finally at a stage where we seem able to live with Covid-19.
The tide has turned enough for us all to have a whale of a time this summer.