Travelling in the Time of Covid - Part I

 I am sorry that I have not gotten back to finishing my Universal report, but I just returned from the Dominican Republic. I was there from 3 - 10 October, and I thought it would be more useful for my readers to have this information first.

I figured today I would talk about my airport experience at Pearson, only people flying that day (and employees) are allowed in the building. There's contactless kiosks to print your luggage tags by scanning your passport and boarding pass. After that, you head towards security. There is a place where it looks like you are going to get a mugshot taken, and that is where they take your temperature from a distance. 

You are allowed to bring a 12 oz hand sanitiser through, in addition to the normal liquids bag. If you set off the metal detector, they wand you, but no pat down. There was no line when I was there.

Only the Maple Leaf lounges are open, and there are limited other options for food and drink while you wait. Duty Free is open, though.

Boarding is extended. There were 8 boarding zones on the Dreamliner, to facilitate social distancing. It is useful to have a wheeled carry on to keep people from trying to bunch up behind you.


On board, you are given a kit which includes a mask (you already must be wearing one, so I am not sure of its purpose), a small thing of hand sanitiser, pretzels, a bottle of water, and a code to sign up for post-trip testing.
We had one service of non-alcoholic beverages only. The selection was very limited.


On the bright side, I finally got to try the 787 -- the Dreamliner. It is very nice, and I wasn't too cramped even in economy!