Elizabeth Gardner: Sudden coronavirus containment measures change family vacation

Last week, my family and I left for a vacation near Vancouver, Canada. At that point, it seemed we needed to be cautious, but the travel concerns were all directed at China, Iran and Italy. Over the course of the week we were gone,  our situation in the United States and Canada changed dramatically as you all know.

While we were there, the ski slopes closed, and within 48 hours so did most of the restaurants and stores. My family back here in Raleigh texted to let me know that the airports were jammed with people trying to return to the U.S.

What we found when we arrived at the Vancouver airport was this:

There were no lines at security for people with U.S. destinations. There was no line at customs either.

We arrived at the airport very early because we didn’t know what we would find. So we had some time to grab a bite to eat. The restaurants were empty.

This was the day that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced that all restaurants in the state would close, so we cherished this last meal out.

The few people in the concourse waiting for flights were doing a good job of distancing. The plane was about 2/3 full from Vancouver to Denver.

Once we got to Denver, the airport was a bit busier but certainly not crowded.

Some of the airport restaurants were closed. That made the line for the Chick-Fil-A even longer!

There were a good number of people waiting for the flight from Denver to RDU. That airplane was also about 2/3 full.

There were a lot of people on both flights with masks on and a few with gloves. The flight attendants were all wearing gloves.

With all the problems people had traveling last weekend we felt very fortunate to have a good experience coming home. We were glad to be back!