My first flight after the lockdown (with Lufthansa) – Recap 21

Last Updated on November 7, 2020 by George Pavlopoulos

After being stranded in Berlin for more than five months, it was time to return to Athens. I’ve been trying in vain to return to Greece, but the regulations were changing every day. Hence, when I finally decided to book a ticket for my first flight after the lockdown, it was already mid-May. I was both excited and skeptical, though. The prospect of air travel made me happy, but the conditions worried me a lot. I won’t lie: flying for the first time after the Coronavirus outbreak made me nervous.

First of all, I’d have to wear a mask for several hours. I know that we’ll have to cope for a long time with the face covers, but the idea was unpleasant. In Berlin, I avoided visiting interiors because of the mask. But when I had to, mainly for the supermarket, I’d wear my reusable mask. But the shorts visits to the supermarket never lasted more than fifteen minutes. Now, for a flight from Berlin to Athens via Frankfurt, I calculated that I’d have to wear a face cover for more than ten hours. Honestly, it sounded horrible.

I booked my flight rather late. After canceling everything at the beginning of March, my already booked tickets turned into vouchers. While it was okay for me to support the airlines by giving them a loan without an interest rate (because at the end of the day, that’s what a voucher really is), the truth is that I didn’t want to have more of them. The Corona-crisis hit my income hard, and the last thing I wanted to have was plane tickets that I’d never use. That said, I waited for the official schedule of an airline that would fly to Athens. If there were no official schedules, I wouldn’t buy a ticket. This meant, though, that I would probably have to spend a fortune on the ticket. But under such circumstances, I didn’t have that many options.

And that’s what happened. Around mid-May, Lufthansa announced flights between Athens and Frankfurt. Still, after a two months pause, there wasn’t a direct flight between Athens and Berlin. It was the same evening that I booked my ticket for late June. The ticket, of course, cost an arm and a leg. The flight was fully booked, and an economy ticket had the same price as a Business Class one. I didn’t think about it twice. In times of social distancing, a business class ticket also translated to an empty middle seat. Therefore, I booked a business class ticket with Lufthansa via Frankfurt.

I traveled business class with Lufthansa in the past (you can read my review here), but this time it was a different kind of experience.

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My first flight after the lockdown: the sadness at Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL)

One day before the flight, I decided that I will actually have to kill my budget. That said, I’d take for the first time a taxi from home to the airport -and I’d do the same from the Athens airport to my place. Although I always use public transport, this time everything felt odd. I remember that on the last afternoon in Berlin, I went out to buy a bunch of masks. I bought the plain ones -and I got eight. Experts advise you to change your mask every four hours because they get wet, but the days in Germany were hot, and I thought of wearing a new mask every two hours. Or even more often, if needed.

I wrote elsewhere in this blog about how much I love Tegel Airport. Unfortunately, it will soon close forever because Berlin decided that it needs a bigger, more monstrous airport. I left home wearing the first mask in the taxi. The driver was in the mood for talking, so we chatted all the way to Tegel. Without an air-conditioner in the taxi (Berliners avoid it), my mask was almost wet when I reached the airport 40 minutes later. But this wasn’t the worse thing.

The worse thing was the sadness of the airport. I knew that my first flight after the lockdown wouldn’t be a wonderful one, but seeing an airport like it’s a warzone made me depressive. Chairs behind red tape, closed shops, people social distancing, marks on the floor, and, of course, people wearing masks. Right now, even with a business class seat, you can only have one piece of hand luggage. Therefore, I had to check in my carry-on. After doing that, I exited Terminal C (the A wasn’t in use), and I thought of having one last cigarette in Berlin. Insecurity stroke me: when could I possibly return to Berlin? When will I see Barbara again? No clue.

It was reverse insecurity: for several months, I had no idea when I could see my family and friends in Athens. Now, it was all about returning to Berlin. Spending your life in two places, I thought, makes you a divided person. You are not fully anywhere. And with such beautiful thoughts, I changed the mask, and I entered the airport again. Flying for the first time after the coronavirus lockdown was closer than ever.

My first flight after the lockdown: From Berlin to Frankfurt

I found an empty seat close to my gate, and I waited there with my mask. One or two people didn’t wear a face cover, but they tried to keep a distance from the others. While it’s obligatory to wear a mask, people with respiratory problems can skip wearing one. It’s so easy these days to stigmatize people or whole areas; therefore, I decided not to pay more attention to the fact.

I waited for an hour, and it was the first time in an airport that I could hear my breath. Looking at all these people around me didn’t make me nervous at all. On the contrary, it relaxed me. We are all in this together. Everybody was calm, even though I knew that behind their masks, everybody worried. The airport was empty, and you could only see people in front of the departure gates. When the lady at the desk announced that the flight was boarding, no one really queued. She said that we’d have to board in groups, and she explained the process. First, the business class passengers, then the people with a window seat, then the ones with a middle seat, and finally the ones sitting on the aisle.

I was among the first to board, and I received (like everybody else on the flight) sanitized wipes. The crew advised us to clean the surfaces of our seats and the areas around them. They said they already disinfected the airplane, so this, I guess, was for our peace of mind. I did clean the areas, and then I fastened my seat belt. Boarding didn’t take that long to complete, and soon the plane started taxing.

And then we were up in the air. There were no magazines onboard, but I pre-downloaded a newspaper from the Lufthansa app (Die Zeit) and an issue of Der Spiegel. The flight from Berlin to Frankfurt was a short one. It took only fifty minutes, and the crew informed the economy class passengers that there would be no food service. They said that they would only give each passenger a bottle of water…On the other hand, the business class had proper service even on such a short flight.

I ate quickly and soon after finishing I wore my mask again, and I saw Frankfurt from the window. Frankfurt was cloudy that day. I thought, of course, of the last time I was in Frankfurt. It’s not that long ago, and yet, after this horrible corona-thing, it seems like a century ago. The plane landed smoothly, and I expected to see a much fuller airport.

At Frankfurt Airport: The first layover after the Coronavirus outbreak

If the Tegel Airport made me sad, the Frankfurt Airport shocked me. I always remember the airport full of people, but this time it was empty. The gate for my flight to Athens was more than fifteen minutes away. That said, I probably crossed sixty or even seventy gates without seeing anyone. Half of the seats had a green tape with a remark that you can’t use this seat, and there were no planes. I won’t lie: my first thought was that this is the wrong airport. Or that there was a war out there and I didn’t hear the news yet.

I kept walking to my gate without willing to spend the waiting time there. I wanted to know where it is because the Frankfurt Airport is enormous, and it would be useful to calculate how much time I needed to reach it. After finding it (and seeing a few people there), I decided to return to the emptier side. I found a closed cafe, I took a chair and observed the dystopia. I also thought what a nice time I had in Frankfurt the last time I was here.

Once again, I changed my mask -and I would change it again after boarding. It seemed a good idea to have one mask for each interior: one for the taxi, one for Tegel, one for the first flight, one for Frankfurt, one for the second flight, and one for the taxi in Athens. I know it’s not very sustainable, but unfortunately, I had to do it. I had spare bags with me, and every time I changed the mask, I threw the old one away. If you ask me, this could turn quickly into a neurosis.

After returning to the empty side of the airport, I saw a smoking room. I didn’t know if it was a good idea to enter it, but since there was only a man inside, I thought of having a cigarette. I wasn’t nervous anymore, but I had more than two hours to kill in a ghost airport. And so I entered and smoked.

Then, I returned to the closed cafe, sat on a comfortable chair, and observed the broken world outside the windows. I thought that I’d remember forever what I was thinking. It was my first flight after the lockdown, after all. But ask me today, and I can’t recall anything. Blank. It’s as if I never traveled that day, and these shocking images are a bad dream. All I know is that I sat there, I tried not to pay any attention to the news about the COVID-19, and I just waited for the time to pass. Fifteen minutes before the estimated boarding time, I started walking towards my gate.

When I reached the gate, a man on the desk announced that boarding was about to start. I changed my mask, I wore a new one, and I used the mobile ticket to board.

Towards Greece: From Frankfurt to Athens

Once again, the Lufthansa crew gave to each one of us sanitized wipes. And, once again, I cleaned the surfaces around my seat -and that’s what everybody did. Departure time was 21:15, and we should reach Athens at 1 am. I was on a plane to Greece, and yet I couldn’t believe that I was heading back to Athens after more than five months. I was excited and emotional.

Once again, there was proper food service for the business class passengers. Even though this was a two-hours and forty minutes flight, the food service for the economy class was poor. Lufthansa offered just a vegetarian sandwich and something to drink. Hopefully, when this thing is over, the service will get better, although I have serious doubts about it. I believe that a lot of these regulations are here to stay. On the other hand, the food in the business class was tasty. I also had two glasses of red wine.

After the dinner, the Lufthansa crew gave to each one of us a piece of paper from the Greek government. We had to fill in our contact details, and we had to accept that we can be subjects to random testing at the airport. I filled in my name and contact details, and shortly before landing, the crew collected the sheets.

One of the things that I like the most is seeing Greece from above. The endless sea and the (usually) clear sky are such welcoming images. Unfortunately, this was not possible this time. The plane arrived at 1 am in Greece, and everything was pitch black outside the window. No view of the Aegean Sea this time. The flight was pleasant, though, and the pilot wished us a pleasant stay, “even under these odd circumstances.”

I exited the plane I stepped outside. It was not a giant leap for mankind or something, but you can probably understand how it felt.

At Athens Airport and on the way home

I wasn’t tested for Coronavirus at the International Airport of Athens. Since I was the first to leave the plane, I can’t tell you if any of the other passengers got tested. However, while waiting for my carry-on, I saw a normal flow of people walking. The Lufthansa flight was actually the last flight of the day, and Germany is among the “safe” countries (read here what’s currently the situation in Greece and how to visit it). That said, while random Covid testing is possible, it might not be assumed as a must by the Greek government for flights coming from Germany.

While waiting for my small suitcase, I started thinking about how I felt for my first flight after the lockdown. And I have to be honest with myself and with you. It wasn’t that bad. Yeap, that’s exactly how I can describe it. The idea of wearing a mask for ten hours terrified me at first, but I managed to stand it. In fact (and it might sound sad), I got quickly used to it. Sure, the moments I removed it for eating or for changing it, I could understand what I was missing. But soon after wearing it again, it didn’t take me that much to adapt.

Other than that, if one can isolate the corona-horror, it was a flight like the ones in the past. Sure, you have to social distance, you have to follow some rules, and you have to disinfect your hands often. But I want to be honest: if it weren’t for the masks, I wouldn’t even feel nervous about the journey.

After getting my carry-on, I walked outside. It was a warm Athenian night, like the ones we have in June. I know it doesn’t sound that pleasant to a lot of people, but I had my Iqos in hand, and I smoked after removing the mask. It felt so good to be in Athens, but I was already missing Berlin. I looked at the empty airport, and I kept thinking what a bizarre situation that is. Then, I walked towards the taxis. The taxi drivers were chatting outside of their cars, and there was almost no traffic at all. “Welcome,” said one of them and nodded to follow him to his car.

I wore one last new mask, and I entered the cab. The man kept talking and talking. I was, after all, in Athens.

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What’s new on the blog – Recap 21

I didn’t want to let the prospect of my first flight after the lockdown to paralyze me. Therefore, I kept working on the blog almost every day. As it’s always the case, the first post of the month was last month’s recap. I wrote a quite different recap from this one: it was a short story about my broken washing machine. You can read it here.

After that, I uploaded three more posts. The first one was actually a post that will be valuable all summer long. After following the news for months in order to finally decide when it’s the best time to take my first flight after the lockdown, I wrote an extensive post on how to visit Greece this summer. I know that for a lot of people vacation abroad is a no-go in the summer of 2020, but for the more courageous ones, this guide will explain how to do it properly. As I mention in the post itself, I will update the article often, so make sure to check it if you want to visit Greece. You can read it here.

I also posted a travelogue this month. It’s about Bologna and the journey I took last year with my parents. Bologna is a stunning city, but for me, this was also a very sentimental journey. The photo that you see above is from the Statue of Neptune at Piazza Maggiore, the most celebrated square of the city. You can read my travelogue here.

Last but not least, I posted one more Polaroid Diary. I didn’t shoot any polaroids for months, but this changed in the last weeks of the lockdown. While one would expect photos from Berlin, I focused on still life. You can find out why in the post -and you can, of course, see several polaroids.

So, that’s it with the experience of my first flight after the lockdown and this month’s recap. If you took a flight after the lockdown, please let me know how you felt in the comments below. Or, if you have stress for an upcoming flight and you need some encouragement or tips, feel free to comment as well. I’d love to offer you some comfort, and I truly hope that air travel will resume, and we will be on the road again.

You can access my previous recaps by clicking here.

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