travel

This past weekend was my first time on an airplane and at a convention in two years — and it went fine! I had a lot of anxiety the day before — did I even remember how to travel? Did you know you can check in for flights online?! But the flights all went smoothly, and I even managed plane changes in the Atlanta airport with less than an hour for layovers each time. Absolutely the smoothest layovers I’ve ever had at that freaking airport. Car park and pickup also went fine. Managed regular meals. So yeah, I guess I still got it.

There’s a strangeness to all of this — yes, everybody wear masks and keep your distance, and now we’re going to pack you in shoulder-to-shoulder on the plane, and here’s beverage service and everyone will now remove their masks to drink! I keep telling myself it’s a numbers game — reducing risk, reducing odds. Out in public, we’re never going to be 100% safe. So if we want to do this out in public thing, we have to mitigate to some degree. But it’s not perfect. Vaccines increase the odds in our favor.

Of course it would help if our vaccination numbers were higher. I’m isolating at home for a bit to make sure I didn’t bring anything back with me.

Marcon in Ohio was a good convention to come back to. Masks required, everyone was friendly and helpful. Small and cozy, no crowds or lines. I got a chance to chat with folks and also hang out with Tobias Buckell, a writer friend of mine from way back, and meet artist Sara Felix. Signed a lot of books and bookplates.

I admit, I felt a bit ambivalent about the whole thing. Traveling still feels risky. But then I’ve been seeing pictures on social media of people going to packed stadiums and concerts where no one’s wearing masks and I suddenly feel a lot better about the risks I took. I’m not ready for big crowds yet, I don’t think.