Two weeks ago I returned to the Gainesville Airport to travel for Thanksgiving. It was my first flight since August, which for the old pre-pandemic me was really unusual. Sometimes in a fall semester I would have been at the airport multiple times a week traveling to this conference or this meeting. I approached the terminal entrance grinning as I was back in familiar territory. My check-in agent greeted me like a long lost friend and asked “where had I been?” All was well on a beautifully sunny flying day! Then came the news that a new variant had been detected and over the next few days we saw countries that had recently just opened their borders to international travelers reinstitute travel bans, quarantines, and testing protocols. It felt as though we had just had a taste of our former traveling selves only to find that the playing field had changed once again. Read More