What is Air Travel really like at the moment?

It’s all rather surreal… The drive to Gatwick, on a dreary Tuesday morning at 4am, was as expected, extremely quiet – until we reached the M23 we didn’t see another car, and then it was only 1 or 2. Whilst this whole pandemic and the situation we are faced with is extremely devastating in so many ways, the fact that the roads are quieter is one big winner! On arrival at Gatwick, it was still dark outside, drizzling too, so not particularly welcoming, but last time here we were fighting for a space to pull up in the car to be dropped off – no such fun this time – there was about 4 cars, and no parking inspector in sight – a delight! Only the north terminal at Gatwick is currently open, and my flight was only the 2nd due out today, so the check-in hall was dead. A cleaner on his ride-on mower, a few security guards along with a handful of travelling individuals, all donning their face masks of course. With only hand luggage, and (don’t judge), my first digital flying experience – for the first time in my travelling career, I hadn’t printed off my boarding pass – all quite liberating! I passed through the security relatively quickly. The security seemed slightly higher, and weaving through the dreary Duty Free stands made me feel rather sad – I tried to smile at one of the staff members, but I don’t think she noticed this under my mask. The departures hall, apart from all of the shops closed, is pretty much the same. A few hand-sanitisers dotted around the place, and signs advising ‘maintain social distancing’ – like we could forget? A handful of shops were open – Boots, WHSmith, Dixons (!), but don’t expect any kinds of shopping experience – enjoy the relative peace and tranquillity of an airport…I’m sure it won’t last. It’ll soon become chaotic, frenetic and ultimately quite frustrating, So for now, I’m enjoying the quiet ride… Perhaps it’s because I’m travelling on my own, for the first time in ‘I can’t remember’ but I seem very calm, organised and in control – I might even reach the departure gate on time without rushing at the last minute