So i would like to share a condensed account of a recent trip i made through a major international airport without wearing a face mask.. Better than that i made it through the entire flight and out the other side without being stopped and asked/forced to put one on!
Preparing for the trip i did not want to fly and was originally looking to bus my way to my destination however i had an opportunity to travel with a friend and his daughter so we ended up booking flights.
Before arriving, i did read on some of the documentation that it as mandatory to wear a mask on the plane. So with that in mind and already comfortable expressing my right to not consent to having my breathing unnecessarily restricted, i boldly strode through the concourse of this busy international airport my face unassumingly revealed.
As it was, we needed to arrive some hours early so that my friend could buy a ticket after a mission trying to purchase the tickets the night before, online. So we arrived three hours early, giving ourselves enough time to by the tickets, pick up Tesla coils for other friend’s that were being delivered by Uber to the departure drop off, before we could check in.
We got the tickets no problem, we went to eat no problem, checked in, no problems, no questions nothing. Ok.
The next step, security. I had a snood in hand for the (inevitable)”Put your mask on please, sir.” As i walk past the woman checking the locator forms (another thing i did not want to do) without a word of objection, i felt i was invisible almost. Making it to the x-ray scanners with a sense of conviction at this point, they then ushered me into the human x-ray machine. i immediately expressed in Spanish that i do not comprehend the technology and that i do not consent to exposing myself to it. I told them i was happy to be searched but that i did not consent to use that machine. I then asked the woman customs officer whether she had any comprehension of the technology.. To which she confusingly shook her head and said no.
So without any objection, i was ushered back out of the machine and round to another x-ray line, taking my trays with me that had to get pulled back out of the previous inspection. One of the customs officers saw i was wearing my hoodie round my waist and asked me to put it through the scanner.. When i walked through however nobody seemed to want to search me, but they wanted to search my bag.. hmmmm So here i am, standing around without a face mask on, getting my bag searched, hoping i havn’t left any cannabis in there my accident (an experience any body has experienced who partakes in illegal medicines and substances.
Anyways, as it goes, no problems. So we walk to the gate and are called to board the plane. At this point im thinking ive probably used my luck up and actually put the snood around my neck.. waiting for the command from another robot following orders, doing their job – something i feel that is a major reason why we are globally in the position we are in.
As i passed over my boarding pass with my snood around my chin, expecting the words… which never came.
So here i am walking down to the plane, my friend and i looking at each other in shock that i had got that far. Of course at this pint i am ready to cover my mouth at least, at the first mention of it.. i walked past the steward welcoming us on the plane without a problem. Found the seats and got comfortable for the flight.
At no point, even with the stewardess next to me showing us the emergency procedures, did anyone question me or ask me to cover my face.
This was genuinely a surprise i was not expecting. I was ready to comply simply to make the journey as smooth as possible as there had been so many issues and blockages getting to that point, which i’ll save you all from, mostly relating to incompetency on the part of companies and people offering professional services we were paying for.
So the 1 hour 25 min flight came and went without a word…
Now to the destination border entry.. at this point i really didn’t care to be asked or not, id made it to my destination without harassment from ignorant people/workers who have no right to force these tactics which do not prove to have ANY effect on preventing a potential microbe of a virus from entering our bodies. I chose and choose not to live in fear. I choose to respect people´s right to wear a mask if they feel its needed but to respect anybody who is smart enough to know the health risks of restricting the breath and breathing in bacteria that forms in that environment.
Picking up the bags, we strode through the exit doors and out to my friend’s parked car. It was raining as we came out so i put on my hoodie… slipping my hand into my pocket my eyes lit up as i felt something remarkably similar to a spliff. I pulled my hand out to see a half smoked spliff of some very stinky cannabis!
OMG. Talk about protection.. i even insisted on being searched in security and i still got through without a problem!
Needles to say we smoked that spliff on the way.. and im here on the other side retelling this story.
If there is something to take away from this, id say its to approach these situations with an intention to not cause a scene, to respond maturely to the obvious engagement they are programmed to repeat, in the conviction you have a right to say no and not be prosecuted. Tread carefully. Maybe im one of the lucky ones, yet i encourage each and everyone of you to follow what you feel to be true and respect the other to you.
Theallthatis 