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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMy God, I had goose bumps when I entered the Departures\narea. I have never seen the place so empty. “Just like after the war”\ncomes to my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You get the feeling that you are in a different world, this\nis a quarantine area just because we, the travelers, are not there… It is an\nabandoned, a deserted building where you can almost hear the wind blowing in\nthe windows…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Ladies and gentlemen, for your safety, don’t leave\nyour luggage unattended!” \u2013 I can hear a nice voice in the speakers. I smile sadly. What “ladies\nand gentlemen”?!? Maybe “lady and the other lady” \u2013 myself\nand the cleaning lady \u2013 but none of us had luggage\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I look at the area where they pack the suitcases. A young\nman sits there, being saved from boredom by the phone. It is the same in all\nthe other similar areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I ask him if he has clients. He smiles sadly. So, no…\n“I think they are going to stop all flights starting on Saturday”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a lot of flights, having in view the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I look at the destinations and what companies still fly. If\nyou didn’t look around, but just at these three panels, you’d think this is a\nnormal day on the airport. Only the passengers are\u2026 invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new terminal is stripped of any image of holidays noise, in a way none of us, the people who travel, have ever seen it!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big banners hanging from the ceiling announce a summer full\nof energy and life at Untold and Neversea Festivals. You never know…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I go to ticketing to solve my problem… The man there\nspeaks on the phone continuously and he makes a sign that I should stay around.\nThen, in between two calls, he quickly tells me: “If we don’t speak now,\nwe will never get to do it, judging by the way the phone rings”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I tell him my problem and he tells me to wait calmly, as\nthere are thousands of request pending and, probably, mine will be addressed\ntoo…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I thank him and I ask if there are still people traveling.\n“They will probably stop all flights on Monday”, he tells me, a sign\nthat the planes take off almost empty towards those destinations they can still\ngo to\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n As far as I can see, there are no more than two check-ins\nopened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the empty airport, from one side to another,\nemployees and customs people wearing gloves and masks walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the food stand, they have some water bottles, some juices\nand few things to eat. I ask the salesgirl\nif she sold anything. She shrugs. Then she tells me: “I stay here just in\ncase…” and then she goes back to her phone conversation that I\ninterrupted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s a man lost in all this emptiness, carrying a large\nsuitcase. I am curious where he goes, but I am afraid to ask, maybe he will\nthink I am from the security…<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Information desk is open. The lady behind the glass\ntells some women that it is cheaper to buy an online ticket than to buy one in\nthe airport. This is quite a concern during the Corona virus outbreak J)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lady goes through the airport from one end to the other.\nShe is some kind of guide or\u2026 community policewoman. She tells me that there\nare people who come and then leave, as the flights are cancelled. This might be\nthe case of the people in the parking lot, that I passed by. A group of disappointed\npeople with suitcases, waiting for something. They seem to be people who want\nto work abroad now\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the large panel in the center I see a destination:\nAlghero. What??? Wasn’t Italy closed?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I look at the destinations for the next flights: Timisoara,\nCairo, Amman, Moscow, Istanbul, Beirut, Cluj, Athens, Tel Aviv, but also Paris,\nAmsterdam, Vienna, London, Bruxelles, Frankfurt…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wizz, Tarom, Ryan, Austrian, Lufthansa and the list can go\non…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I see that Timisoara is boarding now. How many people can\nthere be. It is 9.15 pm and the flight takes off in 10 minutes. The rest, God\nknows…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think this is what they told passengers 2 and 3 on the\nOtopeni Airport tonight, who I see are a bit upset, walking nervously on the\ncleanest floor I have ever seen in the airport…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is this an image of World War 3? The entire planet fighting\nthe Virus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n