Tag: Covid-19

Pressing Pause

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Think back to March 2020. If you have children, you have just been told that there will be an extra two weeks of March break just to ensure that there is enough time to be safe if anyone has travelled outside of the country for the break.

For those of us in the tourism industry we were already knee deep in the s**t that, at the time didn’t have the name covid-19.  Then came March 26th, when I was laid off, for the first time.

It was a brutal blow to me. I was having a great time being a travel artist. Each trip at Goway is a customized experience based on the clients requests and desires. Each inquiry a blank canvas to create the piece of art that would become their experience. I proved to myself once again that there is a reason why I survived thirty years in this industry. I may not have always liked what I have done, but I have always been in love with travel.

At the time of the initial lay off, everyone was deep undercover, in isolation, in their homes. Most people were not going anywhere, for any reason. It was the first time that the borders of every country were closed.

I found myself tuning in at 11am each day to listen to the Prime Minister speak to the country and try to provide updates on what the government was doing for its citizens. This is not a political post so I will end this with the thought that my Prime Minister was doing the best he could at the time with the information.

A few weeks later the PM announced the CEWS (Canada Employee Wage Subsidy) a benefit for employers to hire their staff back at 75% pay from the government. I got a call, telling me about this opportunity. I would be working on behind the scene projects helping benefit the company for when travel would open up again. The option was to stay laid off, or work from home on projects. I was home anyways, so why not?

I had put my work computer off to the side of my desk when I was laid off, so I moved the desk around and started to work on the project the following week. The project was to build an internal training manual that would be used for new staff and existing staff to have everything they would need/want to know about all the countries we sell to. I was very happy to be given the country of Italy. If it wasn’t already my passion country, it is now.

Week by week, region by region, city by city, I built training manuals for every major city in the country from Milan and the lakes in the north, to the stunning island of Sicily in the south, to the Apulia region in the East. Every time I finished a region I was left with the desire to travel there.

This project was supposed to take us to when the government money would end. It was extended until August 31st. We were given our second project. This was external, content writing destination guides that will live on the Goway.com website. I was very excited to write content that, when the world will be ready to travel again, people would read. I was tasked through July and August to learn, educate myself on Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Hungary.

The destination guides of these countries were very interesting to me. To learn about the Baltic States, their history and their connections to each other. Of course, having a Polish grandfather, and being Jewish I thought I knew a lot about Poland, but now I have a greater understanding of the country, the people and the history from where I came from.

There is a section in the destination guides with essential foods to try in the country. Again, as a child of Ashkenazi heritage, so many of the foods in the Baltic States are similar to those in our history. Different names, slight variations, cousins part of the large Eastern European family.

As each week moved on and the August 31st deadline neared, I felt that the end was coming. Again the CEWS program was extended, but with stricter restrictions making it harder for employers, especially those in tourism, to continue to pay their staff.

Last week, my education came to a close. I was laid off for the second time during the pandemic. This time, it is different. I don’t see a return to the career I have had for thirty years coming back for a very long time.

I have been asked so many times over the last ten years or more, what would you do if not travel? That has always been the impossible question. Travel Lisa and Lisa Lisa are conjoined twins. We are connected at the heart, by the love and passion for the world. What will one do without the other? I don’t have the answer for that, yet.

With this I am going to press pause for a few weeks. Pause on what’s next. I think I had been blocking out the thought of trying to find not just a new job, but a new career during a pandemic.

For the members of my Goway team that find themselves taking their own pause, you are not alone. Reach out, let’s have a coffee, or ice cream, or a double Caesar, extra spicy.  We need to lean on each other and rise each other up. I hope I can do that for any of you. I am only a call or message away.

But for now, I am pressing pause.

Stay safe everyone,

 

I’ll meet you at the buffet

On By thestampsinmypassportIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

food1It is fair to say that we have all had more than enough of being self isolated. Not able to eat in our favourite restaurants, sporting events, even having a meal with family and friends. For many, Covid stopped all travel plans in their tracks. March break travel was about to happen, and some people did travel, but many did not. It was just after the break that everything really did come to a full stop.

Here at home, we are working on a very slow graduated approach to getting back to living. The conversations I have been having with friends have changed the past few weeks from isolation to how to we re-enter back to our lives. I guess the main question is, what does ‘our lives’ actually look like.

I can tell you that after being home in my condo for almost three months I really want to go on vacation. I am dreaming about a beautiful breakfast buffet, with fresh fruit, breads, cheeses and pastries. Wait, what….oh right….due to Covid, the buffets are gone.

After a great morning in the sun, it is time for lunch. Awesome, the food at the beach bar is always great. Hamburger or steak on a bun, loads of salsa, chips, awesome guacamole. Oh, wait, right….Covid, how do we eat lunch.

Okay, so breakfast and lunch were buffet, but thankfully dinner is a la carte, but we have to wait, so do we just want to go to the buffet? Wait, right….Covid. Well, can’t we just have dessert?

I know that hotels have been working around the clock since they closed their doors on how to make the all inclusive concept work again once they open their doors. Some hotels and destinations are ambitious and getting ready in the next couple of weeks to open to travellers. I know that Jamaica will be open for travellers to arrive in a couple of weeks.

The next month will be an interesting time here at home and as slowly the world comes out of isolation. I think everyone is peaking their heads out the window to see if their next door neighbour has stepped out to invite them over for a drink on the patio. Oh wait, our neighbours can’t come over.

Patience grasshopper.

Thankfully I have great photos of fantastic all inclusive buffet experiences of the past couple of years.

food3

Covid Confessionals – Isolation

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Mother’s day – May 10, 2020

I just came home from a driveway visit at my brother’s house with the family to have a gathering for mother’s day. My mom asked me last week if would could have a bbq and eat in my brother’s garage. No, we are not there yet. I think whether you are in 70’s, 40’s or youth or young person, we are all feeling the impact of isolation. 

If you are an introvert, there are many aspects of isolation you may be perfectly okay with and even when life opens up to the new normal, you may be content to let everyone else go out for a while before you join in on the new way of living in this Covid-19 world we are now in.

I am the president of my condo board. We used to have monthly meetings and with our shared board, quarterly meetings in our party room. Last week we had our first zoom meeting as a group. Moving forward we are going to have meetings this way. The condominium associate of Ontario is also moving towards virtual Annual General Meetings.

When I worked in the office, we had weekly team meetings. Those of us in the office would head down to the basement to one of our training rooms while those on the west coast or working from home would call into the meeting. Now we are all remote so we are all calling into our zoom meeting weekly. (post to follow regarding office work).

I made two stop today en route to my brother’s house. First stop was the What a Bagel near my condo. A very small take out area to begin with, and even with mindfulness of space, I feel it was hard to maintain a 2 metre distance between patrons. The staff have really adapted to the new way of ordering, which is involves them to take the bakery orders verbally and bag the bagels or any other bakery item you would like. Waiting in the small area of the store for folks to put lox or tuna on their bagels and then waiting to pay that was a little too close and not quite 2 metres. When I left, the line was out the door and down the sidewalk. Good timing.

Second stop was Centre Street Deli. I was placing orders for three houses. There were two lines, those for pick up (already ordered) and those like me for walk in ordering. It was very civilized but you can tell that they were very busy. Again, it was hard to find a place that was 2 metres apart from the next person. I am finding in stores that have it clearly marked people obey, where it is not clearly marked, people seem to make their own 2 metre calculations.

After a couple of phone calls to try to make a few in person socially distant visits (not successful) I am back at home and tucked in for the night. I have been thinking about all the lessons we are learning and have yet to learn about this time on our lives.

I just looked up synonyms for Isolation in Merriam Webster – Aloneness, insulation, privacy, secludeness, solitariness, solitude, seclusion. I think all of them are true.If you in a home with a family you may not find this time a period of solitude. If you are alone during this time, you may find this time full of seclusion.

Wherever you are on this journey, we are all in this together. We are still very much in it, no matter when the government tells us it is “okay” to dip our toes in the water. If you are not ready, don’t. We need to stay on guard for our personal safety and the safety of the ones we love.

Until next time,