Tag: Covid-19

Covid Confessionals – Restaurants

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Saturday March 14, 2020.

Why is this date stuck in my head? Well, it is the last time I ate out in a restaurant. That was 40 days ago. Other than ordering a pizza when Passover ended, I have not had any restaurant food in almost six weeks. It sounds insane as I typed that since I love going to restaurants and having great food experiences around our city.

I worked that Saturday. It was a crazy day as Covid-19 was exploding in Europe and the world around us was closing up shop.

It was a day full of all hands on deck, damage control, protecting our clients. As I mentioned in my previous posts, our Asia team had been going through this for a couple of months and now it was all over Europe. First Italy and then each country closing its borders and cancelling all flights.

I had made dinner plans with my friends a few weeks before and thought about cancelling during that week since it the reports of social distancing were starting but really on the cusp. I had tried to make a reservation at the restaurant, but it only allowed me to go on a wait list.

We arrived at the restaurant just after 6pm on a Saturday. I gave my name and asked if the wait list cleared (the restaurant was half empty) she said it had, but they were only seating half the tables to allow space for the patrons to maintain distance. The three of us looked at each other (the buzz words social distancing was not yet a thing) and sat at a table upstairs and began our conversation and meal.

This restaurant is my beloved brisket haven – Stack. A local establishment mid-town on Yonge Street. I was told by a local resident of the area that between Yonge and Lawrence and Yonge and Yonge Blvd there are more than 30 restaurants.

As we start to look at this pandemic and the closure orders extending again into late May, I wonder how many of these restaurants will be open when the time comes to re-open. Goway staff are regulars at several of the establishments in the ‘hood, and when we all return to the office, what will that look like.

Not just restaurants, but stores, small shops, fruit markets and more. Like any neighbourhood, these are places where the locals shop and quite often will stop in while walking their dogs, picking up their kids at dance class, grabbing a coffee after yoga.

Gives me pause to think about what restaurants will look like when they start to open. How many tables will there be? Will the menus be the same or will they be smaller and focus on a few key items to conserve food wastage and ordering from suppliers? Will you look at the glassware, plates and cutlery differently, wondering…just wondering.

I watched last week as the beach opened up in Jacksonville of the people running towards the sand and water like they had never seen it before. I am thinking that it will be an awkward start to beginning again. Much like after a big snowfall when Facebook is flooded with posts about what are the roads like, I think there will be questions, have you been here yet, or there yet? How was the seating, how many tables?

Until then I will dream about brisket with Memphis sauce and Parmesan fries. I know you are going to tell me I can have it delivered, but I will tell you it will not be the same.

For the last four days I have been craving french fries and gravy from Golden Star. A friend that is out shopping right now is going to help me indulge my craving. My mouth is watering now.

We can’t dip our toes into the water just yet, but hopefully soon.

Until then, stay home and healthy,

Lisa

 

 

 

Covid Confessional Day 1 – My Cough

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Actual self isolation day 38

Anyone who has worked with me, part of my family or spent any time with me knows I have this crazy bronchial asthmatic cough. I have had it my whole life. I have made children in my life cry when I have had an attack. My mom tells stories about being looked at in the grocery store when I was a toddler that she was a horrible mother for bringing her child out with ‘that’ cough.

In my past lives in a call centre environment I was even asked to leave the office space. The cough is part of my asthma and once it starts it can take months to recover from. My reply to this person at work was simple, “are you going to pay my mortgage and bills while I stay home” (this was before working remote was an option.

I went to Paris in February 2006 and due to the dampness and the feather pillows in the hotel I was sick before the end of the trip and my cough was full swing. I should include this was just after SARS was finally under control. At the airport on the way home I was sitting in the “non smoking” section (if you have been to Paris you know that is an oxymoron) and every time I coughed I got the death stare. I can say that I almost thought I would not be allowed on the flight.

I was fortunate to attend my Hamilton performance on February 29th. This was the VERY early stages of Covid and I remember commenting that the theatre was full and there wasn’t a mask to be seen. However, I did cough right before the performance started and the woman in front me shuddered, move forward in her seat and turned around to shoot me a look of disdain. That was BC – BEFORE COVID.

I just finished watching a piece on the Today show about coughing. Let’s just say that there is a reason why the masks are important. Very important. Made me very anxious. Anxious of post-isolation life and how we will treat each other.

In the coming days and I weeks I am going to be sharing my ‘covid confessionals’. I feel like the conversations I have been having with my friends are very thought provoking and I am sure many are having conversations with your friend and family groups about the same concerns.

I would love to hear how you are feeling about this post and any other thoughts you may have. Continuing an open and honest conversation about current life and post isolation life and what it could look like.

Until then, please stay home when possible, and when you need to go out, stay safe.

and wash your hands,

Until next time,

Lisa

 

 

 

 

Rainbows after the storm

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized1 Comment

525,600 minutes – how to you measure a year in life?

In a year from now we will look back at 2020 and think to ourselves what the heck was that and how did we get through it. I know we are far from getting through 2020 but I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the last twelve months of my life.

Twelve months ago I was just moving through life. The year started off with making a difficult decision to leave the job at WE. I thought when I landed at WE I really thought it was going to be THE job. For a while it was. Heath passed away and that changed me. During those final months at WE I had a workplace situation with a staff person. It was harassment and I chose to remove myself from that situation.

I took a job that I haven’t really talked much about. Mainly because it didn’t last long enough to make a dent. That job was misrepresented to me in the interview and hiring process and from the first week I worked there I knew that this wasn’t the job they had told me it was going to be.

That would bring me to April 2019. The search for “what next” had begun. I knew one thing for sure, I didn’t want to get back to selling leisure travel again. I wanted leadership development, training and business development. Application after application, months and months. Some interviews and some more that looked really promising. Then crickets.

In June I had a new opportunity propose itself with Goway Travel. I had my eye on the company for several years and it appeared that something would actually happen. I waited until August and then it happened. “We would like to welcome you to are induction class starting September 3rd.”

So after almost five months I was to embark on a new adventure, a European Destination Specialist with Goway Travel. I arrived the building across the street from my old Sell Off Vacations office and met the new team of trainees. Took the empty seat in the front (yes, the front) and met a wonderful ‘newbie’ who would fast become a great friend.

We were a group of five in the office and a few that were online with us from out west. The five of us spent four weeks together. The training room is in the basement, so we were called the basement dwellers. Coming out for lunch breaks to walk or while the weather was nice sit up on the roof top patio which is a bonus I can say I am longing for now after the winter season.

We went up to the reservations floor in early October. We were each provided a coach to teach us the “Goway Ways”. Even after 30 years of being in the industry, this was such a new and exciting arm of the industry that I needed to learn.

I am grateful for my past experience and quick ability to learn and adjust to new processes. I was keen to jump in and start. Patience grasshopper, patience.

Goway is a family run business that is celebrating it 50th anniversary this year. I can tell you that 2020 was ramping up to be a very special time for the company. The company is divided by area of the world with experts who really have unique expertise. So many different cultures in one place. The owners are Australian so there are a lot of Aussies in the company, but really from everywhere in the world, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Ecuador, France and so many more. We are really a family from the United Nations.

Winter in the Europe department is the time for bookings. January was a blur. Work, home, sleep, repeat. Much like my past experiences but they were not for last minute vacations to the sun, they were for advance bookings to amazing European destinations, Italy being the top selling destination.

The company saw our Asia Expert family fall to victim to Covid 19 in December and when we were ramping up, they were faced with the full stop of travel to China. From the other side of the call centre we could feel pain, but we were too busy making bookings to full understand the enormity of the situation. We did take time out on Fridays at 4pm for wine time (on our first Friday we were on the floor we were told, grab a glass).

Until we started to hear that the small towns in Northern Italy were falling sick to the same virus. Then Milan closed and the flights started to stop flying to the north. We continue to book our European holidays because, who knew? People were starting to ask us about their summer travel, but this was February. We had no idea of what was to come.

From what we are all experiencing here in North America, the rapid chain of events cannot even be described. Every morning and every day at the office there were updates, and changes, and anxiety.

I feel that when someone says “I can only imagine what you are going through”, no you really can’t. That would apply to any industry. Just like I can’t even imagine what the front line medical workers are going through, you just can’t.

From a customer’s point of view, I had to cancel 50th birthday trips, 25th wedding anniversary trips and even my own bucket list trip to London. My training manager put it best the other night, it is okay to mourn the loss of all your months of hard work.

And of course, after watching every single part of the travel industry shut down from cruises, to airlines, to Disney, and everything in between come to a grinding halt full stop. This week was incredible rough for the local community. Many travel agencies have had to temporarily close their doors, suspend operations for the time being.

My Goway family joined that team this week. Many of my family members, including myself now find ourselves listening to the PM’s daily reports knowing it applies to us now.

I am sad. I am sad because after a very rough time the past 18 months I had a great family again. A place that I enjoyed going every day, with people I enjoyed spending time with. My fellow ‘basement dweller’ was part of the first round of family leaving. We ate lunch in the lunchroom together every day since September. I couldn’t even go to eat lunch down there after he left.

What will life look like when we emerge from this period of self isolation, no one knows. I hope that I will be able to return back to my Goway family and begin to create new European dream trips for those who had to put their dreams on hold for this virus.

I know that it will be hard to look for the rainbow because we are not through the storm yet.

Until then I will respect the distance, share my food photos and share my stories.

Stay safe and healthy, and please stay connecting but socially distanced.

Lisa