Tag: Italy

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,

 

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

Tales from the front line – crisis management

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized1 Comment

As I mentioned in my post a few days ago, I have been battling a lot of anxiety. I want to be open and honest about it, as I am heading to the office today for, if all things go well, the last time for a while. It is 100% the right thing to be doing and I said to friends on Sunday, that by Wednesday I knew it would be the time.

While I know we, in the travel industry are not ‘front line’ essential workers but the societal definition, if you ask anyone in the travel industry, WE have been on the front line for a long time now in this global event called Corona-virus or Covid-19.

Our Asia division has been working through this for a few months now. In January as my Europe team was in FULL on booking and planning mode with our clients, planning honeymoons, anniversary trips, birthday celebrations to Europe our team across the floor was being crushed. All flights to Asia stopped, countries in lock down, cancellation after cancellation. We listened as co-workers, hugging and lending a compassionate ear. All the while, we were in our glory, bookings and quotes and requests for glorious holidays to Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and beyond.

A few short weeks ago, we started to get information that a hot zone arrived in small towns outside Milan, Italy. Concern started to grow as those areas self isolated. Then a week or so later, it was out of control.

For those who may not know, Italy is one of our top selling countries in Europe. If you have been, I do not need to explain. The phone calls started, and at first, it was not a panic. Our ‘travel season’ really starts in the spring, so April travel mostly is where it begins. This is February…lots of time, we should be okay, right?

Think again. We are now, as we all know in a global pandemic. Italy is closed. Now country by country the world is shutting down. If you haven’t been listening, it is the only way to ‘flatten the curve’.

The calls for travel requests have stopped. Now the calls are for cancellations, and changes and helping people work through their own panic and fear, as I said the other day, balancing and working through our own fears.

We are here, still working, helping clients who are STILL, I mean still not back in Canada as of yet. Yesterday one of my team mates was jumping back and forth between two computers trying desperately to get her clients out of Malaga back to North America. It is becoming harder and harder and after this weekend, if you are not home in North America, it will be too late. Wherever you are, you will need to stay for a while.

People still want to travel, but they don’t know when it will be okay to do so. I know that my trip in May to London and Dublin is rapidly falling away. I am too busy helping other people work out their plans to think about my own, but I know that in the coming weeks I will need to make my decision to cancel my ticket and put my trip on hold.

Travel is not just something I “do” for work. I have been doing it for thirty years. It is a part of who I am. Just ask some of the people I have been messaging the past week or so. A friend of my parents who spends the winter in Mexico, she is thankfully back on Canadian soil now, but had her trip scheduled to return at the end of the month. A friend who works for one of our airlines, engaged me for some personal assistance with her parents trip yesterday. I was concerned about the amazing lady I met last summer who is recovering from Cancer and was on a family holiday trip to Hawaii and followed her journey and all the comments of people advising her to come home.

The tourism industry is being beaten up in a way that has never been seen before. When the battle is over and the dust clears it is clear that not all will be left standing. It is too soon to say what cruise line, what hotels, what airlines will look like in a couple of months. But one thing is FOR SURE, the industry has proven time and time again that like the Phoenix, we will rise again. People are already asking about changing their trips for the fall, and I feel that we will be able to look ahead and I would put money on the fact that 2021 will be a rocking year as all of world will be looking for tourism to come back.

I will go to the office today and continue to help people from there until I can work from home. Once I am home, I will need time to rest. While I will still be working, it will be time to slow down, self isolate and self care.

We all need some self care right now. I used the word madness in a status update on Facebook last week and it is. We all need to take a pause.

I am going to keep writing as I work through this. There are so many stories I want to share with you all. I really appreciate you as come along with my on my journey.

Stay inside, wash your hands and make sure you reach out to someone today, they need it, more than you know.

Lisa