You (Almost) Just Lost One: Thanks COVID!

Hey everyone!

I find it incredible that it’s been two years since my last post. But at the same time, not really. If you were present on earth from March 2020 through today, you can speak to what we’ve been through. Although the pandemic isn’t technically over, I am hopeful that we are on the other side of it. Just this week, the federal mask mandate on public transportation (including airplanes) was ended. Regardless of where you land on the issue, it’s change. (Let’s just see what happens, amirite?)

Personally speaking, 2020 knocked the wind out of me and my business. I often call 2020 “the year of the cancellation”, “the bad place”, or “the dark side of hell”. Once the pandemic was declared, my entire year was spent cancelling, rebooking, and request refunds for disappointed travelers who had big plans for the year. Birthday trips, weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries….all cancelled. The refunds were taking FOR-EV-ER to get processed as the airlines, tour operators and resorts tried to cope with their lost revenue. It was a whole nightmare, y’all.

Travel’s bounce back has been interesting, to say the least. Destinations had fluctuating entry requirements, resort and airfare began to surge as the demand for “revenge travel” increased, but some people remained very skittish due to the potential of being quarantined in their destination. I traveled a few times between 2020-2021, mostly domestically, but did also visit Punta Cana and St Lucia during that time.

I was nervous about booking travel for others, to be honest, due to the uncertainty around pandemic travel. It’s one thing to get yourself situated, but to take care of others in my advisory capacity? I was nervous. I tried to be extra meticulous about understanding each country’s entry and exit requirements, and what helped me was to scale back to my primary specialties: Caribbean and Mexico destinations. It’s my comfort zone :).

I’m happy to report that I’m getting back to pre-pandemic form. COVID tried to really make me quit, but it didn’t work. I’m out here and fighting through it!