Let’s face it, the last 3 years the pandemic has taken the travel industry on a world wind. It started with a complete shutdown in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, something none of us had ever witnessed in our lifetime.
Then what happened next was a cumulative barrage of incidents that have lead to a downward spiral. From rising flight and hotel prices, alarming rate of unruly passengers, last minute Covid protocol changes, overworked and underpaid airline employees, not to mention those who carried the load while fellow employees were out sick from COVID and other work related stress. These things are a recipe for travel anxiety, even in people who don’t normally have anxiety. Rental cars have taken on unnecessary increases in pricing that’s equal to that of what it costs to feed a small country just to drive for one week… some even charging $2,500-$4,500 just for one week.
Then it’s the 3+ years, never ending saga of incompetent people who don’t follow the rules of the FAA that simply asked that they wear a mask. I’ve seen the pilot even turn the entire plane around halfway to Europe, over the Atlantic Ocean all because one imbecile wouldn’t follow the mask mandate rules. Not certain why everyone else has to be punished because of this one person. But yet, here we STILL are… 3 years later. Why don’t they just buy their own plane and fly it???
Then you have the multiple flight cancellations… like 15,000 over a two week span at one time. Then it was followed by another several thousand cancellations, then 4,0000, then… well, you get the point. People who’ve had vacations, family trips, graduations, weddings, business trips delayed or canceled. I’ve seen where people were one week away from their much anticipated trip to Costa Rica and the country changed their COVID protocol and the hotel canceled their trip… with no recourse for a refund.
There’s been droves of stories of people who’ve flown to their destination completely fine, and contracted COVID right before their return flight or didn’t actually have COVID but was around someone who contracted it and weren’t allowed to fly. One family of four (parents and two kids) everyone tested negative for COVID except the dad. He had to stay in a foreign country by himself, with some of the worst care, leaving the family to raise GoFundMe’s for his care… $50,000+… to try to get him home. It was a complete nightmare. Then the woman from Atlanta that was trapped in Jamaica way past her return date because she tested positive upon her return flight. She spoke of being stuck in a COVID hotel that had others that had also been stuck there as well, no food sometimes, one lady had been having multiple seizures because she had been there so long and not been able to get to her medicine… so many other horror stories like this.
The worst of them are the many lives we’ve loss over the last 3 years due to COVID… 900,000+. I still just can’t wrap my head around that number. Still can’t phantom the nonchalant attitude of some regarding the virus as they move about daily like it doesn’t exist… that is until it finally affects them or their family/friends. With 900,000+ deaths, that’s the equivalent of 12 packed football stadiums of people dead at one time. If 12 stadiums of people had died, people would be outraged and demand that the NFL do something different… yet, this same urgency isn’t applied to our current approach. 900,000+ deaths is the equivalent of having 9/11 at least 300 days straight, yet that hasn’t dawned on many as they continue to move about life like nothing is going on.
***𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 or businesses/jobs 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥19.
Overworked healthcare workers, emergency workers, service industry workers, essential workers, teachers, and everyone else who’ve just been beyond tired and left to figure it out. These people deserve a break… and extra pay… yet, they can’t because we have at the minimum 2-3 years more of this, if not longer… in this country at least, other countries will most assuredly move past this a lot faster for obvious reasons. New, stronger variants are popping up every few months, so buckle up as this is going to be a continuous, long ride.
I say all of this to say… The past few years has left me pondering many things. And quite frankly due to so much uncertainty in the travel industry, I haven’t posted much about trip deals, etc. Its always my desire for my clients to have an amazing travel experience. But as of late there is no way to guarantee that even with careful planning. There’s been much reluctance on my part to even make suggestions of great places to go… not that I don’t want you to go… but because I want to also see you return, without issues, or worse.
But one thing I’m certain of… we will get through this… as we’ve overcome every single other obstacle life has thrown at us. Here’s to better days ahead.
Peace & Amazing Travels,
Farlace LaShone