David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org 
Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
The Final NOT Traveling Blog, 3rd
Week Of May 2021
David Danto’s ongoing list of disjointed and occasionally random
observations and thoughts as we wait-out the pandemic – mostly NOT traveling
like we used to.
On Saturday February 29th 2020 I flew to AUS to visit relatives over the weekend, then attend a company
customer event that week. I rented a
car, stayed at a weird/eclectic property in Austin (Lone Star Court) and flew
home on March 5th. In many ways it was just another
typical business trip – other than not staying at a chain property it might as
well have been any of the other thousands of trips I’ve taken on the way to
becoming a million miler. No one knew at the time that it would be my
last trip for more than a year. The only
indication I had that anything was different while on this trip was my
inability to get more hand sanitizer in the local pharmacies. (I’d traveled with and carried hand sanitizer
for decades.)
The pandemic has been horrific in many ways. The global death-toll is staggering, the politicizing
of science is depressing, and the loss of jobs, leisure activities, socialization,
etc. was disheartening. People who were
too naive or weren’t paying attention thought it would end quickly. From the first days of the pandemic I’ve advised
that it would take a long time to recover.
I take no joy in being right, just as I took no joy in frequently pointing
out that I
predicted this would happen as far back as 2014.
Over the fourteen months of not traveling I’ve brought you my
personal observations of the world. Those
included what I perceived about the pandemic in addition to my thoughts on what
travel and other firms did in response.
Remember all the emails
from all the CEOs saying they were going to put Safety First? Remember the Israeli
mom decrying home schooling?
Remember when you couldn’t
get toilet paper? We’ll all likely
never forget those things and so many more.
I had planned my first leisure trip after the pandemic for
the end of August, but as they do sometimes, families force you to change your
plans. As you read this I’ll be taking
my first real flight-car-hotel trip in those fourteen months – attending a
family party in Los Angeles, and then taking some leisure time right
afterward. I’m very curious to see how EWR and LAX are holding up nowadays – are they still
miserable experiences? I wonder if I’ll
be perceiving the airport differently now that I’ve kicked club memberships to
the curb, recognizing how overpriced and underwhelming they’ve become. I wonder what it will be like flying for about
six hours in an N95 mask. I wonder what
getting a rental car will be like during the current scarce times. I’ll be blogging about all those experiences and
more as soon as I get home, so I really can’t continue a series of blogs called
“Not Traveling” in good conscience.
I’ll use this final Not Traveling blog to summarize some of
what I’ve learned over the last fourteen months.
·
Most
North American airlines are just horrible companies run by horrible
people. They did all they could not to issue refunds, lied about the
safety of flying during a pandemic, grabbed emergency cash from the government but
yet still laid-off workers, and generally showed who they really were. As I’ve said many times, we should have let
them fail and just rebuilt the industry from scratch. Instead, we shoveled billions at them…good
money after bad. As others have recently
put it, the airlines are Capitalists in good times and Socialists in bad times. If you haven’t already done so, stop giving
any loyalty to these firms. Make each
transaction for cash to gain your best value for that trip, and to hell with
any false affection they try to fool you with.
·
If
we want to stay ahead of the game nowadays, the old rules do not apply…there are
new rules. Airline loyalty is dumb, club
access is unnecessary, emails/calls to travel firms for escalation rarely
work. As I’ve pointed out before, use social
media to get a quicker, usually more-successful response.
·
As
we begin traveling again, assume nothing.
Did you used to pick your hotel so you could get breakfast there? Don’t assume it’s still available. Were you able to pick your preferred rental
car from the lot? Don’t assume the lot
has any cars. Did you have a favorite
restaurant or leisure activity at one of your destinations? It may be either closed for good or just not reopened
yet. Everything may be different. Either embrace the adventure or do much more
research – it won’t be normal again for a long time – if ever.
·
Keep
in mind that the worlds of work and travel have completely changed. We now have proven that the daily commute is a
typically ridiculous exercise that reduces productivity. The new rule is “be where you need to be to
do what you need to do.” Need to
complete an assignment? Stay home and do
it in privacy, saving the time and cost of commuting. Need to meet with colleagues? Start a video call or, only if necessary, head
into the now smaller offices. Need to
attend a conference or event? Just go –
but only if you really need to. Be an
adult. Make good decisions for yourself about
where you need to be at any given time.
If your employer doesn’t trust you to be an adult then find a new
employer. Work is what you do not where
you go.
And finally,
never forget that you can get a different job but not a different family. You’ll never know when that game of catch
with your kids or that hug with your parents is the last one you’ll ever
have. Cherish family time. That’s where you should invest your loyalty.
Expect my blogs to now come a bit less frequently (sometimes
every other week instead of every week) and for them to cover a lot more
traveling. As always, feel free to write
and comment, question or disagree.
Hearing from the traveling community was also a highlight of the
pandemic for me. Thanks!
This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal
opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.
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The Explanation
for my Not Traveling blogs: In 2014 I was voted
by USA Today readers as one of the top ten business travel bloggers in the
USA. Now mind you,
I turned out to be number ten on the list of ten, but I did make it on (with my
thanks to all those who voted.) Now that
we’re all stuck at home and not traveling, I had to think about what to do with
my blogs. I could stop writing them
entirely – waiting till we all get through the current COVID19 pandemic /
crisis. I could wax nostalgic and/or
complain about past trips. Or, I could
focus all of my efforts on my day job – growing the use of collaboration
technologies – especially in light of how many people are now forced to use
those tools for the first time. In
reflecting upon those choices, what I decided to do is compile an ongoing list
of observations during the crisis. Some
of these may amuse, some may inform, some may sadden and others may help. My goal will be for you to have seen
something in a different light than you did before you stopped to read the blog. I was going to apologize for how disjointed
these thoughts may seem when put together, but then it dawned on me that
feeling disjointed is our new normal – at least for a little while.