David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
NOT Traveling Blog, 5th
Week Of July
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.
In my best New York / New Jersey sarcasm, I’m “shocked…just shocked” that
the Boeing 737Max probably won’t fly this year. COVID19 was and is a disaster of epic proportions, but it was
a gift to Boeing, taking the focus off of this poorly planned, poorly executed
aircraft that arguably should never have been built. News came out as I was
writing this blog that the 737Max
likely won’t fly again till 2021. Of
course, that is happening in the shadow of the reality that passengers have still
not come close to returning to air travel in pre-virus numbers, and most likely
will not until there is a widely available treatment or vaccine, and the US
airlines are likely to slash jobs and schedules even further in October – so
I’m not thinking the lack of availability of an aircraft with questionable
safety is going to be an issue for anyone except Boeing.
As I’ve mentioned before, the New
Jersey Coronavirus transmission rate has been holding steadily under the 1%
benchmark that would indicate that the rate of spread here is not
growing. Because of this I’ve actually
scheduled a weekend away with my wife on the Jersey Shore late in August. We’d drive there of course, and pack our own
pillows, disinfectant, coffee maker and other items we’d never consider
bringing on a short road trip in the past.
At this point I think there is a 50-50 chance that we’ll go. I’m personally also split down the middle –
part of me wants to go (anywhere) and part of me doesn’t want to take the risk
(as I understand the unlikeliness that visitors from the 41 states that didn’t
follow common sense when reopening will respect the 14 day quarantine
requirements.) We have about a month to
see how it’s going and decide.
The National
Retail Federation conference – typically scheduled for mid-January in New York
– has already been postponed for 2021.
Instead of happening in January that industry’s largest show is now
scheduled to take place in June. The NRF show’s original slot is of course just after CES – the largest conference in
North America. As of now The Consumer Electronics
Association is still intending to put on CES in the first week of January. Just as in my own plans above, my gut is also
telling me its 50-50 on that one. There
are some really smart people at the CEA and I can’t imagine them not being
smart about their event as the virus continues its ravaging course throughout
the US.
Continuing with my promise to share videos from my travels
last year, and acknowledging that baseball (even in an odd, fan-less,
crazy-rules version) is returning this week, here is a video excerpt from just
about a year ago of John Fogerty in
concert doing Centerfield:
This was part of his “Woodstock’s 50th
Anniversary” tour, and was honestly the best concert I attended last year. If you ever get the chance to see this ~75
year old rocker in concert, definitely don’t pass it up. I do hope both real baseball and concerts
come back next year – I really miss them.
As always, please feel free to write to me with comments or items
I should add to a future Not Traveling blog (or if you just need someone to
write to.) Stay safe, be well, hug those
you’re sheltering with (but no one else) and do your best to stay positive. We’re going to be in this for a long
while.
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.