It’s An Interesting Time to Work In Travel
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Some Insight Into The Uncontrollable...
When I first started traveling (long before I did it for a living), I was nervous to fly. Those fears faded as I understood airplanes more, but not before another fear crept in:
What if I was traveling and a natural disaster hit?
What if I was traveling and something happened to my family back home? What if I was traveling and something happened to me so I couldn’t get home?
What if? What if?
I pushed through those fears too as traveling became my career and my mind settled into accepting I couldn’t control those circumstances, but I could control my thoughts around them.
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Since I came to accept the uncontrollable, there was never time for this one thought to cross my mind:
What if I couldn’t travel?
As a freelance travel journalist who relies on travel to develop stories, which ultimately pay my bills, I embarrassingly admit that thought was never one of my fears. And up until, last week—even though the Coronavirus continued to plague headlines—I knew I had to be on high alert, but I never envisioned travel would come to a halt.
Writing this now, I was supposed to be in northern Italy, sipping my way through Franciacorta’s wines. Last week, however, I received the email they were cancelling my trip due to the region’s classification as a high risk area for the virus. This email seemed to set off a domino effect as messages postponing trips began trickling in one-after-the-other, and trips that were set to be booked, have since been shelved.
At first I thought, "What a bummer, but better to be safe than sorry." Yet, as the week progressed, and I heard from others in the travel space (journalists, agents, and consultants with a heavy travel schedule), I started to question when I would be traveling again, and whether I should be traveling even then.
In an effort to take the disease and travel warnings seriously, a number of publications have banned writers from traveling for work trips and highly advised against personal travel. Journalists with stories in the works for Asia and high risk areas are waiting on bated breath with what will happen to their assignments. Agents are incurring cancellation fees and leisure travelers are losing money they potentially saved for years to take their dream trip (here is an interesting read).
This is a time where I could preach about travel insurance but since I can’t speak to all the scenarios or careers, I wanted to stick with commenting on what it is like to work in the travel space during such a time. Interactions with strangers have gone from, "Oh you’re a travel journalist, how cool!" to "Well you’re not traveling now, right?" Or, "How does the Coronavirus impede your schedule?" so I wanted to share (this is not meant to discredit any other industry affected by the widespread virus but it's what I know).
While I mentioned that I could advise you all on the benefits of travel insurance, unfortunately, that’s not really something that can help those who travel for a living—we may not be losing ticket money, or dollars saved for a trip, but we’re losing money in the long run; our income. The fees we’d charge for content during a trip. The fees we’d charge for a story from the trip. The time and energy spent booking a trip. The time traded so we could attend this trip.
I always knew entering the world of freelance came with highs and lows, slumps and busy periods, but I prepared for that, and I thought I mastered it. But, the Coronavirus’ ripple effect was something unknown and unexpected for me—especially as I wasn’t in this career during the SARS nor H1N1 outbreaks—thus, a humble reminder that you can never get too comfortable.
In conversation with other travel writers, we seem to be split with our approach to handling the travel warnings; some are canceling their own trips while others plan on riding out the wave. I currently have three trips lined up in the next two months that have yet to be cancelled—all flying through Europe—at a time when 80,000+ cases are confirmed, with 2000+ deaths, I’m torn between whether I should be traveling not just for the sake of my health but for the sake of my friends and family upon my return home, other passengers and even strangers for that matter.
Yet, I can’t help but wonder, if I cave and say no to travel, what will happen to my career? Aside from the immediate effects on travel, the long term ripple effect from this will continue to affect those who travel for a living and publications on the brink of folding, may not survive the economic downfall. It’s an interesting time to be in the travel space and a reminder that nothing is permanent.
So I’m asking you: Will you be traveling during the outbreak? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you…
Xo,
J