In March of 2020, when the pandemic shutdown took hold, my life as a business traveler came to a grinding halt. My job involved frequent trips around the country and around the globe. As was the norm, we would pack ourselves as tight as the airlines forced us into flying tubes that replicated a petri dish, sharing air and armrests with fellow passengers who either coughed all over me, sneezed all over me or talked too much all over me. Once I arrived at my business-related (not vacation-inspired) destination, the work was exhausting (mentally and physically); the food was often unhealthy and erratic (either too much or too little); and the sleep was essentially non-existent (not enough hours or too much worry/distraction to even think about REM). Mind you, I'm not complaining - just setting the scene.
Since then, I have not moved one frequent-flyer mile in the name of company purposes. But that's all about to change. I am taking a 3-hour road trip in my own car down to our client's HQ in Maryland for a 2-day POA "Sales" meeting (that's market-speak for Plan Of Action). A small gathering of roughly 40 of us will be brought together to learn new news about our drug, do some workshop/training sessions, bond with client/agency colleagues from around the country, and prepare for the next 12 months of messaging and communication tactics against our Strategic Imperatives (also market-speak for "get ready for next year").
The client company (and Maryland itself) has strict rules about mask wearing (all masks - all the time - all day), the conference room is four times the size needed for this group so we will all be adequately socially distanced, temperatures will be taken each day before we enter the space, and all attendees must have been vaccinated. In what could be analogous to a pre-season game, this feels like the safest way to work back into the old hump and grind, with minimal risk of exposure or infection.
The world's sensitivity to health safety measures is well-established, my body (booster and all) is well-vaccinated, and my particular need to be cautious will be well-respected (my cancer concerns are practically the norm). I would be following all of the aforementioned practices anyway, but it is comforting to know that everyone else will be - for their sake as much as for mine. Though admittedly it's dipping a toe into the ocean of business travel, it feels like an appropriate way to start back; taking into consideration what we know and what we don't know about Covid, and doing all that's possible to avoid catching/spreading it. Wish me luck.
