So much has changed since my last post in 2019, and I wasn’t accounting for a global health crisis to be one of the ways my world turned upside down. But as a researcher who has published on crisis and resilience, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before the travel industry would bounce back to a new state of ordinary. Below are several observations I wanted to share from my recent international trip.
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| Lounge hopping in the Cancun International Airport! |
Health and safety protocols
Now that we’re twenty months into the COVID-19 pandemic, travel seemed to pick up again to pre-pandemic activity. Airport lines were bustling and accompanied with hand sanitizer stations, lounges served food on demand with everything wrapped in plastic, and social distancing guidelines seemed to have relaxed from what I observed. I imagine we still have a ways to go for the global adoption of the vaccine. Hopefully, the pandemic provided our infrastructure with the wake-up call it needed to invest more into sanitation and cleanliness.
Attestations of wellness
The resort we were staying at included a testing site that had an efficient process for getting American guests their required results to re-enter America by way of air. I finally took my first COVID-19 test! And let me tell you: nothing woke me up earlier that morning than having a cotton swab poked up my nose. It was way more effective than coffee. I received my results in less than an hour. Unsurprisingly, I tested negative.
Working remotely
One of my favorite aspects of working in tech is the flexibility I have to work anywhere I can with a strong internet connection. I recently made a pandemic pivot from my old employer in the travel space to my new employer in the e-commerce space, and as a user experience researcher, I was still able to conduct iterative usability testing without a hitch. While there are aspects of tech office life I certainly miss (like the catered food, bottomless espressos, and dedicated workspace), the introvert in me doesn’t mind working this way for the foreseeable future.
If there’s anything I learned from 2020, it’s the skill of recalibrating resilience. A silver lining from the chaos has been the innovation I’ve seen the travel industry take in making our journeys more meaningful. In an era where social distancing has been the norm, human connection has never been more critical.
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