When last I wrote for this back page of Business Travel Executive,  it was July of 2020. I predicted we were in a time of significant transformation due to the major social upheaval although we were still just at the beginning of the pandemic.

I called on readers to use the opportunities provided to transform their own programs, companies, and lives – all while stating that I felt betrayed by the failure of murder hornets to be a bigger issue. Here we are 15 months later and while I still feel cheated by the murder hornet bust, I was able to use the travel downturn to repair and renovate my travel program.
 
However, that’s not what I’m going to speak further about today. 
 
I want to start out by acknowledging the losses our industry and our world have faced since February 2020. It’s been devastating. As of the end of September 2021, 219 million people have been sick with COVID and we have lost four-and-a-half million lives globally. In the United States, the COVID pandemic losses have surpassed those of the Spanish Influenza. 
 
Why am I starting with such acknowledgments? Because it’s important for us to remember the both how big, and how personal, this tragedy is. But now the Pollyanna side of this editorial is about to come out. 
 
For my birthday in early September, my mother sent me a starfish pendant. In the card, she wrote that it was to commemorate how much time I had spent with them at their home on the beach during the last year-and-a-half of the pandemic. Which got me thinking about the “gifts” this pandemic has brought me. 
 
I’ve been able to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic many times in the past two years. Our family has continued our monthly Zoom calls, so I’ve had the chance to see my cousin’s children grow up during these 18 months. Since I’m not exhausted from talking to colleagues (I’m an introvert to my core), I’d been calling friends and having long conversations rather than waiting until we would get to see each other in person. Now when we do meet safely face to face, friends and colleagues tend to stay longer and speak more deeply. 
 
While working from my sister’s home, I got to spend weeks with my 6-year-old niece and have been able to support them when my brother-in-law had to travel for work. I sat in the pouring rain to watch my nephew play football his senior year of high school. I was able to snuggle with our 13-year-old family dog in his last week before passing.
 
These were all things that were not possible pre-pandemic, or if they were possible, they weren’t probable. I didn’t have the flexibility to work remotely. I lived in my apartment in the city, a whole 24 miles from my parents, seeing them only monthly at most. I saw my nieces and nephews at holidays and celebrations, but didn’t see them for the mundane everyday stuff. 
 
Beyond family and being happy to see friends, another “gift” of the pandemic is that I’m excited to get out and travel again. I had never loss the excitement for actually traveling – that’s why we work in this industry – but some of the shine had started to fade. But this pandemic has been the longest I’ve gone without getting on a plane in my life. So I look forward to boarding my first flight since February 2020 for GBTA in Orlando with a renewed sense of gratitude and wonder.