Back To Reality
About six months into the COVID-19 pandemic I decided that the threshold for normality for me would be returning to New York, a city I had lived in for a decade and returned to every couple of months.
When I could step onboard an aircraft with a minimum of fuss and make a long business / leisure weekend work that would be the moment.
Despite travel to Paris, Tallinn and Dubai during the pandemic it wasn’t until the last weekend of January, a few weeks ago, that I ticked that Manhattan box.
Ironically, winter weather on the eastern seaboard resulted in all flights on my day of travel being cancelled in advance so I flew out a day early and laughed at such a return to the vagaries of winter transatlantic travel. This really was normality.
So here are my thoughts on my 4 night, 5 day trip.
(1) The Atlantic really is a pond, not an ocean. A reminder how reachable New York is - 7 hours of flying, 5 easy time zones.
(2) NYC never, ever gets old. I find I have the same level of anticipation and excitement as the aircraft approaches JFK as during my first ever trip in 1992. It still feels a bit “battered and bruised” - worth remembering that a good deal of retail space was in flux before the pandemic - but regrowth is happening. The three skyscrapers on ‘billionaires row’ in my photograph all topped-out during the pandemic. There is construction on every corner.
(3) Seeing friends for the first time in 25 months felt as if we had only just met the other week. Social media and virtual meeting tools may well have their downsides but they have enabled sustained connection. That said nothing beats the ability to be in someone’s physical presence, which leads neatly to (4).
(4) Virtual meetings are based on 2 senses - sight and sound. That’s it. And, if the crop is close, you do not even have the benefit of observing someone’s body language. Being in the same room as someone is vital for many encounters and, even when not constant, topping up virtual exposure with regular in person is important.
(5) Shared experiences with people - colleagues, clients, contacts and friends - are essential. They are revealing and rewarding. Memorable too. They have a fluid beginning and end when so much ground is covered. They deliver serendipitous moments which cement the relationship.
(6) You’ll never meet someone accidentally ‘working-from-home’. On every trip I’ve managed during the pandemic and including this one I’ve met new contacts. You’ll never expand your network meaningfully at home.
(7) Passive absorption when on the move. Journeys provide a constant supply of stimulus - what people are wearing, doing, saying. Every piece of advertising, shop window, snatched conversation - it all accumulates effortlessly.
(8) Staying on top of commitments is easier. Points (5) - (7) are not meant to demolish virtual engagement. It absolutely has a role and because the entire world has shared the virtual meeting experience for over 2 years it is second nature. Nothing was postponed, it just fitted into stretched days. You don’t even need to explain where you are, as long as you are there.
(9) Take a moment and enjoy. When business travel was a regular occurrence it was easy for the experience to be limited to airport, hotel, meeting room, restaurant. It’s important not to slip back into that routine. Build in time to switch off and explore.
(10) Travel adds impetuous to delivery. Movement and a more aggressive schedule results in more being achieved rather than less.
It really does feel good to be back on the move again, a philosophy summed up perfectly by Hans Christian Anderson;
”To move, to breathe, to fly, to gloat, to gain all while you give, to roam the roads of lands remote, to travel is to live.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Izatt is a brand consultant living in London and founder of Mission Critical, a highly focused and curated weekly briefing for time-poor and information-hungry decision-makers.
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