I only realized the momentousness of the journey as I rode the
drizzly waves on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry between Delaware and New Jersey. It
was my first trip outside Virginia or DC since March 2020. During the heart of
the COVID-19 pandemic, I simply had no need to travel for work, and national
guidance advised against leisure travel. Airline flights? Forget about it; I
heard enough stories about 4-leg transcontinental flights on routes that had
once been non-stop. Hotels that once provided scrumptious breakfasts resorted
to handing out bagged muffins “because of COVID”. In fact, until the vaccine
was widely available, my employer documented all personal travel out of town,
which would start a two-week isolation period upon return to work. Why travel?
Like after 9/11/01, enough time has elapsed so that some of
the imposed travails of travelling- perhaps familiar to horse-and-buggy trail
warriors in the 19th century- have been lifted. Last weekend was an
opportune time to visit New York; not Manhattan, but the Alma Mater just east
on Long Island. Reflective of the times, the Alumni event was scheduled in May
after loosening of CDC guidance; then cancelled in August on account of the Delta
Variant spike; then resurrected in a low-key format after it was revealed that
people had bought non-refundable airline tickets to travel.
Among the several dozen attendees, I was the sole long-haul,
work-from-home person. I listened intently to the stories of international
quarantine, and promotions earned as a result of others’ early retirements.
Onboard ship, in a shipyard, or even in the design shop, the maritime field is
very hands-on and relationship-oriented. It felt great to break out of a period
of professional isolation, a phenomenon studied in rural doctors, scientists,
and sole proprietors; but which now applies to millions of white-collar professionals
who ground out their work from laptops at home. While work-from-home has
received favorable reviews from workers and some managers, I wondered how many
more months of value could be added when professionals were running on
autopilot, without conferences, training, and collaboration. In just a weekend,
a switch was flipped in me. By Monday, I registered to attend an upcoming
workboat show in New Orleans.
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