The 2021 Gay Travel AwardsSM Winners, Michael & Matt, shared their journey throughout the pandemic and, how it has shaped the direction of their lives, and how it has affected their travel. We hope you'll enjoy their thoughtful insights about how slowing down has allowed them to make significant changes that change their trajectory in a beautiful and exciting direction.
How the pandemic has slowed us down and given us time to re-evaluate:
Why is it inevitable that times of change tend to scare us the most? Everyone grows up. We all transition into new schools, we make new friends, fall out of touch with old friends, move out, or move back in on occasion. We know we eventually have to make it on our own, yet, these things have a way of sneaking up on us. At times leaving us feeling wholly unprepared to take on these seasons of change.
Of course, not everyone is scared to grow old. Many people are excited to graduate, move on to bigger and better things, relish in the success they have achieved by their forties. Many times children cannot wait to get older so they can drive a car, make their own decisions, get out of the house. Quite often, we can deal with change and find some of our greatest potential with these changes.
This past year, or two and a half years, for that matter, has forced many new changes on a number of people—some for the better and certainly some for the worse. We found ourselves in this position in March of 2020. As the borders closed, so did our travel plans on the horizon. As travel bloggers, we questioned what this would mean for our business… but while settling into lockdown at home, our perspectives quickly began to change on what this would mean for our lives in general.
Personal Change:
Matthew: "The week the borders closed was the week that I received my acceptance letter to nursing school. What a feeling it was to have a full year of travel planned ahead and completely switch to a full year of schooling in addition to a career change, all in the matter of a week. It felt like my life was turned upside down."
Michael: "Though Matthew ran a successful business working from home, he longed for camaraderie, teamwork, and a more meaningful use of time and talent."
Michael, however, stayed the course and kept the dental practice he worked for afloat during the first months of quarantine, risking his health to see emergency cases. For a while, it worked.
Michael: "I did what I could to manage work and personal life (which many times is work within itself as my husband and I keep the business afloat), and eventually the work environment began to decay. Work began to create daily anxiety before I even stepped into the office. Every night was the "Sunday scaries." I went from starting in 2018 bright-eyed and eager to learn to an understaffed office, an absence of leadership, and burnt-out colleagues. I loved my colleagues; I spent lots of money on school to learn my craft but felt I needed a break when I then received an unexpected change in my work schedule. After six weeks of waiting for an answer, I asked for accommodations and was informed there was nothing that could be done. I regretfully put in my six-week notice and started searching for a new job. I decided to take a leap of faith and do what I knew was right for me in the long run.
And now, my husband, having recently graduated nursing school, is finding a whole world of change at his fingertips. As I pull back from the workforce, he's jumping in full steam ahead. And still, with a sense of uncertainty. How can we jump into new careers while still successfully running our business together? How do we balance multiple careers with family life? The more steps forward we take, the more unanswered questions come up as we face the oncoming change."
Change at Home:
Most surprisingly, from the pandemic, we ended up purchasing our first home together. At the beginning of 2020, we started the house-hunting process. We had saved up for a long time, and after many years of throwing our money towards rent, we finally wanted to invest in something that we could call our own. We thought the pandemic might make it impossible to find a home, but we got extremely lucky. This was just another huge change for us, but it definitely gave us something to do during quarantine. Nothing occupies the time quite like packing and unpacking boxes! And honestly, we've spent more time at home over the last couple of years than I can recall at any other point in our lives. Being home, we've developed a greater appreciation of where we live. In the summer of 2020, I remember many days I would just sit out in the sun and read because there was simply nowhere to go. Having the fear-of-missing-out wasn't an option because there was nothing to miss out on. I began to explore things that just gave me joy, like planting a garden and learning new cooking recipes. Really, a whole new appreciation of the beauty of where we live came into view, and I've never looked at Portland quite the same since. This has inspired us to travel more in our home state. We've spent many weekends at the coast, hiking in the mountains and trying as much takeout as possible from the new restaurants that are popping up around Portland.
Beyond our careers, we are also looking to start our surrogacy journey to grow our family this year—less of a season of change and more like entering an entirely new universe. We are rather accustomed to traveling and being mobile so looking ahead to where we may be a year and a half from now is a very different place.
Change in Travel:
Travel was one of the first and most obvious losses at the pandemic's beginning. It was taboo to get on a plane for any reason. It had been our favorite escape from day-to-day life, and it suddenly failed to be an option. At first, we thought, pivot, we'll explore Oregon. What better time than now? But then even outdoor hiking trails closed. I think we forget how wildly different everything was at the beginning of all of this. We feared even passing people for a brief moment outdoors.
Starting travel back up was very odd. It felt wrong. My first flight was back to my childhood home in South Dakota to attend my godson's baptism and adoption from foster in July of 2020. It was so momentous I knew I couldn't miss it. Everyone in my family was onboard, and I would do my best to stay safe given the context that I had been doing dentistry for four months now with no symptoms, positive tests, etc. I had faith in my respirator, social distancing, and airplane circulation. And I was right. It went perfectly. However, I remember being so upset because all airlines blocked middle seats initially when I booked. When the day arrived to actually fly, it was the third day after the airline decided to rebook middle seats and both of my planes were completely full. Now I don't think twice. We're vaccinated, boosted, and have our travel routine pretty well figured out.
We both have travel benefit cards that allow lounge access which is a nice way to socially distance at the airport. We find that many of the lounges are not even half full when we get there. We find our corner, and if anyone near us is sniffly or coughing, we move. When we get to our destination, we avoid crowded places. We haven't been on a dance floor in years, and we mask regardless of those around us. Getting around is usually an Uber or taxi of some kind. Maybe a subway here or there but never a crowded bus.
It's difficult because so many people's livelihoods depend on tourism, and it was such a delicate subject on whether or not it was responsible to travel for the greater part of a year. It feels like people are moving quite freely these days. The turning point from our perspective seemed to be the availability of a vaccine. Once the vaccines rolled out, the temperature online seemed to cool down, and people were happy to see tourists returning to areas devastated by the loss of visitors.
Looking Ahead:
Though we are in the middle of so many changes swirling around us, we are excited to see what life could have in store. We also maintain a sense of cautious optimism as the grass is not always greener on the other side. We each have to understand that we are looking for new things, and with that will come new challenges. The only thing to be certain of in life is change. All we can hope for is that we will adapt, learn and grow in the midst of it.
You can learn more about Michael & Matt on their website and be sure to follow them on social media!
Photos Courtesy of Micahel & Matt.
