Terenia Taras
I DON’T want to speak too soon because last time we booked flights to return, they were cancelled by British Airways. I know! Fingers crossed they don’t offload a few thousand crew before we’re due to fly!
So all being well, I’ll be back in the beautiful Balearics on May 28 and the best news is that things should start to have opened up by then. One of the first things I want to do, apart from eat burrata in any branch of Cappuccino, accompanied by a glass of pink fizz (remember that simple pleasure of dining out), is to try and help out the tourist industry.
Spain relies massively on travel and tourism and in my day job as a PR consultant I prefer to use the power of the press as a force for good. My background is journalism and let me tell you, I’ve more than earned my stripes working at the sharp end of that grubby stick. Yes, I worked for The News of the World where I was a news and investigations journalist. I have written for the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and all the other national press. There’s a whole lot more to my own story here but that’s for another time.
So back to Spain and my ambitions of becoming a Marvel hero, swooping in to save the travel industry from the brink of destruction. It doesn’t take a lot of working out that the airline and hospitality industry are going to be right at the back of the recovery queue, way beyond the one we’ll all be standing in for surgical masks when they become compulsory. Even when we’re officially able to move about freely again, some people will still be nervous about venturing beyond their front door, never mind trying to navigate through an airport, dodging passengers.
The rest of us will probably rather take our chances with Corona then spend any more time cooped up indoors. Even when we do eventually come out of lockdown, we can’t all run around like we’ve just been handed our get out of jail free card and bent on maxing it out. But what we also mustn’t do is give in to the virus. It has already stolen too much, too many loved ones and far too much control over everyone’s lives and livelihood. We’ll have come out of a war – maybe a tad dramatic, but it’s had the same destructive effect so I’m calling it that. When it’s safe, and because now more than ever we truly value our liberty, we need to feel free again.
I for one won’t let this crisis alter what I enjoy doing, which is to travel and see some of the wonderful places around the world. What we all need to do next is help as many businesses to survive and thrive and that means not being afraid.
So when I get back, I’m making it my mission to try to help people feel confident again, to venture out like me, out of this dark time into the sunshine.
