In government we trust.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 5 years since the world went on lock down. This newsletter was started as a bit of an outlet to help others navigate the craziness that was going on at the time. But many never knew the tribulations of travel at the height of COVID. As someone who had to constantly commute internationally all throughout the pandemic, it was a painful experience that forced me to rethink the way I did business. Some of the lessons learned during that time, still guide the way I travel today.

This little timelapse is of a particular moment early 2021 when the Dutch government suddenly required a negative COVID test no more than 4 hours before departure to The Netherlands. Since I had already booked my flight from Albania to the US before this rule came into effect, this meant I had to either rebook my entire itinerary last minute at a huge financial loss, or find a place to get a test during my layover that would get me the results no more than 4 hours before my departure to Amsterdam. I ended up going with the latter and the end result was:

1. Tirana - Frankfurt

2. Frankfurt - Barcelona

3. Barcelona - Amsterdam

4. Amsterdam - Atlanta

5. Atlanta - New York

I left my flat in Tirana on a Monday morning and between all the tests, flights and layovers, I finally arrived in New York on Wednesday afternoon. Looking back at my archives, there seems to be a ton of material from those days I never got around to sharing. So for the sake of going back down memory lane and a look at how far we’ve come, I will be publishing a few short articles during the coming weeks on the subject.

Alvin