Conferences and other business travel have been a huge part of my professional career dating back to the late 1990’s when I was a Technical Representative for Rasio Chemicals. Back then, I only traveled within Canada. However, in the past 20 years, in the tech space, I have had the privilege of seeing this amazing world and meeting some extraordinary people along the way.
That all came to an abrupt stop two years ago when the pandemic took a stranglehold on us.
Travel is slowly getting back to normal as more and more countries are lifting restrictions for travel, under Covid 19. I have a wife and 2 young boys so my concerns with travel were not only with contracting Covid-19 but more with testing positive on a return trip and having to isolate for 10-14 days in a hotel room away from family.
But as of April 1st, Canada will not require a negative test to (re)enter the country. This is such a huge relief, though it would have been better if it was in effect now. You see, I have been to Cloudfest, in Rust Germany 7 or 8 times. It is a great conference and one that is heavily attended. Cloudfest 2022 started today and I am not there due to the still-in-place- travel requirements. It would have been wonderful to see familiar faces and spend time with colleagues, clients, and industry friends without looking through a computer camera.
In lieu of .blog’s team absence, we are honored to co-sponsor with Realtime Register. Yasin Boelhouwer and his team are amazing. They have .blog on T-shirts and are giving away our very popular scented travel candles at their booth.
I plan to start traveling again soon. It is hard to place a value on spending time with others, business-related or otherwise.
See you all real soon!
Don Ruiz 