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Tauck Zoom Reunion

Kathy M

On Monday I participated in a Zoom reunion meeting initiated by our tour director from last year's ESW tour. She mentioned that some of the directors were holding these meetings to let us touch base with each other and I'm sure to keep our interest in Tauck alive. It was interesting hearing from her. She's from the UK and living in Tuscany. She shared with us what it has been like in Italy with the pandemic. Her daughter-in-law got the virus (she thinks in the elevator from people in her building who were sick) but is OK now. Another son was planning on returning to Italy from Australia and had given notice at his job but needed to change his plans when travel was suspended.

While Europeans can travel between countries, they have not yet opened to anyone coming from the US. Since she is anxious to get back to work, she is waiting to see when that will change.

Among the tour members participating everyone was doing well. We were able to see the men with long hair due to living in areas where barbershops have just opened by appointment only. Some are planning on US travel and most are hoping for a better travel year in 2021.

It was interesting to see how people in different part so the country are reacting to the pandemic in very different ways. Tour members from the SF Bay area, NJ, Hawaii and NE are treating this much more seriously than those in the south and southwest.

Has anyone else been invited to a Zoom reunion?

Comments

PureLuxury

Hi Kathy--This is an interesting concept. I have been in contact via email/phone with folks from my Israel tour last November, but this was not initiated by a Tauck Tour Director

BKMD

Tour members from the SF Bay area, NJ, Hawaii and NE are treating this much more seriously than those in the south and southwest.

I wonder if that could have anything to do with the surge in infections in the south and SW...

Kathy M

I think it's what you've experienced. We have relatives in MO which hadn't been hit nearly as hard as we have been in the northeast. While they've been careful, KC was not shut down nearly as hard or as long as we have. On the other side, we have relatives in Canada. They are still under quarantine requirements with a much more stringent checking than we have in MA. They have basically discouraged people over 70 from going to any store. My sister-in-law kids that they need to get their snow tires put on this summer before my brother-in-law turns 70!

In a complete reversal NY, NJ and CT are setting quarantine restrictions for people coming from the current hot spots. At the beginning states would not let in people from NY. (RI had troopers at its borders stopping cars with NY license plates.) It's interesting to see how the tables have turned.

MA is now doing very well with the lowest transmission rate in the country (about .68). Many of the states with the peaks are well over 1.00. However, we have had over 105,000 cases and almost 8,000 deaths. Some of these other areas haven't had 8,000 cases.

People here are still concerned. You cannot go into any store without a face covering. This includes not only supermarkets but also places like Home Depot. People are very conscientious recognizing what the alternative is.

My 95 year old mother is in assisted living. For three months we were not able to see each other. Only recently have they permitted outside visits of 15 minutes at a scheduled time with all parties wearing masks and sitting at least six feet apart. The facility facilitates communication for people who can't get to the area via Skype or other electronic means.

onthego

Would love to have a zoom reunion from June's trip to Morocco. How can I get that to happen?

Kathy M

Ours was initiated by our tour director. If you know how to contact the tour director, you could ask about him/her setting up a zoom reunion.

Travelcrazy

I've had a couple of Zoom happy hours with the two women I spent most of my time with on our Rhine, Swiss Alps and Amsterdam cruise last year. We sent some texts early on, but then we decided to try using Zoom. I actually like it because you can see people instead of just looking at a computer screen. We set it up ourselves though. It wasn't through Tauck.