I’m trying to wind down my work so that I will have minimal exposure this winter. I’ve got one client who wants me to go measure a four-family house. I know what those apartments look like. Overflowing with stuff, too many people. One apartment is now vacant so he thinks I can just measure that one and assume the others are identical - which they may be, but it’s my stamp not his guaranteeing that. And the town the apartment is in just got put in a yellow zone. So no. Just no. I like the guy, but no.
@mathmom, I don’t blame you. My husband is being very careful about the house renovation designs he accepts. He can usually arrange it so that nobody is nearby when he’s measuring.
And yeah, clients always want us to “assume” stuff. Uh, no…
My daughter is thinking of cancelling her Dec. 4th trip to visit me, for 6 weeks. As I wrote before, I got her a “suite” on the plane, second row, which is one large seating area taking up the space of a whole row, with its own door and a partition around it. She has a health condition and is nervous about the airport.
Our plan had been for her to test within 72 hours of leaving, then again 6 days after arriving. During the waiting time she was going to stay in the empty apartment upstairs.
The anxiety about this may mean the trip doesn’t happy and that is a reasonable choice, especially with some hope on the horizon.
However she lives alone and all her friends have left the city, and the difficulties of isolation even while interacting/working on Zoom are really getting to her.
Anyone else with an isolated kid, with health conditions, deciding on whether to fly?!
@compmom, sounds hard. We see a number of people on the fence on traveling and a lot of super anxious folks generally.
We have a different situation. ShawSon has a new GF. Dating in COVID is all or nothing – you are not in the bubble at all (walks in the park, etc.) or you are completely. New GF is now in. He asked if he could invite her to come for Thanksgiving. I said, “Even is she is not here, she is coming with you. We are happy to have her as long as she is careful in the two weeks prior to flying” But, he is largely quarantining (getting food delivered etc.). She would have to agree to do that but has her own apartment with roommates. So, what does that mean?
ShawD will not be quarantining. She can’t as she works as an NP doing primary care. Her practice is very careful – concierge-lite and everything done very well. She gets tested. She has a protocol for her and her BF and ShawSon (and I guess new GF).
But, I’m not sure what we are bringing into our lives now that ShawSon has introduced a GF, whether or not she comes.
Our kids have heretofore been very concerned about infecting us because ShawWife has had respiratory issues for several years (getting better in our new house, which is wonderful).
We are visiting D1 and husband per their request in December. They would like to have family around for a bit after the birth of grandchild #1. We were going to fly, but that makes me really anxious so we decided to drive. It’s a 740 mi trip (Boston to Indianapolis) and we can do it in one long day. A friend suggested renting a motorhome so that we would only have to stop for gas and then we could quarantine for a week there. D was looking foran Air b&b for us to stay, but now thinking this might be a better option.
I know nothing about motorhomes and am wondering if this is reasonable. Does anyone have experience with renting a motor home? Are there certain homes that are easier to drive/more comfortable than others? Any general advice would be welcome.
@compmom can you come to visit your D instead of her coming to you?
@compmom I just flew and I feel like flying in a plane is safer than going to my local walmart. Even in the airport, there are ways to distance herself. Board the plane last and get off last. As long as she has a top of the line mask she will be fine. (I personally have a sonoviatech mask). I feel that the isolation will be worse for her.
LOL - I know where Poughkeepsie is (I grew up in Mid Hudson Valley). It is not close enough to use NYC testing options. There are likely to be other testing options there, but phew… so far it sounds like I won’t need to take that emergency trip to NY.
Now funny comment about “upstate New York” term (my personal observation based on having grown up in Kingston/Pok with extended family on Long Island, gone to college waaaay upstate in Potsdam near Canadian border, worked near Binghampton, have in-laws in Albany). It seems like it’s most common usage of Upstate means “north of where I am living in NY”. Some NYC folks consider Westchester as upstate, not even as far away as Poughkeepsie. Some Albany folks, north another few hours, think of Adirondacks as upstate. Etc etc 
I grew up in NYC and everything north of Westchester was upstate.
S1 now lives in the Rochester area and when I called that upstate, he corrected me and said it was Western NY. Upstate is headed toward Montreal. Who knew?
Thanks folks.
@shawbridge that is a difficult one (and I know just what you mean about a GF being all the way in or all the way out of a bubble).
@sdl0625 thanks for the comparison to Walmart. I agree with you that the small risk is worth it to avoid isolation, but she is 30 and it is her decision.
@showmom858 I have said many times that I would fly there, and even found an airbnb to quarantine in. My daughter refuses this. I am getting on (!) and am a cancer survivor and other stuff so she doesn’t want me to take the risk either.
This is hard for everyone. Good luck to all!
Small tangent, Clarkson or Potsdam? My parents were both Potsdam alum. I have a cousin who’s a Clarkson alum. It’s rare outside of NY that I “meet” people who have been there or even heard of them. Small world!
I grew up in “Upstate” NY, in an area now calling itself, “The North Country,” but “Upstate” Medical Center is in Syracuse (where my mom’s family is from), so I personally consider everything from Syracuse north to the Canadian border to be Upstate. The Albany region is the “Capital District.” Rochester/Buffalo, etc, is Western NY. Binghamtom, Endicott, Corning, etc is the Southern Tier.
@compmom hugs, as you say, this is hard!
Wow, this conversation feels familiar. I’m from Niagara Falls,mom and sister live in Buffalo, another sister is in Ithaca, have best friends are in Syracuse, and we live in Westchester. My kids refer to all the above-listed locations as upstate! Pretty sure anytime we get on Route 17 or the Thruway, we’re going upstate. Now, I went to college at Northwestern and back then most of my classmates thought I could pop into NYC anytime i wanted. Most were unaware there was a 400 mile+ distance between NF and Broadway!
I think we are going to cancel my D’s flight across the country scheduled for early Dec. and mid-Jan. We were hoping to at least avoid the holiday rush. With the virus surging and airlines changing their capacity policies (thanks to two studies funded by the airline industry, my D is too nervous to fly- despite the expensive suite I bought for her flight. Zoom holidays!
I really feel we should get a refund not just a credit since the airline changed their capacity from 70% to 85% for the Dec. flight and 100% for the Jan. flight.
i am looking forward to booking lots of trips in late Spring and Summer 2021. Bring on the vaccine.
We are being patient about booking travel. Already one of my professional organizations has decided their summer conference will be an online event. That was supposed to happen in July. I’m sure the necessary advanced planning needs to be happening now. Too much uncertainty.
We will see.
We’re still hoping to go somewhere the end of May with our whole family, before med school boy starts his residency. Where (and if) is yet TBD, but Victoria Falls and that area of Africa remain my #1. We batted around some alternate choices this past weekend, but didn’t quite settle on a second choice.
Shortly after Match Day in March we’ll see if we can proceed with reservations or not.
I normally travel a ton for work (depending upon the year, I might have 6-15 transatlantic trips a year, 4-10 transcontinental trips a year, plus assorted trips to Canada, Mexico and a couple of trips to South America, Australia or Asia). British Airways thinks I’m a very nice guy as did several other airlines. Plus ShawWife either joins me or we take our own trips to NY and Florida every year and assorted vacation trips (Italy every other. year, Mexico, Asia, and she often joins me on trips to California when we see our kids, …). So, we’ve been saving lots of money.
I really enjoy a lot of my travel, both for work and pleasure though the work travel can get to be a bit much even though I usually fly business class and stay in very nice hotels and eat well.
What’s interesting is that, other than not seeing our kids since February, neither ShawWife nor I are missing the travel. We are enjoying being here, in nature, and not rushing off to wherever.
Jet Blue is offering full refunds for those who want to cancel due to the change in capacity rules. Just cancelled my daughter’s flights.
Alone or not, we will have to be creative with Zoom. Any light at the end of the tunnel is appreciated. Haven’t seen kids in a year, in person, but technology, much as it is maligned, surely helps.
As per Shawbridge’s post, off to walk by the ocean.
@compmom hang onto that refund! You will be able to use it at some point!