Letter from the Founder | January 2021
Happy New Year!
Normally we all enjoy turning a new page in any year, but this particular new year means much more. 2020. What can we say? A dumpster fire? A pile of hot garbage wrapped in stinky gym socks? Whatever it meant to you, it was likely not at all what you were expecting out of a year.
The travel business has obviously been hit hard, which has been stressful for me and my network of guides, hotel owners, bus drivers, and more. We’ve all had to think on our feet and try to reinvent ourselves to fit a completely foreign reality. I can’t lie, it has been hard and unpleasant. Often transformational change is hard, scary, uncomfortable, difficult. But the results of making unimaginable choices and taking roads you’d never noticed can lead you somewhere unexpected.
Our theme for January’s GC Magazine, then, is a fitting one: “Beginnings and Endings.” So many things in all of our lives ended suddenly in 2020, it’s important to not lose sight of the fact that an ending always spawns a beginning as well. For all of us here at Guide Collective, an end to our industry as we know it has brought about a new beginning in the form of this magazine. New friendships, new modes of creative expression, new professional development opportunities have all fallen into our laps in a completely unexpected way. None of us would have asked for it to happen like that, but I think we can all agree that it’s been a delightful turn of events.
So as I look back on 2020, I see it more as a pyre. It was the year that burned down our expectations, but the ash from that fire now fertilizes the ground where we can all grow something new and beautiful. I hope this beginning can transform all of our lives and hearts to build a better future.
This month, we welcome a fun beginning, introducing the Guide Collective Book Club! We are all avid readers, and want to read books we are passionate about with all of you. In January, our kick-off book will be Ernest Hemingway’s classic, The Sun Also Rises, with a discussion led by one of our fantastic Spain experts, Francisco Glaria. He’s planned some very special live events to coordinate with the discussion. We hope you’ll join in and invite your friends to participate.
We wish you the happiest of New Years, may this one bring you joy, health, and TRAVEL.
Andiamo!
Sarah