By Roamy Valera, CAPP

I will not mention and/or refer to the significant and major event of the past 12 months or so. In fact, I will treat it as it treated my last birthday (like it never happened!).

I was in a conversation right before writing this piece about why I was suddenly feeling so anxious. I have been in a FOMO (fear of missing out) state since my vaccination, as if the gates had opened and I was still standing by, waiting for a starter gun to go off and announce the race was back on. I have even checked in with some of my travel warriors to hear about their travel scorecards. And so far, they too are waiting for the cannon to go off. In fact, the airline that owned most of my waking time over recent years has, too, sensed I am ready and willing to get on with my travels with an everyday email reminding me how much they miss me (and my dollars).

So as such, I will ignore the elephant in the room and hope you are prepared to welcome me in your conference rooms, your hotels and restaurants, and more importantly, your cities. I have realized that I need human contact and interactions. I need to be engaged in face-to-face conversations and I need to give out handshakes and hugs. I am ready to move about the country and get back to business. We owe it to ourselves and to science!

Roamy Valera, CAPP, is CEO, North America, with PayByPhone.