Category / Lifestyle

Well, hasn’t 2020 been a year with a difference?

Who could have foreseen so many twists and turns to the ways in which we head down the road of everyday life? For us here at The Friendly Chat, it has meant an almost complete stop from running our
little B&B. In fact, it has meant a complete halt to lots of the things that we love to do and one of these is to travel. However, as travel restrictions are gradually eased, we have realised that in order to have a short, local break we need to do so with a sense of confidence that we are making a wise, healthy and safe choice. We recently stayed at Tuckeroo Cottages at Rathdowney and we were not disappointed.

But why did we choose there?

• Past reviews led us to believe that cleanliness was a high priority for the owners;
• what was offered seemed good value for a short break;
• there was clear, prompt communication by the owners about what to expect when we got there;
• we had our own cleaned and sanitised space to use that we would then become responsible for maintaining.

There is the need and obligation to remain as safe and well as possible, both for yourself and for others, but as the opportunity arises to travel a little it’s great to be able to embrace this.

For us, we can only enjoy a place if we know that it has been thoroughly cleaned and that we have the tools to keep it this way during our stay. We need to trust the place where we are staying – to believe that they are being open and honest in their claims of rigid cleaning. We recently had a local guest (our first during this strange and unprecedented time) stay for a short break whilst she had home renovations. But we had to ask ourselves, why was this possible?

So we considered our process prior to confirming the booking:

• We shared some candid conversations with her prior to her booking, regarding hers and our views on COVID and how we were all managing to reduce risk – and found that we were on the same wavelength.
  She lived locally, was well and had not travelled overseas or interstate recently.
• It was agreed that we would not be supplying any food.
• It was agreed that she was to come and go via her own private entrance, thus eliminating the possible risk to all associated with coming through the front door and a common area.
• It was agreed that if any of our medical circumstances changed in the lead-up to her stay, that the stay could not go ahead.
• These arrangements worked well for us all and certainly made the transition to receiving guests again, a successful and reasonable process.

So what are we doing for our own personal travel?

We’re supporting local businesses so we have looked for local, friendly places that obviously, care about cleanliness and are keeping up with current regulations as they occur. We’ve been heartened by places that are open and honest about their concerns with who stays at their place, and who are particular about their cleaning protocols. This gives us a sense of security knowing that at the end of the day we are
still responsible for ourselves, but if others are doing their part to keep us safe, then we have all bases covered.

• We’re being aware and mindful of our own responsibility to socially distance, to carry sanitiser etc.
• We’re searching for and valuing, a stay that gives us our own space with a private entrance, allowing us to come and go independently. This way, we are being responsible for our own health but are also mindful of the possible risk to others if we are not.
• We’re realising the importance of a self-contained space that allows us to provide our own food, taking another risk factor out of the equation. When we do decide to eat out, we certainly take into consideration the health precautions taken at the chosen venue.

These are some of the precautions that we are taking with us as we begin to explore again…

But what are you doing?

1. What are you expecting when you stay somewhere?
2. How mindful are you being about your health and the health of others?
3. How willing are you to take a calculated chance?

When we began the B&B we put great effort into making it a place that WE would want to stay if we were on the lookout for accommodation that met our requirements. Now, in these challenging times, we continue to put ourselves in the shoes of the traveller and have really thought about what the priorities should be in order to have a safe, healthy and relaxing break. We hope that you trust in our considerations of the whole, knowing that our wanderlust is the same as yours.

We welcome any and all discussions surrounding these concerns in these unprecedented times in order to make your stay as stress-free and enjoyable as possible, as you too set out on your adventures with “2020 vision”.

Till next time.

Chris and Trish