These days I'll take whatever travel I can get. Tampa, Florida isn't new for me, but I was there for the Annual International Downtown Association conference and that meant looking at it from a totally different lens. Me and my work colleagues explored the city, riding the street car and ferries and walked around seeing their many streetscape and public realm innovations. We also got to geek out on urban planning successes of cities all over during COVID and beyond. And it was extra fun to spend so much quality and quantity time with my New York colleagues. The pandemic was hard on all of us and this conference gave us time to appreciate all we have accomplished and remind me what a great job I have and how great the people I work with are.
My mom always told me to tack on a few days at the beach to any trip, so I headed to St. Petersburg with my friend Christy. We enjoyed an afternoon downtown checking out their new totally cool waterfront pier and their amazing farmers market, which had a little bit of everything. St. Pete definitely has some little bits of creative and quirky charms, so I can see why its growing so fast. Then of course, the beach was very enjoyable even if resort travel isn't exactly my style. But as the saying goes, when in Rome. And when in Florida... you certainly stay in big hotels and slide down giant water slides!
Lastly, I'm not gonna lie. It was nice to be in a place that didn't feel as stressed about covid. Strange but good. Mind you, it definitely didn't feel normal at all. Covid is affecting everywhere.
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