Jim and Bev Wood had their Europen vacation come to an early and eventful end (Photo Supplied)

By Troy Gillard

WORKING AWAY IN SELF-ISOLATION

Red Deer County mayor home after early end to European vacation

Mar 23, 2020 | 1:14 PM

The mayor of Red Deer County is among many working from home these days, self-isolating following his return from Europe last week.

Jim Wood and his wife Bev departed Calgary for Paris, France on Mar. 4, with the intention of attending a real estate conference in Cannes while representing the county on business. A bit of vacation time was also planned for Wood and his wife before and after the conference.

Wood says the county was fortunate enough to win an opportunity to be at the conference thanks to its Junction 42 development.

“We felt it was quite an opportunity for the county to be represented at a world-wide conference of investors that would possibly make investments into Red Deer County. So we booked everything quite a bit ahead of time and as it turned out, due to circumstances because of COVID, as we approached the date to leave, they cancelled the conference prior to us leaving.”

Wood says it was then that they had to decide quickly whether to still go to Europe, as their personal plans were still in place.

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“We chose to go after talking with my physician and trying to look at the circumstances. But I never anticipated we would see it grow so fast,” he exclaims. “We spent some time in Paris, saw the sights and other than some of the museums being closed, it seemed quite normal.”

The week Wood was scheduled to be in Cannes (Mar. 9-13), he says everything was cancelled by then, so he and wife Bev rebooked a new room to stay at while there.

“We wanted to see things we typically don’t see in Canada. One was riding on railroad, because I do believe we have potential in Canada for high speed rail, and I kind of wanted to see some of the experiences first hand so someday we could talk about it.”

Wood says he and Bev then hopped on a train again to Barcelona, Spain on March 13, where they did see people showing symptoms of a cold or COVID-19, and some already wearing masks.

“By the time we got into Barcelona, things started to ramp up, just like they are here now,” says Wood. “We had booked three nights in Barcelona, and then following Barcelona, we were to catch a plane and go to Majorca Island, and we had a nice place along the beach to spend the last of our trip there. But as it turned out, things started to go sideways, so we decided we better get home.”

Wood says their efforts in getting home faced many scheduling, logistics and financial challenges.

“We already had a ticket home that’s probably not going to be any good, so do we buy another ticket on a crapshoot,” he wondered? “Then President Trump was saying no one could land in the United States unless they’re a U.S. citizen. Flights were disappearing really fast and we tried to find something that didn’t land in the States, hoping that Calgary was the place it was going to be.”

Having already paid $400 to fly home from Europe in their original booking, Wood says he felt gouged by the airlines when trying to get home early on March 16, instead of on March 23 as previously planned.

“Well Air Canada ramped up the price of a flight home to $3577, which I understand to pay more on short notice, but I felt a little disappointed in our Air Canada to take advantage in this time,” laments Wood. “We went through Frankfurt, Germany on a direct flight home and everything was good that way. Then we came home following the instructions of our government to self-quarantine for 14 days.”

Now safely at home, Wood says he and wife Bev are both feeling well.

“My biggest concern is not for myself, but for the population of not only this region, but of the entire world of getting by this terrible virus,” he points out. “That’s one of the next things that we’re going to have to be very aware of, is how we’re going to support our community businesses once we’re able to travel again.”

Wood feels there are many lessons to be learned from the outbreak.

“The key thing is try to avoid the contact with others,” suggests Wood. “This is a tough time, and a good time in fact to rely on our friends and neighbours and community. We’re pretty lucky to be in Canada and see the responses that are happening, and if we take a look around the world what’s happening, I’m 100 per cent positive that Canada is the best place in the world to be right now.”