It was one snowy morning a week after lockdown started that Tom said he thought our chances of getting back to Turkey were extremely slim. I refused to accept it and for the next few days also refused to talk about it (how very grown up of me ;) Instead I did some scenario planning, to see when would be the latest we could leave Munich and still get a decent sailing season in, on the assumption we'd try to start contracting again in October. The other problem was that not only were we desperate to get back on boat, but that both of our employment and rental contracts terminated on the 15th of April.
It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that he was right. We were going nowhere. Our last season had been the best 6 months of my life, that's really no exaggeration, and I'd been desperately looking forward to continuing where we left off. The realisation that this was not happening was mortifying. I appreciate this sounds very dramatic, and with the world going to shit around us we all had bigger things to worry about, but still, I was gutted.
After cancelling our flights to Turkey and indefinitely delaying Bon Bini's launch date, we needed a Plan B. We were fortunate enough to be able to extend our work and rental contracts for one more month, so we were OK until the 15th of May. The question now was, do we stay in Munich or move, and if so, where to? UK, Amsterdam, Barcelona? We started enquiring about places to rent in Munich as that seemed like the obvious and safest choice. But then what about work? Would we be able to get contracts next winter, or would we still be in lockdown? What would the state of the job market be? Would companies even be hiring? We had no idea what to do.
Whilst I was still in denial and hoping it would all just go away, Tom sprung into action and talked to some recruiters. We asked their opinion about the job market and they reaffirmed Tom's instinct - it was utter chaos and full with uncertainty. We concluded then that we needed to bite the bullet and find permanent jobs again. In sailing terms, we'd be better off weathering this storm in the (relative) safety of permanent employment and keeping our dock lines snuggly tied up until the COVID tsunami receded.
A few days Tom later started interviewing for two companies based in Barcelona. That was a nice option. We still had friends there, the weather was great and we loved our years living there between 2016 and 2018. We didn't however want to commit to a move before securing a job so we decided to hop back to the UK, to our flat in Hastings, whilst the interviews continued and concluded. So on 1st June 2020 we packed our bags and flew to Gatwick, which was a very strange experience. The airports were ghost towns and wearing the pesky masks took some getting used to.
Soon we landed, picked up the hire car and drove down to the south coast, via a socially distanced cup of tea in the garden with Dom & Dan. It was lovely to be back at home, somewhere which was ours and where we could stay as long as we needed without feeling like we were on the clock. We spent our days walking along the beach, having little naps, watching crappy TV and just generally relaxing. Oh, and interviewing. Tom spent a LOT of time interviewing.
Soon he had two offers on the table (clever boy!) both of which were excellent so we started endlessly discussing and deliberating which one would suit him best. Just when we'd made a decision the phone rang. It was a recruiter from Amazon asking whether Tom would be open to discussing a role they had. Why not, he thought, nothing to loose. Before we knew it the next four days were crammed full of interviews and on the fifth day, he received an offer. The role was a perfect fit, and to top it all off he could work fully remotely from anywhere. And that was when we decided we'd move back to Barcelona.