Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara, CA USA

Enjoyed this club sandwich at the Ritz Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, California.

We needed a vacation.

I felt guilty saying that, knowing so many people around the world were unemployed, including 30M here in America.

But work during Covid-19 feels like riding a bicycle through mud – you’ll still get there, but you’ll have to try 10x as hard. And that has left both my wife and me exhausted, overly stressed, and in need of a quick escape.

Every Airbnb and luxury hotel we contacted was closed for business. That made it harder to escape. But one property, the Ritz Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, had its doors still open. So we booked a room well in advance to secure a good rate, and counted down the days until we’d be there, taking in the cool breeze and crashing sounds of waves.

The Ritz did its best to provide the most hospitable experience under the most strenuous circumstances.

Checking in was like going to a bank teller; plastic glass, small hole to hand your credit card, etc. But you could tell there were smiles under everyone’s masks – which were required anywhere in-doors on the property.

Nothing was open; no pool, no bar, no sit down restaurant. Not the tennis court, the spa, or even half of the rooms on the property. The only thing that is open is your room and in-room dining. Oh, and the beach thankfully – which was closed elsewhere in Southern California!

For safety purposes, the in-room amenities are also scaled back. No tea/coffee/kettle setup in room. No cups, knives, bottle openers, bar-related products, minibar, etc. If you want hot water, you need to order it from in-room dining, and it’s a $7 delivery fee.

Fortunately, they provided us with a large fridge, and we had brought ample food and beverage for our stay.

What do you do all day?

You sit in your hotel room. That’s where you hang out, you eat all of your meals, and you enjoy the “vacation” – so you better have a nice room with a nice view! Which fortunately, and I mean really fortunately, we did.

You also go for walks. But no point in walking in any tourist areas since everything is closed there. So we walk on the beach, that’s about it.

A lovely escape, we truly felt blessed to be here under the circumstances.  And since it was Friday, Rachel and I were still in work mode. Which meant laptop out and in-room dining for lunch.

Club sandwich please!

One hand typing away on my laptop and one hand gripping the club sandwich, I savored each hearty bite of Bacara’s Club Sandwich, full of decently average ingredients they were able to amass with their restaurants all closed. Delicious on most levels but nothing impressive, it became hard to adequately review this club sandwich due to the moment overwhelming me with emotion – I suddenly realized it had been MONTHS since my last club sandwich in Wyoming.

In fact, the whole weekend was emotional.

After living/working/parenting/sleeping/eating/breathing in the same space for 2+ months straight, being back in a hotel was a “new” experience I don’t think I was prepared for.

It was an unfamiliar yet familiar emotion. Finally, I put my finger on it: reverse culture shock.

We thought we were returning to something we knew and loved after months of being away from it, only to realize we had changed, as did the experience we were looking forward to. I had felt this several times before when returning home from backpacking abroad; reverse culture shock is real.

I am so thankful for the experience we had at Ritz Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, but it was also a shock, and perhaps a precursor for the emotional experience many of us will have traveling again. I enjoyed this club sandwich immensely, and looked forward to the day that once again I’d be traveling around the world, enjoying more club sandwiches in more hotels…

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