When I’m asked “what’s your most memorable trip”, I reply “the year 2012”.   That is the year, I had epic points travel to Easter Island (South America) and Safaris in Africa (Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa) and it’s also the year that I pressed “post” on this travel blog.  My intent was to share my travels, my experiences and help others see that the world is meant to be discovered.  I wanted to help people travel, avoid all my mishaps and perhaps consider something different.  I had funny stories to tell and photos to share.  I was full of hope and possibility that travel afforded me.

I had no idea that five months later my entire world would shatter when my dad died.  No idea that the job I loved would magically disappear three years later and lead to my travel sabbatical or that the world would stand still eight years later in a global pandemic.  We don’t know the future.  We really can only be in the moment – to savor it, burn it into our memory and luxuriate in it when we need to recall that moment of surprise, of happiness, of contentment, of sadness, of longing, of hope.

New Year’s Eve Travel

I’ve never been fond of New Year’s Eve and really haven’t had any amazing ones, save my solo adventure to London in for Fireworks on the Thames a few years ago. Even then I went alone for New Year’s Eve.  I sat in the cold on the bridge and wondered why we put so much pressure on ourselves for “the perfect night” and for so much in our lives.  So much pressure due to a variety of factors to crave a vision of happy, of successful, of something we don’t have. To compare ourselves to others and return a verdict of “not enough”.  I came home from that trip with a renewed appreciation for “want vs need” and pared my life down to do only what brought me joy.  Travel still brought me joy as did going to the gym (surprising that stayed on my list) but other things did not.  I said “no” to invites, rid my life of toxic people, situations and triggers and also focused on decluttering my house, my mind and my inbox.

2020 No Travel Year

I won’t lie, 2020 has been quite challenging even with my simpler life.  I was planning to sail to London on what has become a new annual tradition with a friend. Cruises were canceled.  The world closed and it suddenly felt like you were on a very long layover in a crappy airport with vending machines and no idea when the plane would finally arrive.  Social media and WhatsApp became my go to lifeline to friends in London and beyond.  I took a walk in the neighborhood and had a conversation with a friend in London to keep me company while we both lamented being grounded.  Neither of us could remember a time when we weren’t traveling, planning travel or returning from travel.  Unfortunately, my sadness in being grounded was compounded by a job loss due to covid. The last time, I lost my job, I was able to grieve on my EPIC Adventure in Europe.  Now, I was home and scared of what the future would hold. I’ve been through so much in the past few years that I felt ready to get through this.  There were good, bad and some really dark days.  It took a while to laugh again and look forward with hope.

I love to travel but there were more pressing BIG PICTURE things to worry about.  Friends were sick, one was in the hospital and a friend’s brother passed.  So much uncertainty and sadness. Mom is immunocompromised and was going through bingo withdrawal and missing her social life, which at 78 yo was definitely more interesting than my social life (or lack thereof).  We dropped off food, waved from a distance while she said “come in, give me a hug” and we had to say no. My nieces were missing out on their last years in grade school and high school and missing the traditional graduation parties, proms, dances and normal kid stuff.  Paper towels were nowhere to be found (I had enough TP), my first facemask was the eyeshades from an airline toiletry kit and I was quietly building an arsenal of chocolate to feed my feelings of job rejection each day. I always knew travel would return to my life, albeit a bit differently.  One day, I drove an hour to a bakery because I needed to leave the house and drive somewhere, anywhere, for a change of scenery and let’s be honest, butter cake is worth the drive.

Travel Losses

The travel & hospitality industry has been devastated this year and every day my inbox was filled with a closing announcement – a hotel shutting the doors for the late time, tour companies with no tourists, restaurants struggling to survive with local takeout only, travel writers/bloggers losing all contracts and so many people losing jobs, losing careers, losing their businesses. I didn’t need to watch the news to feel the weight of the world’s sadness in losing the everyday routine, losing family connections and hugs, losing the security they built over the years.

I learned about “Love is not Tourism” – couples in long distanced relationships separated for months from their other half due to border closings/restrictions.  I listened to “Two Fat Expats” podcast to learn of ex-pat families separated because a spouse stayed behind to work and country borders were closed.   I was missing travel no question but my family was nearby.  I can’t imagine not seeing your kids, spouse, partner, the love of your life for months.  We already missed hugs and zoom can’t replace the comfort of a hug. No one was immune to loss this year.

New Zealand vs. Rest of the World

I will say that for my friends in Australia and New Zealand they may be cut off from the world but their lives are somewhat back to normal so it’s ok to be mad at how your country, state or local government and/or people have handled and responded this year to the pandemic.  Yes, look at New Zealand, but understand that the entire country with more sheep than people is about 5 million residents spread out over two islands (over 100,000 square miles).

In contrast, my city of Philadelphia has about the same number of residents packed into an area of about 135 square miles and is often second in population density (of course NYC is first). Philadelphia doesn’t have borders to close to neighboring suburbs. We could never achieve the feat that New Zealand has, their residents complied with government directives and strict measures and now they are doing well.

The Future of Travel 2021

Travel has always brought people closer, to share experiences, learn about cultures, traditions and aspirations.  Now I’m not sure how close we will want to be in the future…even with a vaccine.  We can either go “back to normal” en masse or choose to travel differently. This is not the first pandemic or last to consume the world.  It’s too early to know if we have learned and will travel differently in the future.  We have seen changes to airplane cleaning (long overdue, shame it took a pandemic to deep clean the planes), hotel housekeeping and cruise procedures.  Lots of process and procedures changes in a bit of hygiene theatre.

Now is the time to see innovations for the future of travel.  Will there be vaccine passports to show not only covid19 but yellow fever and other travel vaccines required for entry? I’ve already seen people renting villas and traveling in bubbles, folks going off grid to socially distance (Tahiti, Bora Bora, the Maldives and others far flung paradises will likely become more popular).  Travel (Leisure, Business and Meeting/Events) is an economic engine for much of the world so while I’m hopeful we will return to the roads, skies and waterways, it will be different because we are fundamentally different in how we experienced the pandemic.  Our risk tolerance varies and we need to have empathy that everyone might not agree with us.

Travel Year End 2020

Travel is, and always has been, a luxury, a privilege for me.  I have used travel and wellness travel to reset my mind, body and soul, which is cheaper (and less work) than therapy.  After 2020, I think we will all need therapy to deal with the tragic loss of so much in our lives. We were all given a wakeup call to reevaluate how we are living, loving and moving through the world. We only get a one way ticket in this life so hopefully you have found some joy to bring forward into the New Year and the strength to leave the toxic (people, places, work, etc.) behind.

Thank you for reading and for the kind notes of support this year.

Best Wishes to you and your family for a year full of health, wealth and discovery (near and far).