We all need something to look forward to right now.  The pandemic took away the weddings, reunions, family vacations, summer cruises and so much more that we need a bit of hope.  Travel has always been that ray of sunshine, the reason to work all day, to save for, to plan for, and to shop for.  It’s the escape from the daily bubble of life’s drama.  It’s an escape from 24/7 news cycles, an escape to relaxation and an escape to fun. We all miss that right now.  The airlines miss us, the hotels miss us, the restaurants, museums, and tour guides miss us.  We miss them too.  As much as we complain about flying coach, we miss it.  Yes, hard to admit that but I miss that tight, no leg room seat right now.  That seat represents the first step to adventure, the conduit to discover a new destination and the reason you go to yoga class to become flexible and bend yourself into the seat.

So how do we move forward when so much is unknown?  How do we become comfortable again going through the airport and onto a plane and to the hotel?  We can’t stay home forever, well we could, but won’t you miss pain au chocolate in Paris? Miss the pints at the London pub?  Miss the glorious morning views of Zion National Park?  Miss seeing family and friends in person again?

The planes are being cleaned more frequently and hotels have shared their cleaning protocols and health partnerships.  Is that enough to make you feel comfortable?  Do cleaning protocols make you safe?  Are we ever really safe?  So many questions, so many unknowns.

Waiting for a vaccine might take a while (18 months or longer) and even then how effective will it be?  The seasonal flu vaccine is effective less than 50% of the time according to the CDC Flu Effective Studies.    (Note: I have friends who have recovered from covid-19 so I am not downplaying it, just stating a scientific fact that not all vaccines are effective and some are yet to be found (i.e. AIDS, a coronavirus that mutates).

Can we wait until herd immunity?  You’ll need to at some point weigh your risk factors and want to travel.  It won’t be an easy decision as the world is fed with fear every day.  We fear so much – fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of exposure, fear of snowstorms, fear of rain, fear of food, fear of being fat, fear of spiders and snakes (ok, that one is real), etc.

Now we fear people and crowds.  Fear sneezes, coughs and airborne particles.  Fear quarantines on either side of a trip.  Fear medical insurance deductibles (U.S. only), costs and job security if we get sick during travel.  There’s a lot of fear out there and if you consume any amount of media that fear is amplified, for good and bad reasons.

But there is hope out there – we’ve seen people come together to help neighbors, we hear of recovery stories, watch the car parades for birthdays, anniversaries, retirements and weddings.  We’ve learned to adapt and figure a way to move forward. We are resilient and determined to work together to find cures, to find ways support our businesses and communities.

We are already seeing small steps to restore traveler confidence – wearing masks on planes, some (not all) airlines blocking out middle seats and boarding from back to front with deplaning front to back to social distance best they can. Hotels cleaning protocols, Uber mask requirements of both driver and passengers and restaurants outdoor dining.  TSA has allowed increased volume of hand sanitizing liquid in your carryon, they won’t take your boarding pass from you and are cleaning the bins more frequently.   At PHL airport and many other airports, the GRAB app will allow you to order airport food online and have contactless pickup. I’m sure more airports are looking at social distancing and safe opening of their restaurants and shops for travelers use.

I wish I could see unicorns, rainbows and sunshine in the near future with travel but I can’t.  We all have our own level of fear, risk tolerance and opinions.  The travel vendors are trying their best to navigate the new travel expectations, local/state/federal guidelines for health and safety while trying to stay in business and bring back employees laid off or furloughed.  I’m sure you’ve seen many videos, tweets, posts about bad travel experiences so far – passengers not wearing masks, middle seats full, vows never to buy/fly/stay with x vendor again!  I think we all need to take a step back and realize there’s no guidebook for restarting the travel economy around the world during a pandemic.  Everyone is stressed and anxious and doing their best to move forward.

It’s ok that you are afraid to travel and conversely it’s ok if you want to travel tomorrow.  We all need something to look forward to and provide a sense of normalcy even in the midst of a global pandemic.  Here are a few luxury accomodation options to dream about and plan to visit in the future.

So if you do choose to travel when your stay at home orders are lifted, when businesses go full green in your city/state, please choose kindness in the interactions and know that everyone is trying their best. Do share your experiences so others can learn from there and see the good/bad/ugly as we all baby step our way to the new travel normal.