When my mother passed away two months ago, I thought that my time for unrestricted travel had finally come. Three weeks after her passing, shelter-in-place orders had been put in place, so I became stuck at home. I am not complaining about that, because I believe it is necessary, but all the same, it has resulted in my dreams of travel being lost. Perhaps it’s better to think of them as being misplaced so as not to lose too much hope.
I am sure that travel will be much different if and when the “lockdown” period begins to end. I am mostly interested in travelling in my RV, but overseas travel was also on the agenda. I have no illusions that travel will become far more complex. On top of the already onerous process of getting through airport security will be added some sort of checking for signs of virus. You’ll have to provide some sort of evidence that you are healthy and virus-free. I suspect free and unrestricted travel will become a thing of the past. I also suspect that the processes by which safe travel will be reasonably guaranteed will take upwards of three years to put in place.
And once you travel, where will you go? How will tourist sites deal with continued physical distancing requirements? How will national parks and forests manage how many people can be let in? How will art museums and other tourist attractions handle their crowds? How will hotels deal with things like free breakfasts? What sanitation regulations will be implemented to insure your room is safe? So many questions.
Here is the list of trips I’ve had to put off since retirement for one reason or another. Some of them I’ve been able to do in smaller ways, but the larger trips have yet to happen.
- A major fall trip. Starting in Labrador and following the changing of the leaves throughout the eastern portion of the US. This trip probably goes from mid-September through the end of November, from Newfoundland/Labradour to maybe just south of the Smoky Mountains. 3 months.
- Winter snow bird trip. Ideally we come home for the holidays after the fall trip and then set out for the desert southwest. My brother has a vacation house in Ft. Mohave AZ, and it’s a great spot for escaping the winter. Sometime in the future I’d either like to have a very inexpensive house out there, or find an RV resort we can return to every year. I’m rather done with winter.
- Ireland. I would love to take a walking tour of Ireland. Maybe two or three.
- I’ve been to London twice, but I’d like to see more of the UK countryside. I would like to get up to Glasgow as an ultimate destination. I’ve also been to Paris, but only for seven hours, so I’d like to combine the London/Paris trip as one.
- A European river cruise. Doesn’t really matter which one, but the Danube would be preferred.
- Japan. Three months if possible.
Those are the major travel dreams. I’d also like to hike the Appalachian Trail, but trying to get all this in may be asking too much. The enemy is time, and with the pandemic stealing anywhere from 2-3 years, it may be tough to get this all in. I hope I don’t lose these dreams to the virus. I think I fear that more than anything else. -twl