Missing the Road, the Sky.....Anything but these Four Walls

Knowing what you know about me and my likes and dislikes, I think it's pretty clear what I am missing during the Covid-19 pandemic.  And it's not just travel.  It's not just the fact that I can't go hiking, camping and walking on my favourite beach.  It's the loss of freedoms in general and those things fall into that category.  But yet, I am definitely missing the freedom to leave my house whenever I want and go wherever I want.  Sitting in the house watching TV and going for my daily walk around the block are not in the least bit satisfying and hardly add up to me living my best life like I was once doing.

Travel has always been a big part of my life.  I didn't have any trips planned for the near future but, because many of my trips happen at the last minute, it was always nice to know that I could just plan a trip and leave whenever I wanted.   The uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 and how it's affecting travel has taken that away from me.  The consolation I have is the fact that everyone else is in the same boat so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.  The world will still be there when this is over....whenever this is over.  That's the big question; when will we get back to normal and what will normal be.  I've heard every possible scenario and every single one contradicts every single other one.  Some say it will be over and we will back to normal in May.  Others have said it could be the fall.  I recently heard January is a likely outcome.  I've stopped watching the news so I have no idea where the predictions stand now and don't care to.  I'll find out when they parks reopen, international flights start up again and borders start letting people back into their countries.  It's not that I'm cold-hearted and don't care to hear anything else about the virus, it's the fact that my brain couldn't handle the information overload on top of everything else going on that I have no control over.  I can control my intake of news and media.

So what have I been doing to keep my toes dipped in the world of travel besides dreaming of travel.  Well, not a whole lot when it comes to actually physically traveling.  I mean, if you count taking the car around the block to prevent it from seizing up, venturing to my back step for afternoon tea, going to the grocery store and walking around the neighborhood travel-related, than sure, I've been on many grand adventures in the last few months.

I have done a lot of research into some potential destinations I'd like to visit when the world flips back to its old self.  I've gone on a few virtual holidays.  Not the same thing, but hey, it's better than nothing.  It's an escape from looking at the four walls of my living room.  I've read some travel books and I even wrote some of my own travel stories.  I went back and looked at all my old travel photos and memories so I could remind myself that this is all just temporary and I'll be back on the road and in the sky once again someday soon.  I can't say I haven't been productive with all the free time I suddenly have.

I've also been catching up on some of my own writing projects I didn't have time to work on before.  I'm doing some online courses in the travel industry to become more familiar with the business side of tourism and have been brainstorming some new ideas for articles I can work on over the summer.  I might not be traveling but I can certainly put some new twists on some old adventures and write about some things I never had the chance to write about before or never thought of writing about before.

That being said, I'm left wondering about the future of both travel and travel-writing.  I can't imagine a world without either of these things.  We really do need to get this world back in shape!

For now, I'll just hang on and keep thinking about future trips I would like to take and keep hoping things go back to normal sooner than later so we can all get back out there and continue exploring this beautiful world of ours!