To Travel or Not to Travel

Well, the day I thought would never come has arrived. I never thought I would say this, but I think I am sick of traveling.  For now, at least.  

I still love everything about travel.  I love hanging out in airports, arriving in a new destination, learning about new cultures, hanging out with locals, exploring off-the-beaten places and just being somewhere I've never been before. But lately, travel just seems like a huge hassle.

When I last left the country before Covid-19, international travel was a breeze compared to what it is now.  I got to my destination with very few delays and hitches and had the time of my life.  

In comparison, the last time I traveled far from home was last year and the getting there and getting home part of the trip was disastrous and the trip itself was spent with the flu due to a woman sitting across from me on my flight who thought it was a good idea to board a plane with the plague, refuse to wear a mask and make half the plane sick.  

I planned to travel this past fall.  I didn't end up going.  I procrastinated because of everything going on.  Airlines threatening strikes, high prices for everything, illness outbreaks, flight cancellations...then I got Covid.  Good call.  I would have spent a week in Iceland hoping to see the Northern Lights but shivering under the covers in a hostel dorm instead. 

I still have it in the back of my mind to go somewhere this spring but....more strike threats, more airline drama and prices rising even more.  AND I get sick every time I travel now.  Nothing worse than being in a foreign country alone and sick. Spend all that money to go on vacation only to spend it in bed and miserable. 

There are still several places I'd love to see in the United States (San Francisco, Hawaii, Nashville) but with everything going on down there with political unrest, border nightmares and violence, I think I'll wait that out for a few more years at least.  

Elsewhere in the world, it's the threat of illness, flight cancellations and all the regular travel hiccups I'm used to but times 10.  I just can't be bothered. Travel seems like more of a hassle now and a hassle that just doesn't seem worth the trouble.  The reality of booking a vacation and only being able to enjoy a fraction of it due to cancellations, delays and strikes and who knows what else these days, seems like too much of an emotional and financial gamble right now.  

Don't get me wrong.  I still want to see many places yet. Just not right now. Well, I'm still debating whether to go somewhere in the next year.  Japan or Iceland are the two destinations I'm eyeing.  But really, I just love it here so much in Cape Breton that I'm starting to feel like I don't really need to travel much anymore.  I have everything I could need and want here.  The beaches on this island are more beautiful than any I've seen anywhere else I've been.  The Cabot Trail makes most of the places I've traveled seem mediocre. The culture and history is more colorful than any others I've explored and summers here are incredible.  I will never leave Cape Breton Island in summer ever again.  If I do travel again in the future, it will be in any other season but summer!

So what will the future bring? It's hard to say.  As I write this, I'm perfectly content sticking around Cape Breton.  But that trip to Iceland is already almost planned out so it feels like I might as well go at some point.  And Japan is calling my name.  And New Zealand has been a dream since childhood.  I'm healthy and in no hurry to depart this world yet, so there's still plenty of time to make those dreams come true.  I also change my mind a lot so really, who knows! 

 

 

 

The most Dreadful Day of My Trip to Alberta...Going Home

And finally that day came and I wasn't looking forward to it.  The day I had to leave the serenity of the mountains of Kananaskis Country and return to the bustling city airport in Calgary to catch a flight home to Cape Breton. 

I tried to sleep in that morning because I knew I would be awake for a while attempting to get home but that didn't happen.  I was up at the crack of dawn.  The plan was to drive my sister to work, pick her up at 3:30, come home and eat and head to Calgary right after so we could get there in enough time to check into a hotel near the airport and relax and get a bit of sleep so I could catch my early flight and my sister could be rested enough to drive to work the next morning.  Little did I know that that plan would go out the window by mid-day.

I had the news on in the car while doing my normal morning coffee run and the news out of Calgary that day wasn't good.  A major water line break was wreaking havoc on the city.  Traffic delays and water restrictions were quickly becoming an issue.  We decided it was best to wait until later in the evening to head out just before dark to avoid the city's rush hour traffic. 

I spent that afternoon packing and enjoying the peaceful mountain environment.  After supper, we watched a movie and relaxed before setting out for the city.  We didn't get checked into the hotel until after 10 PM. By time we grabbed something to eat and got ready for bed, it was near midnight.  

I barely managed to get a mere three hours sleep before my alarm sounded.  I was up and ready to go by 3:45.  Fortunately, flight check-in was right across the street and my gate was not far from there so 15 minutes was plenty to make it through security two hours before my flight. 

I'd like to say the trip home went smoothly but if I said that, I would be lying because it was anything but smooth.  Long story short: my ticket was wrong.  It said it would take 24 hours to get from Calgary to Montreal.  I had issues finding someone to help me.  It took so long to find someone that I missed the opportunity to get breakfast and ended up having no food, except for the tiny bag of pretzels Air Canada so generously includes in the $1300.00 ticket price, we were delayed 1.5 hours on the tarmac with a equipment malfunction and delayed again in Sydney when there was no one available to assist on the ground. 

I walked off that plane exhausted, hungry, thirsty and cranky and to make matters worse, my ears popped so bad, they didn't pop back to normal upon landing so I was also deaf. It was nice to be home but I was already missing the Rocky Mountains.