When Can We Travel Again?
Thoughts on holidaying on a slightly disheveled planet.
Hey you — Planet Earth. Yes you, shining blue/green ball floating in space. We need to talk. I’ve got a few words for you.
I know things are a bit dark just now. I know probably a fair bit of this is our fault. And you’re likely not too upset about getting a rest from all our daily comings and goings. All our business and our busy-ness. The stuff we do for the sake of doing stuff. But don’t get too comfortable. I’m coming back one day so get ready. And I’m not alone. Call it a bucket list, call it a holy grail, call it a purpose, call it a calling, call it what you like, travel will not go away.
Overseas Leisure Group, a luxury travel operator in 34 countries worldwide, just released new survey results that show rising consumer demand for hotels and resorts to open their doors in time for the summer vacation season among consumers who have spent the past months on quarantine lockdown.
The survey shows that 72 percent of Americans are already making plans for their next vacation and 35 percent of travelers would consider a vacation as early as this summer. Other results from the nationwide study include 42% of people are ready to make a reservation now if it was risk-free (no deposit/cancellation fee) and 45% of those surveyed would plan to travel outside of the United States.
And, Planet Earth, it’s because we miss you. ‘Zoom’ is communication but not experience. You have to be there to get that. And that’s what we want. We’re social animals and we like it like that.
Sun-drenched Greek Islands are calling
I mean take Santorini for example — I know it’s a cliche but it’s our cliche. We made you. You were just a pretty sunset until we came along with glasses of wine and the remembrance of past loves or dreams of romance to come. Whitewashed walls and blue domes looking out over the sparkling caldera that hides the ruins of fabled Atlantis.
I want my Greek island fantasy to come to life and there’s only one way to make that happen. Hop a plane, ride the ferry, bound up the stairs beside an uncomplaining donkey (no-one rides them any more right?), and settle into my little apartment on the side of that hill. And if Meryl Streep is next door, busting out ABBA songs and dance moves with a group of energetic locals then, Mamma Mia!, that’s so much the better.
Exotic South America is waving frenetically
And as for you Machu Picchu. Don’t think you can get away with hiding in the Peruvian clouds as you did for hundreds of years until Hiram Bingham delivered you to an adventure-hungry world early last century. If I had been emperor of the Incas then maybe I would have built a citadel like this for myself. Although I’m not too keen on human sacrificing.
Anyway, I still need to test myself on the Inca Trail and wonder at the achievement of that bygone culture. It’s a struggle but it will be worth it to inhale the same crisp, dense mountain air as those warriors of old. And if I can’t be bothered with the hike I’ll take the train (if I don’t tell you’ll never know right? ) and because, you know, snacks & drinks on the train!
India is actively alluring
Oh and then there’s the Taj Mahal. That masterpiece of the world’s heritage. A stunning marble mausoleum and a story of one man’s love for his wife. Well, one of his wives anyway. But did you have to make it so hard for men all over the world? I mean wouldn’t a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates done just as well? Anyway, I’ll be over to check you out just as soon as planes are flying again and borders are open.
A Victorian poet called Oxford “the city of dreaming spires” — I’m pretty sure he never went to Agra. This is not a place to run around frantically. This is no ‘16 cities in 12 days’ tour stop. This is a rumination, a deliberation, a reflection on how time passes but the human condition is constant. And I must go there. And others will feel the same.
Fun fact, it’s believed over 1000 elephants were used to bring materials to the site where 22,000 workers toiled for over 22 years. So, I guess he definitely was quite keen on his wife.
Jordan is tremendously tantalizing
And while I’m on the new seven wonders of the world I’m pretty keen on Petra. I am gagging to walk through that narrow gorge before coming out to the view of the Treasury. Maybe there will be a large boulder chasing along behind me. I’m Indiana Jones and you’re not. No problem with getting a sore neck gazing up at the marvels of the fabulous Rose City. And Petra was lost for over 1000 years! It would be rude not to visit now that it’s found.
I still want to people-watch from that street cafe in Paris or Rome. Actually Paris and Rome! And several other cities too. Do you say that Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky, Tito, Freud, Franz Ferdinand, and Lenin all congregated in the same cafe in Vienna? — take me there! A coffee and a slice of apple strudel or Sachertorte too, please!
Labels don’t mean as much as we think they do
I think I’m a traveler but I don’t care if you call me a tourist. Heck, you can call me Betty or you can call me Al if you like. If I have to wear shorts, socks, and sandals below a garish Hawaiian shirt and 2 old-school cameras slung around my neck then so be it. Staring at people walking by is as old as time. It proves to us we are not as strange-looking as we are afraid we are.
There’s always someone that looks like you, and there’s always someone that looks reassuringly peculiar too! And if we have to travel 6000 miles to find that out then so much the better. The world is wonderful, magical, and exciting — particularly those parts that aren’t home. It’s great to get home but you can’t do that without going somewhere first.
When it comes down to it — travel is in our DNA
I’ve always thought that when it comes to a spare dollar or two I’d rather squander it on an overseas sojourn than stay at home and do home renovations (I’m a squanderer and a wanderer). The house will always be there (more or less) but those memories of places visited and people met won’t make themselves. Wonders seen are seldom forgotten. Foreign sunrises are never the same as when you are literally there — and no amount of cute cat videos will stick in your head the same way.
For thousands of years, humans have been explorers. Since the first caveman wondered what was over the next hill to Marco Polo — who said “I’m just going down the road for some milk & bread” and then didn’t come home for 25 years to Sir Edmund Hillary who thought “I bet I can climb that hill”.
We have a built-in need to be our own Captain Kirk on a life-long mission: to explore this strange old world. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before — or maybe lots have but I haven’t and even if I have I’d still like to go back!
Until then “Planet Earth”, you just keep yourself and your stunning vistas in tip-top viewing condition. Let those ancient ruins remain just the right amount of ruined.
For me, and some of my newly-chastened and much more careful & respectful fellow humans, are aching to watch, explore view, and just ‘be’ right where you are. Until then, as we now say to each other, ‘stay safe’.
Because I’m off just as soon as this pesky pandemic is over (and not before). Out the door, down the road, over mountains & seas. By car, boat, and plane. For travel consumes me and like MacArthur “I shall return”, like Arnie “I’ll be back”, and like the Supremes “Someday we’ll be together”.
