Where are you planning not to go in 2021? Will you plan a vacation for 2022 instead?

The never-ending pandemic has changed the way we look at so many things. I expect it will take years for the travel industry to recover. If it ever does. 

It feels like we are trapped in a dystopian movie, actors who have memorized our lines but who have no idea how the film is going to end. 

Are face masks going to be mandatory on transit, including airlines, forever? Right now that looks to be the case. Will that convince some people the travel isn’t worth the hassle? I wonder. 

However, there is nothing like being able to see a world-famous sight in person. On-line just can’t do it justice.
Oh, the pictures can be good, and sometimes you can get a lot closer by video, but there isn’t the emotional connection. People want/need to travel.

Watching the Maid of the Mist on video is nowhere near the emotional experience that riding it to the base of Niagara Falls can be. The view of Manhattan from the top of the Statue of Liberty might not be as great as a video – but there’s something special about climbing inside that giant statue.

Gazing into the bowl of Rome’s Colosseum and pondering the history is a sobering experience that you won’t get from a film. Pictures can’t convey the beauty of the underground cisterns of Istanbul.

Travel allows you to go off the beaten path, to have enriching experiences that impact in a deeper fashion than a digital event.  I understand that, even though I am by nature a homebody.

When I do travel I try and get the most out of the experience. I’ve been to Italy and seen lots of Roman ruins. But there’s also something special about the Roman flavor to the Black Forest where I live. Or visiting a 12th century church on the east coast of England with a friend – not a well-known tourist site, yet still special. I’ve missed that 

That sounds a little like I am being defeatist, that I have written the year off already. That’s not the case. However, it is March already.

I am a realist. I see that governments really have no idea how to handle a pandemic, that their default response is to restrict people’s freedoms, including the freedom to travel. That is a sad realty we are all living with. I’m not sure mass vaccination will make as much difference as people hope. I do hope I’m wrong there.

Let’s hope things look up for next year.