It’s been a year…It’s been a year since I woke up in the middle of the night in Portugal desperately searching for a plane back to the US. It’s been a year I’ve spent any time actively thinking about planning any major trips. It’s been a year of exploring the richness of New England with the eye of a tourist. It’s been a year since contributing anything to this travel community. It’s been a year… Now it’s time to dream about travel in 2021 and beyond.
It’s time. It’s time to dust off the cobwebs and explore what the future of travel looks like. It’s time to get excited again viewing the vast variety and spectacle the world has to offer, even if that only means hoping, dreaming and planning in 2021. It’s time for me to re-engage with this community and provide content for trips that are feasible this year as well as those that are hopes for the future. It’s time to get excited about possibility and reconnect with past trips, determining the best way to move forward safely, responsibly and with enthusiasm.
Lisbon, Portugal, March 2020 
Jerónimos Monastery closed due to pandemic but still beautiful outside 
The streets of Chiado in Lisbon Portugal minus the throng of shoppers March 2020 
Praça do Comércio in Lisbon Portugal, March 2020, minus the thousands of tourists 
Lisbon, Portugal March 2020 
Almost empty market in Lisbon, Portugal
Ethical Travel in 2021 and Beyond
So what does travel look like in 2021? For me, it is about exploring the magnificent outdoors, first close to home in New England and then, vaccines and variants allowing, expanding further out into the vast grandeur of the US National Parks in the West. What is not likely, at least for me, is international trips. After experiencing the stress of almost a week in Portugal unsure of when we would be able to get home as it quickly moved to an almost total lockdown, I know that the pandemic has created a situation that is very fluid and unable to predict. When we went to Portugal in very early March 2020, there were less than a handful of cases there but in a little over a week, everything changed. Cases were still low but everything began to close and flights to the US were being cancelled at a rapid pace. To avoid being in that situation again and because of the ethical implications of international traveling while the pandemic is still going on, my planned travel for 2021 is local, then after vaccinations, regional and hopefully expanding out further in the US later in the year.
To travel ethically during this pandemic, you’ll want to minimize your chance spreading the virus. This means avoiding places that have not gotten the virus under control, getting vaccinated and testing before and after travel. For both domestic and international travel, you need to carefully weigh the good you can bring by spending money in local economies against the risk of spreading COVID-19, particularly to destinations without robust public health care systems. To learn about the coronavirus risk in a specific country, you can visit the C.D.C. website. The State Department website provides recommendations for safer and smoother air travel as well. You can download a free ebook from Fodors and WebMD on Safe Travel. It may not be completely up to date but it still provides some good general advice about traveling during this pandemic.
All about the Locals…
For now, I will continue exploring the quiet beauty and stillness of the verdant forests surrounding me, the invigorating wildness of the rocky New England shoreline, the lushness of the lakes and mountains nearby. A visit to Acadia National Park, in Downeast Maine is in the planning stage for spring, a chance to explore the other shoulder season, having recently gone there in the fall. Getting to see the wildflowers and new buds as everything is starting to turn green should be a really interesting contrast to seeing the green quickly turning to vibrant fall colors late last September.
For our community members who love the outdoors as much as me, I will be adding a Hiking section to highlight hidden wonders and suggestions for getting off the beaten path even at destinations as popular as Acadia. I have found new spots that quickly have become favorites as well as rediscovering old favorites that have gotten miles of new trails to explore in recent years. Check out a preview in the slideshow below and be sure to visit our community over the next few months as these posts get added. You can join the mailing list below to get updates as they come. I hope you have found your own great places to explore as well! If you’d like to contribute a blog about your favorite places to get outdoors or have some fantastic trips to share, reach out on our Contact Us page.
The Future: Dreaming International!
I am hopeful for international travel in 2022 and I do love armchair exploration, (see The Quest for Amazing Destinations) so what better time to start planning and hoping! I’m organizing and prioritizing my bucket list, keeping in mind what countries are likely to be safe to travel to and which are likely to open to vaccinated travelers. Hopefully a previously planned 2020 trip to New Zealand will be possible in 2022 with vaccinations and negative tests in hand. But if not, exploring through pictures, websites, books and movies is still worthwhile; we did recently do a Lord of the Rings marathon which is always gives a good dose of New Zealand beauty and a fun epic adventure as well! There is a lot of prediction that thoughtful, sustainable slow travel will be the wave of the future which is a philosophy I have always been happy to embrace. So I will be using my time wisely, planning vacations that let me explore places more fully and deeply. And while I am dreaming of a future being able to travel to distant shores, I will be appreciating the wonders that exists all around me now. Wonders that I am grateful for being able to see through a new lens!
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