These days of social distancing are folding one into the next, as if the calendar’s only purpose is to decorate our desktops. Except for daily walks in the neighborhood and weekly grocery runs, we remain inside, quarantined in a strange new existence, hiding from an invisible foe we hope to never meet.
It has been almost two months since I finished putting together a new travel destinations page for The Modern Postcard. I have been looking forward to sharing it, but every time I see the title staring out from my drafts folder, I question its significance. In this season of uncertainty, life as we now know it is about places not to visit rather than destination ideas.
And yet… I refuse to believe that a quarantine means putting a “do not enter” sign on our dreams and plans. Even if things we love to do are off limits for a while, isn’t it still possible to look to the future with a positive – yet realistic – sense of hope and adjusted expectations? The quarantine may have taken away our momentary freedom to move about, but it is just that – momentary.
Introducing…
And so I’ve decided to dust off the draft and introduce this new addition to The Modern Postcard. My intention was to create a place to quickly view and link to topics I’ve covered these past four-and-a-half years. Destinations is organized by continent – in honor of recently stepping onto continent number seven – with countries listed alphabetically. Links to stories appear under each country in the order in which they were written. I’ve also added an eighth “continent” for Notes from Home pieces, with several sub-categories for easier reference.
Destinations can be accessed directly on the Home page menu in the upper right-hand corner. It will be updated with each new post. Stories and topics also will continue to appear in the Categories and Archives listings on the Blog sidebar.
It may be a while before we can begin dipping our toes back into the travel waters. But we can still dream about it. And maybe even make some plans.
https://www.themodernpostcard.com/destinations/
I appreciate yoursite of:
https://www.themodernpostcard.com/destinations/
I’ve noticed the newspapers lost Travel Sections and put more pages in Food Sections. I think they moved that section to Dream Section not being visible. Now, we can travel in Dream by Fantasy Bus. Traveling may be imbedded in our DNA as our ancestors wandered around in the wilderness, I am sure. It should be essential for survival and remains in DNA. Survival needs are being met nowadays. Therefore, that mutates to Life Enrichment. Enrichment needs never be fulfilled. Life will go on and traveling will go on, I am sure.
Thank you so much, Myron! That’s such an interesting perspective. I love the idea that traveling is imbedded in our DNA. And you’re so right that traveling will go on – even if we have to settle for the virtual kind right now 🙂
For those who love and live to travel this is a very difficult time.
My son is the co-owner of “Trip Scout” and now that everyone who loves to travel is stuck at home he and his partner have started a #TravelFromHome movement (that was the subbed of a NY Times article a well or so ago) that among other things has pivoted and has been sponsoring Zoom meetings with speakers like Andrew Zimmern and Lee Abbomante (I believe Pauline Frommer is this week, along with Scott Keyes) to help people pass this time work an on the future.
Last week in one of the broadcasts with guests from “The Points Guy” and “Miles to Memories” the pessimistic outlook was that international travel may not start in earnest until 2021.
Terrible news, but your new blog addition keeps the desire alive in preparation for a day that will inevitably arrive
George, I’ve thought about Trip Scout and wondered how your son was doing during this time of no travel. It sounds like he has come up with a creative solution! Zoom has been a great lifeline for communicating with our family, and it makes sense for so many varied arenas. Thanks for sharing here, and all the best to you and your family!