Featured image shows the Brooklyn Bridge, empty from the social distancing guidelines in New York. From https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/03/photos-quiet-emptiness-under-coronavirus/608272/

There was a moment last week that made me stop and think:

I might never travel outside the United States ever again.

And it made me incredibly sad. Of course, it was more of an overreaction to the ambiguity of when I might be able to travel again. In all likelihood, there will be a date at some point in the future (perhaps >18 months from now when (hopefully) our world has solved the issue of Covid-19 and we can safely interact with strangers like we did before this whole mess.

But until then, what are travel lovers like me to do? The answer, it seems, is not much. And I’m actually quite appreciative of that. My son Cooper turned one today. And since his daycare shut down nearly a month ago, my wife Caitlin and I have been playing tag team to keep him fed, clean, happy, educated, physically active, and well-rested. We both have jobs that enable us to work from home and for that, we are exceptionally grateful. And in spite of the fact that we are burned out from working full-time jobs while taking care of him 16 hours a day, we love that we get to spend this much time with him at such a formative stage of his life.

Our travel plans for the rest of the year are basically shot:

• A trip home to California to see my Dad and sister later this month is not happening.
• Neither is my plan to see my friend’s wedding in Nairobi, Kenya in July.
• Nor is our family trip to London and Scotland, which would have included several days of scotch tastings, the British Museum, maybe Isle of Sky.
• Christmas back in California is also up in the air, depending on what happens in the coming months.

But my lack of travel has forced me to clean up some of my messes. I have been dragging my feet on posts about Greece from September 2018, Maine from summer 2019, and  London from November 2019. So my promise to you all is that as I find some free time over the coming months, I am going to finish all three of these posts. I will also begin planning our eventual trip to London and Scotland, because dammit I want that delicious scotch, and my future trip to Nairobi so I can see what else exists beyond Masai Mara.

Travel will be back, even if it’s not for awhile. And when the skies open up and hotels re-open and people overcome their xenophobia and anxiety and squeamishness, there will still be amazing conversations to have, food to try, and places to see. I look forward to sharing more of those experiences with you all.