TRAVEL
ITCHING TO TRAVEL?
Satisfy wanderlust while awaiting a safe return to the open road. BY CHRISTINE HALL | PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE HALL
When exotic travel is off the table, there are still wonders to be found around the corner on nearby roads and trails, and even in our own backyard.
T
he pandemic has changed our life in many ways, and the travel industry without a doubt has taken one of the hardest hits. In the first weeks of quarantine, I was glued to my computer checking travel sites to see where it would be possible to go come summer, then come fall, then come winter. At some point I grudgingly gave up because I realized that the world had changed to the point where hopping on a plane just because of a good airfare deal was no longer a viable option. A TRAVEL BUG FORCED TO STAY HOME What’s one to do in place of booking hotels and planning trips? Here’s how I coped over the last year. Through the first few months of the stay-at-home order, I kept the UPS man (an essential worker!) busy by ordering photo prints and scrapbooking supplies and put together scrapbooks of recent trips to Scotland and France. It had been years since I had scrapbooked, and I looked forward each morning to
rediscovering the scenery, sites and people I had encountered on those vacations. A dose of reality about what was going on in the world hit me when I would look for information on the internet for a specific place to write about in my scrapbook—the website would read “Closed due to Covid-19.” The Louvre, Culloden Battlefield, whiskey distilleries, Edinburgh Castle, the Eiffel Tower, hotels, countries—all closed. The world was closed. Summer came in waves of heat. Days that would normally have been spent with friends or in air-conditioned restaurants for a night out were instead spent at home trying to forget what was going on in the world. I am lucky to live on a country property with an escape to the outdoors. My partner and I made good use of our campfire ring. We took country drives on back roads we never had reason to drive down before. We put a roof over our deck, turning it into a porch, which is now my favorite “room” in the house. And on the hottest days we binge-watched TV series that took us to exotic places. www.crwmagazine.com APRIL/MAY 2021 43
