Anticipation, remembrance, and reality
We might call him Dopey, but at least he’s getting paid to be there.
And he’s not waiting in any lines, either. Disney World, summer 1995
“Most travel is best of all in the anticipation or the remembering; the reality has more to do with losing your luggage.” — Regina Nadelson
“Just get on any major highway, and eventually it will dead-end in a Disney parking area large enough to have its own climate, populated by large nomadic families who have been trying to find their cars since the Carter administration.” — Dave Barry
Yesterday I talked about believing in fairy tales. Today, let’s temper that with a bit of realism.
At this time of year, I typically start dreaming of travel. In years past, this usually meant planning actual trips, but that’s something that has been put on the back burner lately, so I’m searching for reasons to be relieved at that rather than disappointed.
If you too are planning to forgo travel this year, there are plenty of reasons to be happy about it. I’m not thinking here of the fun of taking local “staycations” as a substitute. Primarily, I’m referring to all the elements of travel that are less appealing. Is it just me, or do these seem to multiply as time passes? I could mark this up to aging and getting tired and grouchy, but it’s an indisputable fact that air travel in decades past did not involve choosing between full body radiation that produces arms-up quasi-nude images somebody in a closet somewhere is looking at, versus waiting in line for a public pat-down.
Of course, you can always travel by car. Or maybe I should say, you can sometimes travel by car. In the DC area, this means avoiding the hours of 6-10 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. Your actual traffic experiences may vary based on weather, accidents (yours or someone else’s), construction, and other unpredictable factors that sometimes seem to be related to the alignment of the stars and planets.
So, it’s a great year to be staying home! Or so I keep telling myself. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy the anticipation of future trips, and the remembrance of past ones. If you’re planning a trip this year, have fun and be sure to send us some photos, horror stories, or both.
Happy Birthday today to Beth and Janice, two friends
who helped me create many happy memories of having fun while staying home!
One year ago today:
This post was first published seven years ago today, but it sounds as if it was written during the COVID-19 era. Nevertheless, I’ve taken a few trips already this year, and am busily planning more. Sometimes the urge to travel surpasses dread of the hassles. Or maybe I’m losing my mind as I age. I must not be the only one, though, because I didn’t take any of these trips by myself.
The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
Defeat Despair 
Good morning, Julia! Thank heavens for the J&J vaccine coming out! I’m starting to have hope that one day I’ll be able to be vaccinated without concern that I’m “taking” a vaccine that someone else should be getting. Trying to pinpoint that date, so I can travel with confidence two weeks later, is a bit tricky. My daughter, Jill, says that air travel is pretty safe. On the other hand, my employer (via contract), Boston Scientific, isn’t sending a lot of us anywhere for non-business-critical travel yet.
Maybe I could just drive….
Susan, I’ve taken at least 8 or 10 flights post-Covid. I agree that it’s safe. They never had had a firm grasp on this thing in terms of knowing what to advise; the “science” keeps changing and training everyone to expect 100% safety is more damaging in the long run than allowing adults to make their own decisions. Someone has pointed out that riding motorcycles, mountain climbing, all manner of voluntary activities carry a much higher risk of death than Covid ever did, especially for non-risk populations. Bear in mind that there are more factors at play here than just your welfare.
Julia, as always you have a delightful picture.
I am craving traveling! After this past year, when we can cautiously venture to other places, I will appreciate them all the more. And I won’t take the details for granted anymore. I’ll look up and plan for a cute place to stop for lunch instead of going through a fast-food drive through and then spotting a nice family diner a few miles later and thinking, oh darn. I won’t spend as much daylight time thinking, “Oh I NEED to respond to this email on my phone NOW.” I’ll think about whether there is something different to add on when I have to travel to a usual place for a meeting.
Your outstanding photos of all the interesting places you’ve visited, and the delightful comments you post about them, have really opened my mind to looking for the beauty everywhere. I so appreciate that!
Susan, thank you. And all these are wonderful ideas! I too have been craving travel, and I’ve been looking at local opportunities for day trips in the area, as a way of easing back into “discovery” mode. You are welcome to join me on some local adventures, as you have time! It will involve cutting out some things that we automatically do, that aren’t always necessary. That’s something I’m still trying to train myself to do.