Are You So Thankful you Saw/Did It When You Did? (plane, Europe)

[JBtwinz]

Originally Posted by keraT

I am so glad traveling was a big part of my life last decade that I don't mind putting it on hold for few years before things wrap up. I am so glad I didn't say "i will travel later, when I save more money & have life partner" and had the opportunities to do so.


I still can't believe some of the places i have been to & yes I have many more places to see. But I am glad, I build enough memories to carry me thru this pandemic & the recession to come after.

I could not have said it better. I was lucky enough to have parents who loved to travel, even if it meant just weekend drives within our state exploring. They were the reason I have always had the feeling and the need to roam and explore.

I have been all over the USA and abroad internationally over my many years. At 60 I have slowed down a bit but the desire to travel still remains. I have maintained a great job, got married, raised a family and built a home but I have always had a wandering soul for visiting new places. There are so many places to visit and explore, enough to last a lifetime and I could just as well been happy to be a vagabond.

Like many have also said I am glad I started a at young age as I have the memories and experiences and now with tourism and travel it is getting crowded out there.

I never thought I would live to see the day where like Disney there are now fast passes and the requirements to make reservations two weeks out at many places both domestically and internationally

Last summer we took the twins to the Grand Canyon, and made the rounds of the Petrified Desert, Route 66, Joshua Tree, etc. All places we had been before. A good friend asked me if I had stopped at Winslow Arizona, and I smiled and said I had been there long before the Eagles had decided to sing about it. Those kind of memories last forever.

[engineman]

I have visited 18 countries, 48 states plus some places that were not countries like Gibraltar, Martinique, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Puerto Rico. I went to Panama when there was a Canal Zone. I am glad that I was able to do it when I could.

Now I just go to the grocery store, the pharmacy and to see the medicine man. Perhaps once a week or so we go to the county park overlooking the bay just for a change of scenery.

I wish our kids were closer than the farthest corner of the country.

[CanalsLB]

We consider ourselves very lucky. We went to Punta Cana for New Years. On Feb 28th we went to Raleigh to catch flights to Hawaii. We toured Hawaii on the”Pride of America” and had a fabulous time!
We returned to the East Coast on March 8th, just before the Coronavirus s**t hit the fan!
Full disclosure, we are in our early 70’s. I have COPD and asthma (army disability), My wife had knee replacement surgery March 18th( One day before elective surgery was stopped). We are both doing very well if not bored! Are we lucky or what!

[roadrat]

Originally Posted by tijlover

I went to the Dr.'s office last week, an Eye Clinic, and they weren't allowing anyone into the building until you had your temp taken, and they told us to wait in our cars, and they'd come out with a clipboard to take necessary info. I don't have A/C in my car here in hot Tucson, so they suggested I get out of the car and stand in a cooler area to cool off before taking my temp. And when they told me that if my temp was too high I'd be sent to the Emergency Room, I Intelligently, I poured some cold water down my back and front side and I passed.

That's my big worry about doing any kind of air travel today, having someone spring that one me before my flight or return flight, and off to the Emergency Room I'd go? And imagine that happening if I were in a foreign country? Quarantine?

No thanks! I have zero fear of the virus but I have other fears when traveling today.

And I do believe these restrictions are going to be around for a long, long time, even with the vaccine.

You know that if your concerned about your skin temp you can always ask for a different temp be taken.......you know............down there!

[04kL4nD]

These three come to mind, but I'm sure there's more:

1. I'm glad we visited Volcanoes NP in Hawaii just a few months before the latest eruption. A few of the trails we hiked no longer even exist anymore, along with the lava lake/caldera we could peer into from the visitor's center.

2. I'm happy I got to see the "Old Man of the Mountain" in New Hampshire as a kid before it cracked off. Kinda funny the NH state quarter still has it...

3. Notre Dame in Paris before it burned.


Top 3 I WANT to see/do before it's "too late"

1. The Great Barrier Reef- definitely one of the top diving destinations on my bucket list.
2. Greenland/Antartica/places with pristine glaciers - it's only a matter of time until humans/climate change does its thing
3. The Amazon/Borneo/Congo rainforests- see #2
3a. Venice, Italy- It's probably already 'ruined' by all the tourists, but it's not exactly at the very top of my list these days...

[twinkletwinkle22]

We did not enjoy airplane travel long before Covid19. Squeezing us into a very small space for many hours to get to Europe took the pleasure away entirely. Not missing that at all. Airlines are money-grubbers who treat their customers like cattle.

The last intra-US flight we took 3 years ago we both got a terrible virus that ruined our trip. The woman next to my husband (he was in middle seat) was very ill, he caught it very bad within 24 hours and I got it about 75% as bad from him. Almost went to ER in Denver but stayed in hotel to recover enough to get home. Months of recuperation needed and we are pretty healthy people.

Our best trips were by RV out west, fantastic national and state parks, but eventually staying home was more fun.
RV travel kinda ruined us for motel/hotel stays. Having your own pillow and not having to lug your belongings in and out was heaven. Not perfect of course, not all RV parks are ideal and what happened to RV'ers during this pandemic was terrible, they got thrown out to the road even though they had reservations and were healthy. Just wrong.

No regrets on the sights we saw but also no false nostalgia about the problems of travel.
Some people are born to be travelers but I cannot think of any trip I'd ever take again unless an absolute requirement.
I sound grouchy but am really very happy with my life...at home.

[Huckleberry3911948]

Yes glad we traveled right after retirement now is a bad time

[arr430]

I added 22 countries to my life list in the last 6 years, I feel good about doing that. New "flying rules" didn't bother me a bit.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by arr430

I...New "flying rules" didn't bother me a bit.

Life changes and we adapt or 'burrow in' / escape / change our priorities. A personal choice. with personal consequences. +/-

Covid = a minor bleep in the lifelong scheme of travel. Some restrictions may be permanent, and we will adapt as necessary.

Very thankful for all we've seen, and yet to see.

Plenty yet to see, but we are not in control of destiny / others / circumstances.

If it all ends tomorrow (or today). That's OK

If not... I still have 20+ trips booked yet this yr. (way down from 100+ flights in a 'normal yr'). Road tripping more at the moment. That's OK too. Fuel is cheap, traffic is light.

[BereniceUK]

I suppose my first big thankful would be the decision, totally out of character, to visit the US for the first time in 2006. Loved it so much that I kept coming back, which meant I was able to go to the Summer of Love 40th Anniversary Festival, in Golden Gate Park, S.F., in 2007. I saw Taj Mahal, Country Joe, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, David LaFlamme (It's A Beautiful Day) to name but a few. I was in heaven!



There are two small thankfuls, which I doubt anyone here will understand or appreciate. I was so lucky to visit two small English Methodist chapels before they closed. One reason they're both special is because the interiors still looked pretty much as they would have done when they first opened.

Kent Green, built in 1892.






Lask Edge, 1875.