Future Travel Musings While At Home

During this time of the COVID-19 I will periodically post about my travels and travel ideas. Hopefully we can soon return to the world. Take care, stay safe, stay inside.

COVID-19 has affected pretty much everyone in the world in some way or another. In my case I am at home pretty much all the time. I can go for walks, get groceries (and beer), and message and video chat with friends. I have to tackled a few projects around home and taken up cross-stitching once again. I could do more with my travel videos and photos yet have learned that it is not time I lack but facing the enormity of it. Let’s face it – I probably won’t get through that any time soon. Another thing that I often do is daydream of future travels. Even more than daydreaming is looking up all sorts of places on Instagram, YouTube, travel shows, and the Internet in general. The end result is I have a whack of ideas of places to go. Now, of course I can’t make plans per se, though I can dream. Nobody will know what travel will look like after the pandemic though we can hope it will be doable. 🙂

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SO WHERE IS MY WANDERLUST DREAMING OF?

• MOROCCO AND SOUTH AFRICA
  • Morocco has been a general plan between myself and four others. Although no date has been set, there was some talk of going in fall of 2021. To accommodate us all we figured a small group tour would be the way to go.
  • One of the members of the Morocco group has plans to visit South Africa after and has invited me to join. So that is a very real option.
• GEORGIA, ARMENIA, & AZERBAIJAN
  • This trio of countries has been on my radar for quite some time. I bought a guidebook too. In fact I almost went there instead of Egypt & Jordan back in 2018.
• IRELAND
  • Since my Ireland trip was cut short I want to finish and hopefully be able to meet up with my Camino friend. We had planned to spend St Patrick’s Day in Galway but alas, it was not to be.
• NORWAY
  • Although mainland Norway is not at the top of my travel list (my Finn heritage puts Finland up higher) its sovereign region of Svalbard, high in the Arctic Circle, has intrigued me for many years. Perhaps I’ll wander there!
• CENTRAL ASIA (the “Stans)
  • The former Soviet states in Central Asia of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are often referred to as “the Stans“. Again, these are countries I have been enamoured with for several years. I had planned on booking a tour to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan for this year but, well, COVID-19.
• ANOTHER CAMINO
  • VIA FRANCIGENA (to Rome)
    • Even though my Camino de Santiago was tough, difficult, and hard it was also incredible and rewarding. So adding one to Rome, well why not? I will do this one, though when, is the question.
  • CAMINO PORTUGUES (from Portugal to Santiago)
    • Being significantly shorter than the Camino Frances, this one is doable in less time, but I don’t like to hurry with walking so maybe it will take me longer than a couple weeks. Another walk that I plan to see through.

And of course I have been thinking of my plan to take 1 year off to travel, though that will likely be in several years and lots of saving and planning.

I am being optimistic that travel will still happen. It will be different, yet I hope we can still see, discover, learn, and celebrate the world.

Photos owned by Eeva Valiharju / Wanders the World