May you live in (safer) interesting times

“No international travel until 2023… some state borders within Australia won’t re-open until September…mandatory quarantine for all arrivals to London…”
BOOM!

While the echo of what for me is nothing short of a life-in-prison sentence reverberated through my head I looked at the many travel websites I keep permanently open in my browser and sighed, shoulders slouched, head shaking, lips pursing.

My eyes happened to spot the forever unfinished knitting project that I’ve started ahem… 8 years ago… and my hand moved hesitantly to pick it up but stopped mid-air while a thought hung in the back of my mind.

“What if…”

What if everyone is being overcautious… What if everyone is really scared and even scarred by what happened in the last few months…

What if we need to be conservative because we don’t want anyone to suffer but at the same time we need re-start an industry that is bringing bread to the tables of millions of families around the world?

I for one, am ready to travel! Nay, scratch that, I NEED to travel! I’ve been to 80 countries in 7 different continents and I miss it!!!
I don’t know who said “We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us”, but they sure know me better than I know myself… do you feel me?

Raise your hand if you look at the expiry date on a tuna tin can and wish you were magically teletransported to that date in the future just to be able to travel again!!
Travelling is what makes me a semi-decent person, without it I guess I would just be constantly worrying about mondays, about electricity bills, about the deadlines, about my yoyo diets never yielding results, about my hairdresser charging me too much, about the dozens of wars happening in the world right now.

I mean I still worry about that, but give me a travel book and an internet connection and I can dream about caravanserais in the desert and trace itineraries along the mighty rivers of Asia until I can finally jump on that plane and head off to my next adventure.

Don’t take that away from us. Please.
Have you booked your next holiday?

Have you saved for years and finally booked that fabulous “once in a lifetime” trip so expensive that the invoice alone is 3 pages long and so far you’ve only mustered the courage to look at page 1?

If you have you can practically be certain that someone will come out and say: “Oh, I’ve heard that because of COVID-19 we won’t be able to travel internationally until 2023…”

The DOOMTALKER ladies and gentlemen!
You know what?

I say we take back our dreams!
Take back our travel wishlist!

Open a few tabs on your screens with travel related websites and keep them open!

Start planning again, because planning a trip is just as much fun as the trip itself!
Start hoping! Start believing again!

I was asked to take a survey by Intrepid Travel the other day about my plans for the future and I ended up writing a plea to re-instate tours in the name of what’s “not even about travelling anymore, it’s about life!”.
I may have gone a bit overboard… it’s cabin fever guys.. it’s bad…

I’m heartbroken by the loss of lives and the misery caused by the pandemic, and that’s why I say let’s re-think the way we explore this magnificent planet!
Let’s make it as safe as possible, for ourselves, for our companions, for our tour guides, for the locals, for anyone we meet!

I’m Silvia and while I’m daydreaming about my next adventure I’ll be delighted to share with you some of the most interesting stories I’ve heard during my travels and I’ll introduce you to my favourite spots in this world.
From gaping at the stunning views while paragliding in Pokhara to sipping a delicious lemon sorbet in Taormina, to taking painting-like photos in Sossusvlei… this world, this shockingly beautiful world, one day will be there for us to explore and love again. Soon!

Silvia
@sundialventures