Travel 2020 – What Travel??

I knew in 2020 it would be difficult to top my busy travel year of 2019 in which I took 22 separate trips capped off in December by a 40^th wedding anniversary celebration in Hawaii, but as the new year kicked off, I had no idea what was in store for us.

Over the last few years, I have been starting off my travel year in January but as we all know now in January of 2020, we were just beginning to hear about a new mysterious virus and before the month was out, already had the first confirmed case in Washington state.

Naïve at the time and still hoping it could be contained, I did manage to plan and schedule five trips by the time Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his shelter without seeing his shadow on the palindrome date of 02/02/2020.  But before I even took the first of these trips scheduled to begin in early March of 2020, each one began to be cancelled.  For those interested, I explored this in a post last year entitled Travel Bust.

Throughout the year, I kept hoping that things would improve but once restrictive measures to prevent the spread of the virus began being put into place in different parts of the US, realized that it was going to be near impossible to travel.  Without knowing it at the time, I had worked my way through the five stages of grief arriving at this recognition (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance).

In August, I decided I just had to get out of town and so took a day-long road trip for some fun driving, covered in more detail here (Finally, a Road Trip!).

Then in October, taking extreme precautions, my brother and I were able to travel to our favorite place in the world, Montreat, for a long overdue Bro Go.

So, after 22 trips in 2019, my 2020 travel year consisted of a total of—drum roll—two trips.

But now with the world-wide role out of promising vaccines, there is hope that the pandemic will come to an end in 2021.  So, rather than expounding about the fun trips I took in 2020, I can begin to dream about the trips I hope to be able to take in 2021.

First up, once all four of us get vaccinated but probably not before the summer, my siblings and I plan to take another of our Sib Sab trips together.  The destination will likely be the same place my brother and I traveled to last October, Montreat, NC, the place we all vacationed together growing up.

Sometime over the summer, I hope my wife and I will be able to take a cross-country road trip to visit many national parks but ultimately to deliver the doll house I built for my granddaughter last year (that story coming soon).  If the stars align, we will hopefully be able to visit both our kids and their families in San Francisco and Seattle.

Then in the fall, once the hop harvest is well underway, my brother and I plan to fly out to Seattle for a Bro Go that will focus on fresh hopped beer and many sites in and around Seattle.

And if company’s travel restrictions are lifted by the third or fourth quarter, I may be able to actually fly to a destination to teach one of my professional level courses in person rather than virtually as was done in 2020.

So, even though there was not much travel in 2020, there is hope of more travel in 2021.  Only time will tell.  But I am more than ready to hit the road!