Last Updated: December 2, 2020
We woke up to the news that restrictions in our area have been downgraded. The mass testing strategy had apparently proved a success and so restrictions were about to become less stringent.
I then checked my emails and had quite a few from the many airline/travel companies of whom I’m on the mailing list for. With various offers and promotions due to some travel controls being changed as a result of the national restrictions being lifted.
And after reading the news, all the headlines are about vaccines being approved by the UK regulators and would begin mass vaccination roll out in due course.
Whilst these new revelations might lead us to think that the restrictions on our lives are beginning to deplete, as always we’re not getting too carried away.
We’re not running out onto the streets with our hands in the air and booking the next flight out! There’s still a long way to go, but we’re now beginning to have a smidge of hopeful, but cautious optimism that the end of the pandemic may be in reach.
A potentially great result for the world and so many people for so may reasons. And more specifically for us, a chance to dream that we may be able to start travelling full time again at some point in the future.
An autumn of optimism
But back to reality, we’re still in the UK, not travelling, but still trying to make the most of our time.
Autumn was an improvement for us personally. When we first came back we had no transport, so getting about was tricky with restrictions on public transport. So we had essentially confined ourselves to our house and some small green spaces within walking distance. This made us feel quite isolated at times.
But just towards the end of summer/beginning of autumn we managed to get some wheels. This made life a lot easier and we were able to take some trips to quiet, open spaces.
We had been away so long we had forgotten how amazing the UK countryside can be and due to us being isolated for so long we really appreciated some of the great walks we went on. But this only wet our appetite and has left us wanting more…
When is the right time to travel full time again?
It’s still odd to think we should have finished our Latin America tour and now be somewhere in Africa, instead we’ve remained in the UK for almost 9 months! But our passion for travelling has not diminished.
But should we travel again? How can we travel again? When can we travel again? There will be quite different answers for various people and circumstances. And we’ve really wrestled with these questions over the last few months. But so far we’ve not done much and just feel it’s not the right time for us personally… yet.
We’re still anxious to get going again and the more developments that happen, slowly but surely, the more we’re hoping it is going to be possible.
But we obviously still want to remain responsible and try to limit our impact of moving about. But at the same time, we want to try to support the travel industry as much as possible. An industry that has supplied us with so much joy over the years and has certainly been one of the worst hit during the pandemic.
So we’ve had to change our plans to accommodate the new world and we’re trying to do it step by step. Our little dabble with the UK countryside has reminded us what we’ve been missing here at home. So our initial thoughts are to try to do some self contained travel in our home country. We’re thinking of potentially buying a campervan, and hoping it coincides with a time when we feel comfortable with moving around again safely. Once we can do that, the UK is ours to discover.
After that, who knows, we’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves, but maybe campervanning through Europe depending on the situation there. Then once that is finished maybe we will then be in the position of flying further afield if the world is better placed by then.
But for now it’s a wait and see situation, we’re edging ever closer to travel and tourism coming back and we’re excited to see that boom when it happens, but I guess patience is a virtue still at the moment…