I have taken several online writing courses since house-arrest began, and in one (a session put on by Connie Messing, one of the Writers in Residence for Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries), we were asked to write (with no thinking or prep time) about what we are missing or going to miss because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Here’s what came out.
Travel has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories was from when I was three. My family was on a ship, crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Not sure if we were on our way to Sweden, or on our way back to Canada having spent a year there. We hit stormy weather and, my parents tell me, we were on an old Polish warship with no stabilizers. Everybody, including the crew, got seasick. Everyone, that is, except for my brother, aged five, a 4-year old girl, and me. We had the run of the place!
There was a lovely playroom on the ship; it even had a big red slide in it. I didn’t go there much at first, though, because it was mobbed with bigger kids, and there was a nasty old crone who guarded the playroom. I didn’t want to be there when she was. Fortunately, she disappeared once the waves got rough. So did all the other kids, apart from the three of us. We had a great time.
We ran up and down the hallways in our pyjamas. We did whatever we wanted. Our parents were too sick to worry about what we were up to. My mother tells me that a green-looking waiter would stumble to our room periodically bringing food for my brother and me; nobody else wanted to eat. I drove everyone crazy sitting on the floor in our tiny cabin, mimicking the waves with a piece of grapefruit on my spoon, singing, “Up and down! Up and down!” I think that’s when they sent me to go play somewhere else.
In the decades since then, there have been few years in which I did not travel. Sometimes it was just the simple four or five hour flight back to Edmonton from Toronto or Montreal to visit my family. More recently it has been to less common locations, such as Kuwait, Cape Verde, and South Africa.
I was in Spain when the pandemic reached Europe. At first my husband and I thought we’d ride it out there, but as the numbers mounted we started to wonder if we were making the right decision. Then Prime Minister Trudeau said, “Get your asses back here” (or words to that effect), and my 88 year old mother kept asking when we were coming home, making it clear she was worried sick about us. Health insurance companies began warning people that they would soon no longer be covered out of country, and all but four Canadian airports were shut down to international flights. The Spanish government put us all in lockdown; we weren’t even allowed to go out for walks. So we decided to come home. Much easier said than done, but $15,000 in plane tickets later, we finally made it back.
So what I will miss most is travel. We lost the last month of our trip this year; time we had planned to spend cycling in southern Spain and touring Morocco. My husband is retiring at the end of this year, and our retirement plan was to spend several months each year in a warmer place during the winter. Now who knows if it will happen at the end of this year and into next spring. We keep looking at the pandemic data, and it seems clear there will be a rebound by the fall. Will it continue into the winter? How long will it take to get a vaccine? They say one to two years. That’s a long time for no travel.
Once we can, theoretically, travel again, what will it be like? I imagine that airplane prices will double at least. They won’t be able to pack us in as tightly as they do now, and fewer passengers per plane means they have to charge more just to break even. They’ll also have to charge more to try to recoup the losses. And/or the few remaining airlines – those that don’t go bankrupt – will be able to charge more because there will be less competition (#economics). So even once borders are open and planes are flying, our dream of five months away each year may no longer be affordable. That means rethinking our whole approach to retirement. At this point, it is all too uncertain to contemplate. We can’t plan for the unknown. A tough lesson for control freaks to digest.
I miss going to the library! I’m an avid reader, but I don’t like to read books on my computer or smartphone. I’ve had to borrow books from friends or purchase them online, and I really don’t need any more “stuff” to fill my shelves!
I miss traveling, too. We were supposed to go on a weeklong vacation in May in our camper; that didn’t happen since all the campgrounds were closed. Thankfully, we hadn’t paid for anything in advance. (I’m still in shock over your $15,000 in airline tickets to get home!)
Thanks for the comment, Ellen. I’ve been borrowing a lot of e-books and downloadable audio-books from the library. But, as a traveler, I’ve learned to forego the pleasure of physical books and learn to focus on the advantages of digital.
I missed and still do the veterinary. My dog is not small and I kind of don’t have a big shower to shower him. For sure I will miss traveling, busy airports. I am surprised I did not miss many things like the gym, the barber I think I got adapted very good to the new “normality”.
That’s an interesting one. As a non-pet owner, I wouldn’t have thought of that! As to the gym, we are loving exercising outdoors, as we did in Peru, while the weather cooperates.
What do I miss? It would have to be getting together with friends. Stuff we just took for granted — and why not? — before. But now that we are able to see friends at the appropriate distance, outside, I appreciate these visits so much more. I feel extremely grateful – for our healthcare and food supply workers, for the good weather, for having a home to live in, and I must add, for being retired and not having young kids at home. I can hardly imagine what this must be like for families or single parents with a child who should be in daycare, another one or two who you’re expected to keep on track with their online school work, and also trying to do your job from home or, having little income! My heart goes out to everyone who is under stress right now.
Absolutely! I keep thinking about that too. How the heck do they cope? At our stage of life (and with adequate income) it is really not that big a deal. But the situation you describe would be soooo stressful!