Corona Travel (or the lack thereof)

The unimaginable reality of Corona has become reality. By now, many of us caught up with reality. The virus has had a massive impact on health, finance, relationships, environment … big things in life.

And then there is travel – the most important side issue in life, probably cloze second just behind soccer. When it comes to travel, we all have had to compromise over the last weeks and will in the weeks to come. You probably had to cancel trips. And will have to cancel others.

I myself had to cancel a father-daughter-day, a father-son-day, my weekly commute to The Netherlands, business trips to London, Paris, Prague, Malta, Belgrade, and Nurnberg, my second Jordan Trail attempt, the last 100 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago and South Korea (I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Greenland for the Arctic Circle Trail).

And even if you did not have to cancel your trips, you will have been stuck at home for the majority of your time. Staying sane there and making most out of that becomes more and more important. The same as with travel – wherever you are, make sure you are there.What travel will look like in the near and far future is difficult to say and I’m not going to get into the business of predicting what is unpredictable. The matter of fact is, for whatever reason it is, whether it because there will be less opportunities to travel, because travel will be more expensive, because we have less disposable income … we will travel less. And this has an impact on the present – the challenge becomes – ever more to not only travel with an open mind, but to live with an open mind.Many of the things we are looking for when we travel, can be found at home. New memories, meeting new people, breaks from our daily habits, new habits, experiences worth sharing. We often find them because distance creates insight. Because the travel opens out minds. Because we are forced to act differently than we would do at home.

Living with an open mind opens up the possibilities to experience that at home. Everything that can help you live with an open mind. Whether it is closing your eyes after great moments or finding ways to experience more.

I have collected some of the things my family, friends and me have been doing in order to stay sane during a travel-free Corona. Making beautiful memories is not about location, it is about having an open mind. Let me know if you have other great ideas.