And I’ve been fortunate to have my daughter and grandchildren nearby. But ours has been fairly relaxed, and I have not suffered physically – since we have not had anything like a full-scale lockdown in Sweden, I have been able to continue my daily routine of a fast-paced morning walk throughout the pandemic, keeping my distance, but not wearing a face-cover. The last eighteen months or so Ralph and I have indeed lived in a bubble, like so many others across the globe. But we all need to get out of our bubbles from time to time, so I don’t think a complete halt to all travel is the answer. Even better if all these reasons are fulfilled in one trip! As a baseline, I’d suggest that each journey should be focused on going to something, rather than getting away, and be considered with an awareness of the real costs, including the environmental impact. I can think of three good reasons to travel: to be with someone you love and care for to do good and to learn something important. And then there were the mosquitos in the evenings, lots of them! So not quite the holiday of our dreams, but a unique experience, and something to laugh at, once we had arrived home unscathed. And an old-fashioned camping holiday at cycling distance from home may be the most adventurous thing globetrotting kids could experience!Īfter Anna’s heroic, but futile attempts to make the horse move at a reasonable pace, the only solution was for me and dog to join Anna in the wagon and wait for the wild trotter to tire himself out. After all, flying to New York for a weekend probably won’t save a bad relationship anyway, and why take the family across the globe to spend a week by the poolside when the money could be used to put a gilded edge on the everyday life at home instead. I believe we need to consider very carefully what are reasonable reasons for traveling long distances in the future, particularly those journeys that rely entirely on non-renewable resources. Maybe the extra efforts required from those who fly in corona times serve the good purpose of reducing travel that is not essential. That’s not surprising – but, I ask myself, shouldn’t we all think things through now, and try to build a better ‘new normal’, keeping only the good old habits, and incorporating some of the new things we’ve learnt. We have already seen signs of people very quickly reverting to old habits whenever the restrictions are eased. What I’m less optimistic about is our ability to continue the improved ways of doing things once the pandemic is over. Among the (few) positive effects of Covid-19 have been not only an actual reduction in pollution from less transports taking place, but the lesson that so much of the business travel to meetings done in the past could easily be replaced with digital meetings. Much has been said about the negative environmental impact of transportation, of goods and people, and I agree fully that a serious change is needed. I appreciated the look of the black and white tiles on the floor and noticed the warm glow of the little light in the window, and I realised that I had forgotten one of the great pleasures of travel, coming home again after a good trip. Having returned safely from our first trip abroad since 2020, I was struck by the clarity of vision with which I regarded our flat as I stepped into the hall, so familiar and welcoming, and yet, for a fraction of a second, like a place I saw for the first time.
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