However, there is one issue that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic is putting a huge hurt on traveler’s wallets. Because of the immediate impact the shutdowns had on the travel business, a lot of financial decisions had to be made. While airlines parked planes all over the world, rental car companies found that they could not afford to keep up current fleet levels when business dropped.
This summer, there is a renewed feeling of wanderlust. You may have been cooped up working from home, staying safe, ordering food and everything else for delivery, and avoiding the universe by consuming your free time with social media mayhem.
There is a difference. Since most international borders are still shut or restricted to a few people, we had to be creative in our travel pursuits. Based on what I have seen in the travel media, the trend now is to stay within our country’s borders to outdoorsy destinations.
Which brings me to why we need to have road trips. We get so wrapped up in our lives, our work, and family and friends that we forget to do something for ourselves. Being busy is great and does reap the rewards of hard work and dedication. Yet, you need a reset – a reboot, at times.
Granted, I do not have a religious reason to travel on Easter weekend. Nor do I have family to see, especially when there’s some personal issues with air travel at this time. However, I found a reason to get away from the routine of home and find a new place to visit. Plus, to enjoy the nicer weather that the month of April is supposed to bring.
Actually, one is more celebratory than the other. No one celebrates an anniversary of an event that took hundreds of thousands of lives in this country, caused a further deepening of the national ideological divide, and made us step up the cause of taking care of one’s self.
In the case of Victory & Reseda, it is already set in stone back in 2011 that it will be the portal for my automotive writing and my coverage of all things sustainable transportation. Yet, there was another internal debate that I had to settle about the new brand for this website.
If we are pressed to get somewhere over hundreds of miles to some far away vacation place, we fly. That means the rigor of packing, getting bags through to the destination, going through security and getting on board when you are called to do so.
When we do get out of this pandemic, can we get back to normal? Can we travel again without resorting to extra cautionary measures that we had to deal with in 2020?
The tradition of seeing our families and friends over Thanksgiving has been tinged with the pall of the COVID-19 pandemic. What was a traditionally lucrative set of days for the travel industry, with packed planes, trains, buses, highways, restaurants, hotels, and such has become an uncertainty.