MISS OHLALA MUSES ABOUT THE NEXT STAMP IN HER PASSPORT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF ESCAPISM AT HOME.
The only view you have had recently is the one outside your window. It’s easy to feel cramped, your longing for travel stifled by your equally strong urge to protect public health. There has been a way to travel while you’re stuck indoors though. All you need is the right book to lead your imagination on wild adventures to places far beyond the confines of your couch. We are itching with wanderlust and longing for an adventure, but have nowhere to go…yet!
Throughout these strange, unprecedented weeks and months of lockdown and isolation we’ve noticed that social media has proved itself to be both a blessing and a curse. In the words of Jamiroquai ‘Virtual Reality’ has become the new ‘normal’. We’ve had to work hard to maintain relationships, employment and hold onto the hope that eventually these virtual experiences would once again become reality. Although encountering VR traveling experiences, through a series of 360° videos hasn’t quashed our thirst for wanderlust, it has helped to break away from mundane day-to-day life. The news feed and timehop memories which popped up with images of sparkling, azure blue waters lapping at our feet or palm trees adorned with hammocks have merely mocked us. Chic, city breaks we had taken with friends as we binged on as many landmarks and experiences as we could have only dominated our nostalgic longing. Beautiful moments and memories captured before the world changed have seemed all but a distant memory, but there is light at the end of that tunnel! Frequent updates about airports opening up again for tourism have me dusting off my passport. Standing now almost at the end of this extreme journey we can start to dream again, to plan and grasp opportunities with both hands… thoroughly washed or liberally lathered in sanitizer of course! During the most difficult hours or days we will all have had a destination in mind that epitomises the new ‘normal’. A place which we have been
craving for months like an indulgent, fondant covered cupcake. Could it be that caution is going to be thrown to the wind and once dreamed about , ‘Bucket list’ destinations will be top of your agenda? There’s certainly no holding back with our passports, that’s for sure!
Or, are you like me and you crave minutiae such as the feeling of crisp, white hotel sheets on your skin, sharing jugs of fruity elixirs alfresco with sand still clinging to your feet and the sound of the sea crashing and lapping around you? I long for the Mediterranean hum created by crickets which may go unheard by so many and in so many other destinations. Those first steps off the aeroplane will signify that reality reigns supreme, and instead of going everywhere virtually we will virtually be able to go everywhere!
For those of us who have been blessed with the ability to move on from these challenging times it’s about making the most of our means and opportunities. Whether that be high end jet-setting or low key reunions with our nearest and dearest in our favourite bars and restaurants. Make experiences, make legendary moments!