Hi fellow (house bound) travellers. Well this certainly changed the calendar !
Sooo glad I got-in my Great Ocean Road adventure before lockdown.
I was about to book a flight to New Zealand for a driving road trip there in May, when Covid-19 signs lead to caution. A pre-snow tour of their legendary mountains and rivers was very appealing.
Then as travel restrictions escalated, I made the most of sunny days to enjoy day trips on my Goldwing around the stunning Gold Coast & Northern Rivers hinterlands, and took opportunity to hire a Porsche Boxster from the fabulous Gold Coast based Qld Luxury Car Rentals (QLCR) for a weekend topless motoring experience.
Since then, “stay home” non-essential travel restrictions have excluded even such isolated day trips. Keeping with my normal content brevity, I will post some photo highlights from pre-lockdown day-trips; but if you too are bored, below the photos will be my extended thoughts on post Covid-19 travel.
Living in South East Qld Australia, I am blessed with some fabulous twisty tree-lined motorcycle routes. Mt Tambourine, Byron Bay Hinterlands, The Lions Road, The Falls, Beechmont and more. So to mix that up with a convertible sports car was a very enjoyable change, and Bran from QLCR provided one of the best services and experiences I could imagine.
So where to next ? …..literally.
Firstly, seeing photos from Venice of clear canals, and satelite images of the reduction in polution around the globe, once international travel is deemed safe again, the travellers that venture out may get to witness some once-in-a-lifetime vistas and environments.
An added benefit is helping to kickstart some destinations out of what has been an economic hardship, I am sure there will be many restaurants & B&B’s grateful to welcome trade again.
But clearly, until their is a cure, the way we conduct ourselves day to day is going to change.
A travel bucket list, in essence, is saying you want to live each day to the fullest. You accept there is a risk in ALL travel, and without detailing a deterent list we can all easily imagine, for each of us, the concern about doing something is generally outweighed by the fear of NOT doing something. Regrets.
My travel bucket list is an ever evolving set of goals. I would hope to have many years to come to explore these destnations and cultures, even re-visit a few; but sitting here in isolation stay-at-home mode with my 2 fur-babies, perhaps the best mental-health tonic to the cabin fever, is making plans for the next travels.
The extra time & ability to research destinations, read fellow travel blogs and gleen inspirations, is creating a bank of content for me to reference and set new goals to cease as travel incentives re-surface.
To speculate post-restrictions, we may see extentions to visitor limitations to the most popular destinations & landmarks, as Italy had done in Cinque Terre. That can frustrate some, but enhance the experience for those that plan ahead. Honestly, most of us don’t seek crowds anyway.
At 192cm tall, I would personally love to see airlines create physical distancing by reducing the number of seats !! Where economy looks like first class, and first class get self contained rooms. LOL… yeah, it would make each seat more expensive but that is what dreams are about 🙂
For now, I look forward to getting out for a day cruise again when permitted, then my next plane to wherever.
Stay safe, laugh & smile often, and engage in random acts of kindness.