“Travel, which is nearly always seen as an attempt to escape from the ego, is in my opinion the opposite. Nothing induces concentration or inspires memory like an alien landscape of a foreign culture. It is simply not possible (as romantics think) to lose yourself in an exotic place. Much more likely is an experience of intense nostalgia, a harking back to an earlier stage of your life, or seeing clearly a serious mistake. But this does not happen to the exclusion of the exotic present. What makes the whole experience vivid, and sometimes thrilling, is the juxtaposition of the present and the past – London seen from the heights of Harris Saddle.”
Paul Theroux, “The Happy Isles of Oceania”
The time to leave home had passed long ago. My meticulously planned trip was supposed to begin in April and to end in July. All travel arrangements went to hell in a handbasket when in March the WHO declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. I did manage to go for 5 days to Cartagena, Colombia just before the virus spread to South America and for a while, I thought that it was going to be my only trip in 2020.
I watched sadly how one day replaced the other. The trip calendar told me that on this particular day I should have been in Belgium, then the following week in North Macedonia. No, I did not stay idle. My freelancing as a translator/remote interpreter provided me with a steady stream of projects. I hiked in Colorado with friends.
I turned a patch of land in the backyard overgrown with groundcovers into a lovely herb garden.
In the evenings, watching TV, I knitted a wool sweater that I named Corona.
I wrote in my blog about past trips. But it was not enough. I longed for the wind in my hair. I needed a total change of scenery.
But how does one travel amid the pandemic? A day trip to visit the Russian consulate in Houston served as a test. I had to do some paperwork there. The flights in both directions were full. I took all possible precautions – wore a mask, tried not to touch anything with my bare hands, used hand sanitizer and wet disinfecting wipes. In Houston, I maintained the required 6-foot distance which was easy because I hardly met any people there. The consulate staff worked behind a glass partition.
When I returned home I self-quarantined for 7 days. I mean I did not leave the house at all. Since no virus symptoms appeared, I decided not to cancel an appointment with my eye surgeon that would be difficult to reschedule. The main issue with my eyes is retina wrinkling, also called macula pucker. The doctor said that my eyes’ condition was stable. The sensation in my eyes that I described was most likely caused by allergy and the dry air of Colorado.
Encouraged by this news and the successful trip to Houston, I thought that a change of climate would do good for my eyes and overall health. After a few more days at home to be sure that I did not get COVID-19, I bought a ticket to Europe.
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