Vacation Plans from 2019

While on Navy Reserve duty in Naples, Italy, I was able to make weekend trips to the ruins of Pompeii and the town of Kocevje, Slovenia in January 2020. A week later, Italy and the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet began lockdown procedures. That was the last trip for several years. From March 2020, and on paper until mid-2022, my employer enforced a 50-mile restriction of movement. This was a mild limitation compared to the total lockdown of merchant vessels, but did affect my ability to plan for a safe vacation. On return from outside the area, I would have to remain quarantined for two weeks. The message- go big on vacation, or stay at home. I stayed home. If vacation destinations – save for natural wonders - are about the people, then the immediate post-lockdown era was going to be a letdown. To summarize the ennui bluntly, the New York Times stated that hospitality became hostile. There were many underlying factors- from a labor shortage, transportation shortage, and supply shortage to a fickle customer base, and possible owner’s liability for a localized COVID-19 breakout. My impulse during this time was to make myself busier. While working ashore, I took a weekend job onboard a dinner cruise boat in Norfolk, VA; when it was ready to relaunch in the summer of 2021. Before COVID, the vessel had been at the center of the city’s social life; however, I saw that the clientele had changed: suburbanites had become accustomed to entertaining guests in their homes and backyards; and on their personal boats. Perhaps, life for the privileged set became more insular than outwardly focused. For me, planning interesting things to do on vacation seemed daunting, when “everything has changed”. Nevertheless, there are vacation plans from 2019 that are still good to go: a planned hike on the C & O Canal in Maryland, and a visit to the newly-built Christendom College chapel in Front Royal, Virginia. Nature and religion; the two stalwarts in a changing world. We are in what is called the “Fourth Pandemic Year”- the time elapsed since early 2020- now represents 5% of a lifespan. It’s time to live your best life.