Planned to spend some time today cleaning up and organizing files when I tripped upon a list my wife and I had started in December 2019. We were charting out trips we’d like to take for the next few years, through 2024. When I read through the list I had to laugh. So much has changed since the onset of Corona Panic.

The first trip on the list was our Nashville TN to St. Augustine FL road trip, scheduled for February 2020. This trip we did make, flying into Nashville, renting a car and proceeding through Tennessee, Alabama and the Florida panhandle before finishing with several days in St. Augustine. That was a fun trip- we saw a lot. It’s also when we both caught a dose of the Crona, I’m fairly sure. The days between leaving Huntsville AL and departing Pensacola we were pretty sick, but were in much better shape by the time we arrived on the Atlantic coast. We flew home on February 25th from Jacksonville to end that trip, arriving home just in time to enjoy the onset of the Endless Plague.

We had planned to return to Ireland in the fall of 2020. Obviously that never happened, and may now never happen. The European Union, which includes Ireland,  went off the deep end with lockdowns, mandates and related activities, and I think they’re going to have a hard time recovering. Those countries have provided a textbook illustration of the definition of insanity, continually repeating ineffectual actions and hoping for a different result.

For 2021 we’d pencilled in a winter trip to Charleston SC and Savannah GA, followed by a fall trip to Germany and maybe the Netherlands. Neither happened, though we did pull together an excellent road trip in October, centered upon Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Details of that trip are chronicled here: Pennsylvania, Virginia & North Carolina: October 2021.

Peering further into the future, the 5-year plan had a return to Italy in the fall of this year- doubtful that will happen, as Italy is part of the EU and shares its issues. There were a couple of road trips noted for 2023, one in Texas and one of the Pacific Northwest. My wife hasn’t been in either of those areas, and we may do them yet. I’ll be retired by then, so why not?

The last trip we had on the old plan was a Central European River cruise in 2024. We’re not giving up hope on this one yet, as it’s still far enough in the future where Europe may recover from their late totalitarian tendencies. I surely hope they do, for I’ve always wanted to check out the cities along the Danube.

So the list is pretty much kaput, and we’ll have to refigure and refocus upon the available options for the years ahead. We will continue to travel and visit new places in this country and beyond. Though there are still many places in Europe we’d like to see, but should they fail to get their act together there are plenty of other options. South America beckons, and I’d love to do a safari trip in southern Africa, though I may not be able to sell my wife on that one.

Meanwhile, we’re heading out on a new trip shortly, where we will finally spend some time in Charleston and Savannah, as well as revisit St. Augustine.