An Anxious Stroll Through the Japanese Tea Garden

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Although I have taken longer trips to New Orleans, Costa Rica, Boston, and Mexico since COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted, I consider the local afternoon stroll through the local San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden to be the first real COVID trip. It was May of 2020 , and, at that point, the most of outside I had experienced since late March of 2020 was sitting in my backyard or making hasty trips to the grocery store. With the weather so gorgeous and with doctors and politicians saying it was safe to go to parks so long as we kept our distance from other people, my boyfriend and I decided to venture to the Japanese Tea Garden for a stroll and a picnic in the park, just outside of the gardens. Unbeknownst to us, this was a very popular idea; we arrived to the gardens to find it swarmed with other people hoping to get some fresh air. The Japanese Tea Garden can be tricky to navigate with an abundance of people around; it consists of narrow pathways, bridges, and stone staircases surrounding large ponds, streams, and waterfalls, so we found ourselves having to squeeze past people, only inches away from them. What was worse, we neglected to bring masks, thinking we'd be far away from park-goers. Not having my mask made me feel incredibly anxious. We cut our walk through the gardens short and continued with our picnic in the larger park, safely away from the crowds. I felt like I could finally breathe safely. When I got home, I was very nervous that I may have come in contact with someone with COVID. This feeling persisted for a while. At the time, it was still very difficult to get tested for COVID if you were not a healthcare professional due to the scarcity of tests and testing locations in San Antonio. Additionally, our mayor, county judge, and local health advisors warned of a spike in COVID-19 cases which did not ease my tension. I essentially waited on pins and needles as I monitored myself for symptoms. While I didn't catch COVID (the first time I caught COVID was in November 2022 actually), I didn't make another venture like that for another three months due in part to the anxiety I experienced that day.

May 23, 2020

City of San Antonio Parks & Recreation Department

Self

Kayla Williams

HST643

Arizona State University

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English Travel

English Public Space

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Japanese Tea Garden

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Arizona State University

HST643

Fall B Session 2024

History of Tourism

San Antonio

10/31/2024

11/04/2024