Items

• 2021-05-14

  Short-term Travel Restrictions, Long-term Anxieties

  The first trip I took after COVID-19 travel restrictions was to Seattle. My mother, a nurse, planned the trip; she needed the escape after the trauma of working in healthcare during these times. She disguised it as a trip for my brother's birthday. She packed our bags full of hand sanitizers and masks, even though the trip lasted only three days. We planned to wear masks any time we were in public even if it was no longer required. Any pictures we have from the trip feature a mask either hanging from a wrist or our ears. Before the pandemic, my family loved traveling, and I studied out of state for my bachelor’s degree. We took at least two small trips a year. If you had asked me about my favorite sight in 2018, I would have told you it was the lights of LA when you fly into LAX, the airport closest to home. For that reason, I called the window seat on every trip. On our first trip after the pandemic, I asked for an aisle seat because it felt less claustrophobic. The airline required us to skip a seat between each person in an attempt to maintain social distancing. They also required that we wear masks at all times. For the first time, my brother got the window seat instead of the middle seat, which we were told to leave empty. He took this opportunity to spread out more than usual. My mother earned the task of keeping a mask on my five-year-old sister, who hated them. As expected, the flight was significantly emptier due to the need to skip seats. In Seatle, we stayed in an Airbnb and used Uber to go to the places we wanted to see. I did not have a point of reference for normal crowd sizes at the time, but I remember there being enough people that I was uncomfortable. Often they kept a good distance from me but I still felt anxious about it all. I voted no on the trip from the start and spent our time in Seattle leading the family to less crowded areas. However, I realize now that the places we visited then were underpopulated at the time. We returned to LAX as planned after the short trip without anyone acquiring any symptoms. My mother still made us all take a covid test upon returning home. With that success, she had our next trips lined up for us as though nothing changed. Slowly, I grew more comfortable with traveling but I still can not stand crowds or enclosed places with people
• 
  2020-02-01

  Burlington after COVID

  After travel restrictions were rescinded, two friends took their normal day trip to Burlington, Vermont on a Saturday. They encountered all their regular haunts, with some mild alterations due to the COVID-19 Pandemic as it was winding down.
• 
  2020-09-12

  A Covid-19 Wedding

  When travel restrictions were lifted my family and I traveled from Los Angeles to Richmond, Virginia for a covid wedding. The wedding was planned for September 12, 2020 and scaled back to only include immediate family. In the end, the Los Angeles travel party included my mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, uncle, and three cousins. There were many concerns about taking my grandmother or my younger cousins because Covid could affect their age groups worse, but still we all wore masks and tried to limit our interactions with other people. We also decided to quarantine ourselves before traveling to make sure we kept our grandmother healthy. After arriving a day early, our cousin (the one getting married) and her family insisted on coming over to our AirBnb and spending time with us. We thought most of them would show up wearing a mask and keeping their distance but we were wrong. Not one wore a mask, and not one kept their distance. This trend seemed to follow the day of the wedding. What we forgot was how politics would affect our first wedding. Our Los Angeles family is liberal, our Virginia family is conservative and worse they are Trumpers. My family is of Mexican ancestry but the family we met in Virginia was married with White men. The family in Virginia immediately expressed their political views and their skepticism regarding Covid-19. At the wedding my cousin’s new husband asked people to remove their masks so that THEY could enjoy their wedding. Unfortunately most of us listened. Compared to other weddings, this wedding was quite boring, we kept our distance from the politics and the dance floor. At the end of the night we took a picture with our traveling group, some Virginia cousins, and the bride.
• 
  2022-05-11

  Wilmington, NC: Camping with a close friend

  Camping was one of the few ways my hometown best friend and I could travel, enjoy nature, and spend time together during covid. We both graduated high school in 2020 and went to different universities. Summer was one of the few times we could catch up in person, and during Covid our options were more limited. Campfires are objects around which I've had some of my most fun and meaningful conversations with my friends throughout my life. This particular one was especially bright and meaningful because my friend and I were both going through a transitional phase of our lives that was made more complex by the twist of the pandemic. A phase of our lives that was supposed to be super social was made less so by the coronavirus, a disappointment we kind of mourned over yet bonded over. To me the brightness of the fire in the dark woods represented hope and life in a time of uncertainty. Even though we felt uncertain about what our lives would look like after college, we remained hopeful and encouraged each other to press on to our goals regardless of the uncontrollable factors. In 2024 we both graduated college and gained commissions into the Armed Services.
• 
  2021-07-17

  The Spurriers, Est. 2021

  When the world shutdown on March 13, 2020 our lives became abruptly different. The excitement for my now husband’s and my upcoming wedding fell by the wayside. After eight years of being together, we again had to wait. We were incredibly disappointed not just about the wedding, but the inability to share our favorite vacation spot, Isla Mujeres, with our favorite people. The tiny island, located off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, was a place we had visited over a handful of times at that point. Being suddenly barred from traveling there seemed unreal. We planned again, tentatively, for the following July, and this time it worked! All of our wonderful friends and family made the trek. This included my only remaining grandparent who had broken a hip and been diagnosed with COVID simultaneously while in her eighties. We were forced to visit her through a window of a rehabilitation facility for months leading up to this, and getting to share all of this with her was something we never thought we would have. Our friends and family flew wearing masks and had to undergo testing at the hotel before returning home. Inviting people to travel for a destination wedding is already asking a lot, but it was even more so during a pandemic. The experience was even more joyous for this reason. We got to experience the love and support, but also some normalcy and good times that were absent in the year previous. We also got to celebrate my father's birthday the following day, on July eighteenth. It’s an experience I will never forget and I am so grateful to have, not for the pandemic, but for all of us coming together for an unforgettable time.
• 
  2021-07-20

  Disneyland 2021

  In July of 2021 my husband and I took our first trip since the beginning of COVID, to celebrate my graduation from the credentialing program, my birthday, and our honeymoon since we never got the opportunity before (we got married in January of 2020). We decided to take a trip to Disneyland for a few days, stay in the Grand Californian, and get park passes for three days because it was local and affordable, with the discounts they were offering at the time. At that point, there were no restrictions in place in public spaces. It was exciting to get out again but also a bit nerve-wracking as COVID was still an active concern of mine, we mitigated risks by wearing masks whenever we were indoors but decided to forgo them outdoors in the hundred degrees that California brings in July. It was a fun few days getting away from the stresses of daily life, though I wouldn't say that the stress and anxiety it gave me was worth it.
• 2022-07-06

  In the Future When All's Well

  The pandemic kept my mom, my stepdad, and I at home a lot longer than other families. My mom is immune-compromised so our vigilance was at an all-time high and our urge to resume a somewhat normal schedule was at an all time low. Though, as we became more familiarized with the pandemic’s nature, impact, and the possible consequences it could have on our livelihoods, we decided to branch out and seize the day for my mom’s birthday in July of 2022. Naturally, my mom and I share a love for a defunct British 80s band called The Smiths. The former lead singer and front man of The Smiths, Morrissey, was booked for a five night residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. We picked the third show of the residency, scheduled for July 6, 2022, since it was a mellow weekday and still part of my mom’s birthday week. In the end, our decision was made on spontaneity and the desire to see our favorite artist for the first time before it was too late. While Morrissey’s opinions are always up for debate, his resolute nature, willingness to always speak his mind, and his disregard for what others think of him, are venerable traits in my opinion. The ways in which The Smiths and Morrissey have defined, helped, and steered my life, and my mom's, forged a unique bond between us. These factors alone made our pilgrimage worth it. The usual processions before a concert took place; we bought the tickets in March, waited with bated breath, and on the day of the road trip, a new type of anticipation took hold. Concert going was one of my favorite personal pastimes in the pre-pandemic era, so missing many concerts during the first two years was a drag. Driving from Southern California to Las Vegas on the I-15 is a ritualistic occurrence for many Californians, but this time, it felt different. The feeling primarily stemmed, not from the concert, but from the fact that we were returning to the world in such a drastic way. Is there a better way to rip the Band-Aid off? We would not want it any other way. Immediately, we knew that this journey was a triumphant return into what is mistakenly called ‘real’ life. I have fond memories of this trip as it was a big step forward in terms of regaining our livelihoods and in terms of enjoying something that we both loved. Myself, along with my family, were strongly pro-mask during and shortly after the pandemic. I still agree today, that, if one is sick and needs to go out in public, that one should mask for everyone’s safety. Though, being in a family that is immune-compromised, the concern on my behalf was obviously much greater than average. The freedom and fear associated with traveling in such a grand fashion for our first big trip since the pandemic’s restrictions lifted definitely occupied our minds whilst traveling, but in the moment, when the destination was met, we felt relieved and our hearts felt free. In saying this, there were no COVID-19 restrictions in place when we went to the event and crossed the state line, rather, restrictions were lifted, both in our minds and spirits.
• 2001

  Traveling amidst the pandemic in California

  I was a senior at Clovis High School when the COVID-19 happened. Originally we went on Spring break early, but it became apparent that we would not go back to school. At the time I was enrolled in a program known as C.A.R.T. which did online classes, but the classes I took at my home school failed to adapt and dismissed the finals and other assignments. So while the pandemic forced many to stay home, my hometown of Clovis was more lax, at least in my experience. I went out constantly to visit a girl I was dating at the time and went to many local restaurants and fast food places to pick up food for us. I mainly spent my time either at home or visiting my girlfriend. However, when the pandemic restrictions on travel lifted, I took my then-girlfriend to the beach during either the fall or winter. What I remember most was the social distancing at Target when getting supplies for our trip to the beach. Additionally, every restaurant we went to at the beach did not allow dining, so when we wanted to get food we had to wait outside in the cold winds of Monterey while waiting while social distancing. The saving grace of the trip was that traffic was not as bad as it usually was when driving to the beach, mainly due to COVID-19 and it being winter.
• 
  2021

  COVID travel story

  This story shows how important human contact was during the pandemic.
• 2025-01-30

  Tourism Story for the COVID-19 Archive - Question

  An answer to the question posed by Arizona State University's HST 643 class asking where I would travel and why. If I could travel anywhere, I would visit my mother's home village of Lamasquère in Southern France. It is a small village about twenty kilometers southwest of Toulouse, where my mother spent most of her childhood and early adulthood. My mother does not have fond memories of Lamasquère and her family, but I would like to visit at least once. The last time I traveled to Europe or anywhere far from where I live was in 2017 to visit my grandparents for a second time before they eventually passed away. In Lamasquère, I would see my mother's family house (if still standing) and the cemetery where her ancestors rest. Since the village is rather small, I would also visit nearby Toulouse and take photos of my trip (nature, architecture, interesting things, etc.). I don't have a social media presence and don't document my life in a journal.
• 2025-01-30

  Family Trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico

  My family and I took a week's vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We stayed at a VRBO house with our two kids and two dogs. We stayed at a property surrounded by trees and land. We did a lot of hiking, fishing, and grilling on the BBQ. On this trip to Santa Fe, we had no restrictions at the house we stayed at. We purposely chose a home where we could be alone without rules or regulations. During this period, the public was still navigating COVID restrictions, which included the ongoing use of masks. My workplace enforced strict travel guidelines, mainly regarding any out-of-state excursions. I was undergoing weekly testing, and masks were mandatory at all times. If I traveled outside the state, I had to present a negative test result before returning to work. Despite these challenges, my memories of that trip are filled with happiness because I was with my family. Any opportunity to break free from the routine during such uncertain times felt like a wonderful gift. Each moment spent away was a bonus, reminding me I could still have fun despite strict regulations
• 2021-06-15

  First Time Traveling In The Post Covid Era Evan Walker ASU HST. 643

  The first trip I took when travel restrictions were beginning to ease was a trip to Las Vegas in June 2021. Every year, my family visits Vegas to visit my mom's niece, who lives in Nevada. At first, we were very hesitant to travel because, though we were vaccinated, we were still uncertain what post-COVID travel would be like, so we juggled the decision. Finally, we decided to bite the bullet and go. We decided to drive to avoid air travel as we weren't ready to make that big of a jump. Everything was very cheap, including the rental car and the hotel. We stayed for 5 days at Treasure Island for only 100 dollars per night, and that hotel was right on the strip. When we arrived, the strip was pretty empty, which was surprising considering it was the middle of June. Most hotels still had safety protocols, which we didn't mind. We still did not want to get COVID-19 even when vaccinated because we still had jobs and school to attend when we returned. Compared to Las Vegas pre-COVID COVID-19, it was a lot different as many attractions were permanently closed, buffets were gone, and the overall atmosphere was slower than usual. Overall, we had a good trip, but I can't lie and say it wasn't scary to travel to another state after being in the house for an entire year.
• 2020-11-01

  Traveling to Youth Soccer Tournament During Covid-19 Restrictions

  My youngest son played club and school soccer during the Covid-19 pandemic. His club soccer team frequently traveled for games and tournaments, but those travel games halted at the beginning of the pandemic. In November 2020, the team began traveling again and the first tournament was three hours away in Round Rock, Texas. The team stayed in a Round Rock hotel, which was our first experience with travel during the pandemic. I recall anxiety and trepidation during the check-in process, as there were numerous families in the lobby (all masked) and it was likely the first time most of us had been in close proximity with so many people in a relatively small space. The lobby staff checked us in from behind glass partitions and I recall staff's explanation regarding the hotel's amenities that were not available (ice machines, dining, pool, fitness center, among others). Upon entering the room, my wife and I began cleaning all surfaces that we were likely to touch. These included all surfaces in the bathroom and sink area, the desk, lamps, door handles, and TV remote. We then placed blankets, sheets, and sleeping bags on top of the bed so that we would not contact any parts of the bed or hotel-provided bedding. My wife had also purchased a large, portable air purifier that we brought along and used throughout our stay. The soccer tournament itself was more typical of "business-as-usual" as it was outdoors. However, the players were required to wear masks while on the bench (and some players continued to wear masks while playing). In hindsight, some of these measures seem excessive, but it was fairly typical of our experiences of the time (with the portable air purifier perhaps being the exception!). This story is important to me as it was an important milestone for my son began to regain some of his normalcy pre-pandemic.
• 2021-08-02

  From lockdown to Europe

  Traveling to another country has its difficulties and differences, especially when it happens after a worldwide lockdown. Seeing the way other countries operated in the wake of Covid-19 and the contrast of our own gave me a much larger point of view on how I process and see the entire world. Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands. These places were just as impacted by Covid-19 just as much as the United States of America, yet they seemed to handle things remarkably different. A year or so before Covid hit, my family and I planned a cross country road trip spanning the brunt of Europe, which then would amalgamate into a 2 week cruise to see even more places. Long story short, it was a dream trip. Yet, Covid hit, and we feared we would not even get the chance to go. Luckily, lockdowns cleared up a few months before our trip, though people across the world were still wary of the virus. Going on the trip meant masks everywhere, which we were prepared for. Everywhere we went, everyone was polite, kind, kept their masks on and their own personal space, as did we. Now, this was not the first time I'd visited some of these places, but seeing them in the wake of a worldwide contagion left me with a new perspective and outlook.
• 
  2023-01-21

  The Jewel of North Carolina

  The pandemic was a hard time for me. My wife's mental health was poor, I had just separated from the United States States, I became a stay-at-home father, and my father passed away shortly after the travel restrictions were lifted. We needed to get away for a while, so we chose to go to Ashville, NC. My wife and I love the mountains and the outdoors, so we booked a Air B&B in Ashville, NC because we talked about visiting there at some point for our anniversary. Once we arrived, it was love at first sight. The mountain views were breathtaking, and we could not have asked for fresher air. My wife and I make it a point to not look like tourists when we visit somewhere new, so we do our best to blend in. Something we always do when we go somewhere new, is find a local bookstore. Once we did that, we went to the River Arts District and met a lovely man named Jefferey Burroughs who owned a jewelry store called Jeffery. Later, we found and enjoyed a local tea shop and delicious local food. We noticed almost immediately while walking around the city and going in and out of shops was that there were no Covid restrictions anywhere, which was welcoming. What we were looking forward to the most though, was visiting the Biltmore Estate. The picture I am submitting with this log, is of the Biltmore House I took when we arrived. It is a beautiful home and a wonderful piece of American history. While walking through the house, you are in awe of how detailed everything is. The house had refrigeration, a large kitchen with modern amenities at the time, a large library, golden inlaid wallpaper, the first indoor pool, a gym, an indoor bowling lane, etc. It was so incredibly detailed and the thought that went into this house was very well thought out. The house was inspired by European architecture from George Vanderbilts travels. He wanted to create a place where, not only his family could come and enjoy, but also friends and their families. The house acted as a hotel when people were invited to stay. One could truly spend an entire day in that house and probably still not cover everywhere. If you ever have the chance, visit Ashville and the Biltmore Estate.
• 2021-03-29

  A Simple Trip to the Beach

  I don’t think I had ever been prone to depression before the pandemic. I am generally upbeat, happy, and have a positive outlook most if not all of the time, but a deep, unshakable melancholy set in weeks after the state of California issued the stay-at-home order. Confined to my home, leaving only to buy groceries and other necessities, the only way I could keep in touch with friends and family was through social media. Through that medium, I received news of the deaths of friends or their loved ones, more deaths than I can count on my fingers. A facetime call from my mother let me know of the death of an elderly uncle, and then an aunt a few weeks later. My only window to the outside world was Facebook. If I wasn’t addicted to it before, I definitely was throughout the pandemic. With covid denial and conspiracies rampant on that, the outlook for a speedy end to the crisis seemed bleak. A deep depression overtook me. It manifested itself in a lack of interest in doing anything other than scrolling and sleeping. I felt like I gave up. The healthy habits I had developed as an adult didn’t seem important. The stagnant lifestyle I fell into coupled with the unhealthy eating habits I developed took its toll on me. I gained a massive amount of weight, approximately fifty pounds, my cholesterol levels and blood pressure shot up, and I was pre-diabetic by the time the shelter-in-place orders were lifted. The entire experience was surreal, but it was nearly over. All I wanted to do was to spend time with my parents and siblings and go anywhere. My mother loves the ocean, so naturally, weeks or months after the stay-at-home orders were lifted, our first trip was to the beach. We drove a few hours from our home in Bakersfield to Santa Monica State Beach, both in California. Things were not quite back to normal entirely, but it was nice seeing people living life. I am sure there were a lot of smiles hidden underneath the masks as we walked along the pier, and the smiles, the joy, and the laughter were all quite visible on the beach where masks were either not required, or the mandate to wear them was not enforced. In either case, it felt like I was finally awakening from a long and somber dream. As good as it felt to be out and about and among other people, with some restrictions still in place, I remember wondering if things would ever truly go back to normal. The crowds on the pier and on the beach were noticeably thinner than they were prior to the pandemic, and most people were hidden behind masks per the mandate, and restaurants only allowed take out or outdoor dining. Would this be the new norm? Another thing that really stood out to me from this trip, particularly as we stopped by the Glendale Galleria Mall on the way home, was how much more rigidly enforced the mask mandate was in the L.A. metropolitan area compared to my much more conservative hometown where it was loosely enforced if at all. The disapproving looks I got in the L.A. area for pulling my mask below my chin were the same looks I got in Bakersfield for wearing a mask at all. I found it funny and interesting how a hundred and fifty miles and a mountain range divided more than just the geographical landscape, but the cultural landscape as well. That trip seemed like an eternity ago. The entire pandemic was like a fleeting nightmare, like a childhood trauma that our minds seek to suppress, the memories of it fade but the scars remain, and I, for one, enjoy and appreciate life a little bit more than I did prior to the crisis. My health, both mental and physical, has improved markedly.
• 
  2020-05-10

  Mother’s Day Weekend in Carmel, CA – A Temporary Return to Normal

  In May 2020, during Mother’s Day weekend, my wife, Jennifer, our son, Evan, and I took a much-needed trip to Carmel on the coast of Northern California from our home in Sacramento—a roughly three-hour drive. Evan, a junior at an all-boys Catholic high school, had been doing virtual learning since March, and the isolation weighed heavily on him and our entire family. Carmel, with its clean and fresh ocean air and mountain views, was an excellent place to decompress and have a peaceful and relaxing respite from the turmoil of COVID-19. We stayed at a small boutique hotel we had visited before, where the staff was relieved to have guests again, though housekeeping and room service were unavailable. We spent much of our time outdoors, playing golf at Pebble Beach, relaxing at the beach, and avoiding the non-stop news coverage of COVID- 19. A major highlight was having our first restaurant meal in months at a famous seafood restaurant in Monterey, dining outdoors in a large tent, socially distanced, with masked servers and sanitization stations. Despite the refreshing break, reality set in when we returned home to Sacramento. The school year ended, and when the new one started remotely in August, it became clear normalcy was still far away. The high school canceled fall sports, masks remained required in public, and the weight of restrictions continued. Over the summer, we spent time by the pool, with my son gradually having friends over more often. The memories of Carmel faded as the pandemic’s grip continued. The short return to normal was only temporary, and life remained in limbo for months to come.
• 
  2020-08-03

  A Funeral in Safford

  This story conveys the experience me and my 4 other siblings had when we attended our grandfather's funeral in August 2020. In the super conservative town of Safford, Arizona, no one attending the funeral (except us) wore masks. Our extended family didn't believe that Covid-19 was real, or something to be stressed over. This story shows how we tried to navigate an event we thought would have precautions, and then didn't. Lastly, this story is important to me because even though we were stressed and panicked over attending a funeral without masks, my siblings and I grew closer after this.
• 
  2021-08-19

  My dream trip to Italy

  I did not travel outside of the country when covid restrictions were lifted, but I would've visited Italy. If I could've traveled anywhere after the Covid restrictions were loosened, I would have visited Italy to visit my sister. My sister lived in a small town near Rome for 9 months between 2021 and 2022. I would have visited the Circus Maximus, the Tomb of Julius Caesar, the Pantheon, and the various aqueducts. The Colosseum is one of the main attractions in Rome, but I would save it for last or visit it another day. I would have documented this through various methods such as social media, journaling, and/or painting my favorite monuments.
• 
  2022-02-12

  Honeymoon in Scotland

  After my husband and I were married in May of 2021 in our backyard with twenty vaccinated friends and family members, we planned to visit Scotland for our honeymoon as soon as possible. I can’t remember what the restrictions were like at that time, but having the vaccine made us both feel much more confident venturing out of our communities, which for me meant my job at a local coffee shop in Nashville and just a few, very close friends who were vaccinated and adhered to the recommended social distancing and masking practices. On our wedding night, we stayed at a hotel in downtown Nashville, wearing masks in all the common areas, and the next morning we had breakfast and returned home to our families who were in town for a couple more days. I remember checking websites frequently to determine when we would be able to travel to Scotland. We refreshed the CDC, U.S., and U.K. government sites daily to see if our honeymoon could happen yet. At some point the websites revealed that travel was allowed again with the stipulations that first, we show our vaccination cards at the British Airways desk with our passports and tickets and second, we had to present negative test results before returning to the States. While it still felt like these rules could change any minute depending on case counts in either country, we took the risk and bought our tickets. The time came for the trip, February, 2022, and getting out of the country went off without a hitch. The U.S. did not have an official app for storing vaccination card info like some other countries, but we found a third-party app called VeriFLY that was collaborating with British Airways to make confirming our vaccination status a tad bit quicker when checking into our flight at the airport. VeriFLY did as promised; our vaccinated statuses were confirmed in short order and we were on our way! Now, I mentioned that we had to have a negative COVID test to return home. That reality colored our choices throughout that entire two-week trip. Sometimes that looked like attempting to take public transit at off-peak hours to avoid crowds. Londoners were still largely masked, but if I remember correctly it was no longer a requirement there, which certainly gave us some anxiety. We weren’t necessarily worried about COVID being really harmful to our bodies, though we miraculously hadn’t caught it in two years so we weren’t sure how it would affect us. Our anxieties were instead tied to being eligible to return home. I had been a barista since graduating from college in 2016 and my husband was a bartender and musician, so we were afraid of the extra financial burden of having to find a place to stay last minute, booking new flights, and buying food if we had to stay out of the country for another week or two. In the pictures, even when we are outside, we frequently forget to remove our masks for the camera. There is a wonderful picture of my husband and I in front of Edinburgh Castle that would look so much better in a frame if our noses and mouths were visible. In contrast, there were other moments, like in a cozy speakeasy in New Town, Edinburgh, where the fears died down for a minute and we slipped the masks into our crossbody tourist bags. When a bookshelf opens up in the back of a fake barbershop that takes you down into a warmly lit basement with warm, low lighting and way more seating than you thought was possible, inhibitions fade and wonder takes over. Well, at least for my bartender husband and I. That was the manner in which we traveled from London to Edinburgh, Bath, and back: masking when we couldn’t social distance except for a rare few cocktail bars, travelling between morning and evening rushes, and sanitizing our hands as frequently as possible. Besides jetlag in the beginning, we both felt healthy and well for the duration of the trip, but we had three more hurdles to overcome. The last few days of our trip were spent in a neighborhood of London called Hackney-Wick where our AirBnB was a cozy, modern tiny home with an alley entrance. It was our favorite place we stayed the entire vacation. We arrived there very exhausted from our travels and eager for a few days of relaxation before the long trip home. Two days before our departure, however, Russia invaded Ukraine. We knew we were well out of harm’s way in England, but our relative proximity compared to our home in Tennessee made the exploding conflict feel much more imminent, especially when Boris Johnson made some bold comments about Vladimir Putin that week when nobody knew if Russia was prepared to make a larger attack. The last few nights in the AirBnB were a little less restful after that as we watched BBC around the clock for both COVID news and updates on the war. There was one more stipulation about our negative test results - they had to be performed within 24 hours of boarding the plane. In a generally unfamiliar and exceedingly sprawling city with no knowledge of what pharmacies were more reputable than others and regardless desperate to get tested in that short window, we landed upon a small clinic that we would have to take the London Underground to and finally walk a couple blocks. I remember we showed up an hour before our appointments just to be on the safe side and the clinic was pretty quiet, so we stood around on the sidewalk still nervously checking BBC for anything new that could impact our travel. The tests were performed and we were assured there would be results in our inboxes sufficiently before takeoff, so we prayed that would be the case.
• 2020-07-01

  Meeting my niece during COVID

  In August of 2019, my sister gave birth to a baby girl, my first niece. At the time I had just started a new job and was accruing vacation time but did not have enough to cover travel to San Diego, CA for a week. In February of 2020, I booked a flight to visit my sister and meet my niece in May of 2020. Those plans were then canceled the very next month when a pandemic was declared and the country was placed on lockdown. In April, I was able to reschedule my trip for July of 2020. Flying from Bismarck, ND to my hometown while most of the country was still on lockdown was a different experience. Before COVID, every plane I had boarded was near, if not at, capacity. Flying during COVID saw several empty seats with no two people sitting directly together - even if they appeared to be part of the same party. One observation I had was that while every plane was sanitized upon passengers deboarding, I never saw anyone sanitize any gates while I moved through and sat in airports. Driving through San Diego, I was shocked to see open freeways with far less traffic than I had ever seen during peak hours. Restaurants were still limited to takeout (though I was really only there for the taco shops anyway) and most indoor venues were still closed unless necessary businesses. The businesses that were open to the public naturally required masks. As I was there to meet my niece and spend time with my sister, I loved not having to make up excuses to avoid meeting up with any old friends and being able to focus on time with family. It was strange to see my hometown, a vibrant and busy city, locked down and the roads and businesses empty. I felt even more grateful for the opportunity I had to travel and still be able to spend time with family since we never know when it will be too late.
• 
  2020-03-04

  Sailors in Vietnam

  My Covid travel story is a bit unique. I was in the Navy at the time assigned to the USS Bunker Hill, a guided missile cruiser attached to the Theodore Roosevelt strike group. We deployed from San Diego, CA to the South China Sea area of operations early January 2020. When we left for deployment, covid had started gaining traction but was nowhere near the global pandemic levels it would soon reach. In the first week of March 2020, the Bunker Hill pulled into Da Nang, Vietnam on a port visit/diplomatic relations mission. We were scheduled to be there for four days, and the first three days were filled with adventure, laughs, and “drinking like a sailor.” On the fourth day, an all-call message was sent out to every crew member to immediately return to the boat. Once assembled our captain informed us of major covid outbreaks in Da Nang and outlying villages along with the outbreak back home stateside. For the remainder of that fourth day, we were restricted to the pier and not allowed to leave our mooring station. Fortunately for us, food and beer were provided on the pier to provide some sort of leisure. Although we knew dark times laid ahead of us, everyone in the crew including senior leadership, unwound and drank with reckless abandon. We were only 2 months into a 9-month deployment and we knew that this would be the last bit of freedom until we returned home, and we made sure to savor every sip. The next morning we lined the rails of our ship in our dress white uniforms saying goodbye to dry land for the next 5 months. The time at sea was the least of everyone's worries, rather we frantically tried to make sense of the global situation with Covid and what kind of world we would be returning to upon completion of our deployment.
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  2021-10-30

  Traveling Behind the Mask: Post-COVID Trip to the Louvre

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself working from home for over a year. Our area and friends were extremely cautious about public health (Southern California), so we didn't explore international travel until after we were fully vaccinated in summer of 2021. In the fall of that year, we visited Paris for the first time and went to the Louvre. During the 1+ year on self-imposed house arrest, I needed something to keep my mind busy. I took a number of online classes about Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia, historical subjects that I've always returned to whenever I had time in life. But given the frankly unimaginable amount of free time I had in 2020, I delved in further than ever, and even managed to teach myself hieroglyphics. By the time we could travel, a first visit to the Louvre seemed like the ideal place to experience some of this new knowledge first-hand. In these photos, I'm in front of the Law Code of Hammurabi and a bust of Akhenaten, one of Egypt's more fascinating pharoahs. We had to show proof of vaccination to travel as well as enter the museum, and masks were required at all times. One of my favorite things about these photos is someone trying to express a lifetime's worth of excitement using one's eyes only. I look insane. But the experience truly was important to me and now serves as a snapshot of post-pandemic travel and life.
• 0025-01-27

  Athens for a Month

  During the COVID-19 pandemic I determined to go back to college. At that time, in 2020, I was 38 years old. Most of my life I worked in construction and related industries. From 2009 to 2011, as a result of the recession, I completed two associate degrees; following which I promptly went back to work in construction. The pandemic posed an opportunity for me to continue my education. In the Fall of 2020, I began attending UCR. In the Spring of 2022, I graduated with a BA in Philosophy. Being a single father, I have not had many opportunities to travel due to financial constraints and time constraints. If I could travel anywhere on Earth, I would like to travel to Greece. I would not desire to travel a constrained and guided tour. I would not wish to have each step and location planned. Rather, I would like a couple months to saunter through the ruins in Athens, Particularly the Lyceum where I might find some hidden spot with a view, an alcove where I might imagine Plato and his musings, a place to sit and think deeply of the minds and thoughts of those people which lived there over two thousand years ago. During this time, I am likely to journal my thoughts as random ideas and questions enter my mind, a hobby I practice throughout everyday life. I would prefer to soak up a single place for weeks than to rush to see “everything”—in such a rush much is likely to be missed and much would remain unseen. I am 42 years old now. My daughter is 16 years old. Mayhap my dream of traveling to Athens will happen after I complete my MA History degree. Only the view of the Lyceum would include the sight of my daughter and my imaginings of her musings, as well.
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  2022-05-26

  Ecuador Spanish Trip!

  This photograph is from a trip I took to Ecuador while in undergrad in May of 2022. The trip was school-sponsored and was an immersive Spanish-learning trip. Although the trip took place almost 2 years after the outbreak of the pandemic, this was the first trip I took after COVID-19. There were still a lot of COVID-19 restrictions in place, and there was a point where we weren't even sure we would be able to go because COVID-19 cases had resurfaced with a vengeance. Before going, we all had to get a COVID-19 vaccine and before returning, while we were still in Ecuador, we had to take a COVID-19 test to make sure we weren't infected with the virus before coming back into the US. Throughout the trip, we also had to wear masks whenever we were out in public or in close quarters with others. Even though these restrictions were in place, it was still an amazing trip. The photo I attached to this submission is a picture of a few of us in our Spanish class. The trip was three weeks long, but every morning we would take Spanish classes before we began sightseeing. Some of this sightseeing included touring Quito, staying in the rainforest for a week, visiting art and history museums, going to indigenous markets, and hiking volcanos. Of course, all of these experiences were incredibly memorable and fun, but sometimes, my greatest memories of the trip come from the simple moments. The attached photo includes one of these simple moments: learning and laughing amongst new and old friends. The experiences were magnificent, but the relationships I built on this trip will last a lifetime.
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  2021-05-24

  Disney Escape - Tourism Story

  March 2020: a week before my twenty-first birthday. Working at a senior living community on my lunch break I was watching videos on YouTube preparing for an upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. The next day, I received a signed letter from my supervisor saying I was an essential worker and if I was pulled over to show it to the officer. Two days later, I had to leave home, because a family member was scared, because they are immunocompromised. Plans were cancelled, my birthday came and went, and I was unable to spend it with half my family worrying if I would give my remaining family this deadly, mysterious illness. Fast-forward to May 2021: my sister and I’s first trip to Disneyland since it’s reopening less than a month earlier. Disney runs deep in my family. My grandparents spent their honeymoon there. My parents got engaged there. I grew up going there bi-weekly. Even though I don’t remember it, my favorite photos are of my young family together with the castle in the background, on the carousel or train, or young me with Sleeping Beauty. I have over three hundred Disney pins and my sister almost that many. To say the least, Disney was the first place we planned to go once the world started to open again. As the theme park just reopened, Disneyland was still in its testing phases of what was compliant with CDC guidelines while trying to provide a streamline, enjoyable experience for guests. I remember wearing masks, hand sanitizer everywhere, plexiglass dividers in lines, restaurant windows, and cash registers. I remember how strict cast members were and how I sympathized with them trying to keep guests safe from each other. One experience that comes to mind was while in line for Pirates of the Caribbean. The line was quite long and it stretched over to the Haunted Mansion. A Haunted Mansion cast member directing traffic, while what seemed on repeat: “please keep your mask on” and “keep space between your party and others.” During this time, I was interviewing for a position at the Disneyland Hotel, and if I got the job (I did), I knew this would be something to look forward to. Anyways, a guest in front of my sister and I continued to lower her mask and become confrontational with this cast member. Seeing, my sister and I were siding with the cast member and not her even though we didn’t say anything, she started to become confrontational with us. It was an awkward incident, which led to my sister having a panic attack. We left the park soon after, cutting the day short. What was once a place of escape became the place we needed to escape from. Her anxiety stemmed from the crowds, the unruly guest, and the uncertainty of if this day of leisure would be worth it or cause us to become ill as neither of us had gotten sick with COVID-19 by that time. Years later, it is once again a place of comfort, but back then, I wish Disney would have stayed closed longer, trained cast members how to handle guest confrontations rather than throwing them out there, or that we didn’t jump into going so soon before proper guidelines and safety measures were enacted.
• 
  2022-06-13

  Arches National Park

  Once COVID-19 travel restrictions lifted, my then-girlfriend (now wife) and I went on our first long-distance road trip together. We wanted to see Arches National Park. This was the start of our checklist to see all 63 National Parks in our lifetimes. The key memory for this trip is that I almost proposed. We’d been talking about marriage, and the timing made sense. She likely expected it that weekend. We hiked out to one of the arches which was gorgeous. The scenery was perfect for a proposal, but it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I was sweating a bit already and she was glowing. Upon reflection I decided it was too hot outside for a proper proposal. Thus, I proposed after the trip in an indoor location. That is a story for another time. Overall, it was a wonderful visit to the park, and our first trip together of more than four hours. The park visitor center still requested masks as a courtesy. That said, there was ample room for social distancing once outside of the building. Trips like these were the safest for tourism at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, because of the vast open air. I felt much better at this National Park than I would have felt in densely populated areas.
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  2020-05-01

  AIH Covid Reflection

  A wishful thinking of where I would have liked to travel and a short reflection of what the area I lived in was like.