Almost one year ago we wrote about dreams for 2021 rather than plans. We were in full lockdown at the time and there was so much uncertainty back then that any hope of a holiday even in our own country seemed remote.
On 1st January 2021, our 2021 travel ideas were:
- February: Chris and I considered booking a cottage for a week in Cornwall
- September: we had re-booked our Road to Rome trekking trip
- We were looking at the Azores
- And also Borneo for our November wedding anniversary
Of these we did actually have a week in Cornwall! There was no chance of this taking place in February 2021 however as lockdown restrictions eased we enjoyed a wonderful week in September in the north of Cornwall. This was booked in place of our once-again-cancelled Road to Rome trip and we went with our friends Russell & Roza and Flo & Mike. We were fortunate to begin this trip with a couple of nights in Plymouth where we had a great time staying with Chris’s brother Andy and his wife Teresa.
Road to Rome was moved again and all has been re-booked for May 2022 (????). The Azores and Borneo remain on the wish list.
I did spend some lockdown time throughout 2021 reflecting and posting blogs to keep memories of past trips alive and this is a summary of those actually taken in 2021:
- Jun: we enjoyed a camping weekend in the Brecon Beacons in South Wales
- Jul: I spent a couple of days in Brighton with my daughter Zoe
- Sep: we spent two days in Plymouth followed by a week in the north of Cornwall
- Oct: we had a week in Anglesey
- Nov: and a week in Asturias, Spain
On the spur of the moment we had booked a pre-Christmas mini break to Krakow with sipping mulled wine in the Christmas markets of the mediaeval Old Town square in mind. Unfortunately we had to postpone shortly afterwards due to the tighter Covid restrictions caused by the Omicron variant and the (not feasible) need to isolate while awaiting PCR test results.
We are fortunate that neither of us has as yet contracted Covid and we realise there are many people far worse off but after nearly 2 years the pandemic seems never ending. The biggest impact for us has been a significant loss of income for Chris whose business as a self-employed driving instructor was forced to close. Thankfully he was able to secure employment in a different field.
The pandemic hasn’t been ideal for our chosen lifestyle either. In 2013 we sold our house and downsized to a top floor flat with the intention of regularly leaving our secure easy-to-maintain base and spending our increased disposable income on exploring as much of the world as possible. We are grateful to have travelled fairly extensively for nearly 7 years until that was massively curbed in March 2020.
Now I feel we are just waiting… waiting and hoping the world will start to live alongside Covid and we will regain the freedom to travel that we once had.
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