Not gonna lie, life has been is not easy during this COVID-19 crisis. I get it, it has not been easy for anyone really, but during this time I have come to a few realizations about some things in my life. I enjoy my freedoms like everyone else, but I suppose I always took some of them for granted: like being able to travel freely.

Don’t get me wrong, I have thought about how air travel is my single point of failure when it comes to going home; since it’s the only practical way to travel from the US to Europe. The problem is that, in my lifetime, there has never been such a crisis that would require the cancelation of air travel for such an extended period of time and at such a scale. For this reason, I have never really put any thought into different suitable alternatives: Air travel could never be canceled at a planetary scale◦. I suppose it may be a good time to research transatlantic cruises.

With countries and states reopening, many people find it “irresponsible” to even think about traveling these days. I don’t necessarily disagree, but when it is required to be 2 meters away from close to your loved ones and all safety measures are followed, it’s unreasonable to judge someone for looking forward to it. We all need to find ways to cope with this “new normal”.

Yesterday I came across this tool, which I found very useful to navigate this confusing time of regulations. I wish the US had a way to graphically show where we can travel abroad or when it might be reasonable to consider going to those destinations again.

Stay safe, everyone.

◦ I understand that cargo, repatriation flights, etc still exist. I am making a generalization here.