Travel during Covid

 The Possibilities of World Travel During a Pandemic.

Travel during the Covid-19 Pandemic naturally has been significantly reduced; so when my wife and I recently made our plans to travel across America we obviously had to take a clandestine approach to our itinerary, use subterfuge and stealth planning.  Giving away any travel plans at any stage in the game could be a decided disadvantage to achieving our goals.  

Just to be safe and sure, we decided to split up and take different routes. Cheryl decided to take a more northerly route departing from home through northern Ontario, across the northern states and eventually making her way into California, only getting blocked in one location and slowing her progress only slightly.  

While I, after leaving Ontario, headed for Chicago, followed basically the old route 66 and proceeded west meeting little opposition until we met up in San Francisco.  We did this all by train, as that seemed more prudent under the circumstances.

Our friends Sue and Steve had decided to join us on our train adventure and since we were in the same social bubble with regards to Covid we thought it would be safe.  Although, as it turns out we didn't meet Steve until we linked up on our out going trip in Kansas city and Sue was on a detour due to a blocked route in Memphis. 

We had enjoyed the travel and getting out and seeing the world again and so decided to carry on and see much of Asia, by taking a ship to Hong Kong.  And continued then again by train, where eventually we toured most of the major Asian and eventually, European capital cities. The effort was exhausting, but the pay off enormous in comparison.  Typically, by the time I admit to this much travel, and exposure during Covid, people are outraged and justifiably so.  I get it.  Why treat Covid like a game?  Shouldn't we be more serious?  we may feel safe but aren't we putting others at risk. We have heard all of the arguments against our excursions believe me.

I have to admit, I do not dismiss these allegations lightly. I still, none the less, proudly tell people we did all of this in the time of Covid. We saw the world.  We were liberated and did not break with one single health ruling or policy along the route. In fact we even got our first vaccine during our time of travel and adventure by rail.

 An arduous route that literally took us around the world in about 2 hours, the length of time it takes to play a round of the popular board game Ticket to Ride with the now extended version Rails and Sails allowing us to cross oceans and continents. Travel at its finest, sharing it with friends on Facetime,  an exhilarating adventure while isolated in the comfort of our own home otherwise languishing during a pandemic.