I recently received a newsletter from Lonely Planet that featured an article titled, “Six Bucket List Destinations at Risk of Disappearing Due to Climate Change.” The list included the Galapagos Islands, a proposed Imprint Tours destination for 2023. I was once again reminded how a cherished travel goal can be yanked away, sometimes never to return. And of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept 2020 international travel dreams into the dustbin. Nine years ago, when the Arab Spring abruptly eliminated Egypt from Imprint’s proposed tour schedule, I wrote a blog about not waiting for every condition to be ideal before committing to a desired travel experience. I believe it is a particularly relevant message today and bears repeating. So here it is, updated to include today’s travel challenges:
Anyone who has been on a tour with me in the last quarter century knows my mantra about using available toilets while traveling: “Go when you can, not when you have to.” It’s an essential travel skill when traveling with a group and not a bad strategy under any travel circumstances. Not knowing what the next hour, afternoon, or day might bring in the way of usable, clean toilets forces one to take a proactive approach to facilities. But today I’m extending my catchphrase to embrace all travel: “Go when you can, not when its perfect.” Not as catchy perhaps but imminently true and poignant today. The world is too unpredictable to be sure your chosen travel dream will remain an option until everything is perfectly in place to go. My advice is to push the planning envelope, prioritize your travel dreams, push lesser priorities and obstacles aside, and make your travel goals a reality.
Before leaving on my spring tours this year [2011] I read an interesting article in my local paper. It was written by Frederick Kunkle of the Washington Post and was titled, “Tourism Pays Cost of Freedom in Egypt.” Not surprisingly, Egypt is basically off the board as a travel destination in the wake of the Arab Spring. The article describes how the revolution has “scared away millions of foreign tourists, the lifeblood of the nation’s economy.” In the case of Egypt, I am certain that stability will return, and it will be safe to travel there again one day [Imprint did indeed have successful and safe Egypt tours in 2016 & 2020]. But the events in the Middle East these past few months demonstrate that one should not put off a trip, any trip, to a destination you genuinely want to see.
Egypt rebounded, but what if your lifelong, bucket list travel goal was to see the Bamyan Buddha statues of Afghanistan? I am personally disappointed I will never see two of the largest standing Buddha statues in the world. They were 115 and 174 feet tall, carved from the solid sandstone cliffs, and 1500 years old. Wow! In March, 2001 the Taliban blew them up - gone forever. I can’t reschedule a hoped-for or planned trip to see them. I can’t “go next year”, when all the logistics of my life align.
There are other factors that compel one to avoid delaying travel. Number one on that list is personal health. Everyone knows someone who, during their working life, talked about post-retirement travel. Trips were planned and anticipated only to be abandoned when health issues emerged. Just this month [2020] I had coffee with a former tour member. After doing a Germanic Europe tour with me in 2011, his appetite for more travel had been kindled. But he and his wife allowed one thing or another to prevent them from following through on their travel intention. Finally, five years later, the stars aligned, and they signed up for another European tour. Mere weeks before the tour departure, his wife was diagnosed with cancer. They cancelled their tour and the illness has prevented them from traveling to this day. Or perhaps the reasoning is: “once the kids are done with college”, “once the house is paid off”, “once the children are married”, or “once the house remodel is finished” – the obstacles are many if you allow them.
Sometimes missing a great travel experience is not due to a surprise obstacle. Rather, it is because other activities have been prioritized. I understand that there are many life events and commitments that take priority over a travel experience. I’m not referring to those. I’m talking about things like an annual camping trip, concert, or other “traditional” outing or event. I realize my position on this issue is based on a crucial prerequisite belief: travel is more than just another recreational pursuit. I am not belittling anyone’s hobbies or traditions. If those “other” activities are truly your priority, go in peace. What I am arguing is that, for many, travel is more. It is a life-changing experience that compels people to evaluate their own cultures, lives, and values. Marcel Proust wrote, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes" At the end of your life, will you be more satisfied with that 10th annual “fill-in-the-blank” activity or with having experienced the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall of China, or the Pyramids of Egypt?
As a tour operator, I witness travel aspirations being snatched away on a regular basis. I have heard many reasons: an unanticipated tax bill, the birth of a grandchild, the wedding of a child, or a stock market tumble that gutted a retirement fund. The most cited reason is the death or illness of a parent or loved one. The point is simple and obvious. There are many reasons travel objectives can be dashed, and those intrusions can emerge from a variety of unanticipated sources. The pending post-COVID economic recession will likely derail many a travel dream.
I hope I have made my point. But let me now share one success story which illustrates the potential reward of “pushing the travel envelope”. In 1994 my father planned an Inside Passage cruise to Alaska. As my mother was not interested, he offered to take me along in her place. For my fiancé to join us, we needed to pay for her. I was in graduate school, we were planning and paying for our wedding, and had neither time nor money. But we decided to stretch ourselves and go. We had a great experience and spent quality time with my dad. Six months later he died. The memory of that trip is a unique comfort to me. It might never have happened; had I not chosen to push aside the obstacles and go.
In the 1980s Robin Williams starred in a movie that popularized the Latin phrase, Carpe Diem - seize the day. I love that sentiment and have often quoted it. Regarding travel, it seems to me to be an imperative. So, once the COVID-19 crisis is gone, if travel is something you love, seize the day, make the plans, see the world: "Go when you can, not when its perfect."