Blogging,  General

Planning Travel during a Pandemic

February 9, 2021 / 55 Comments

Are you planning anything for 2021? It’s quite hard for any of us to PLAN given the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m struggling to be motivated and hopeful for any special events this year.

I’ve even had a hard time coming up with an interesting topic for my first blog post of 2021. With travel restrictions still in effect, I hesitate to write about traveling for fear of my words falling on deaf ears. I said to myself, ‘Who wants to read or see photos of places they can’t begin to plan to visit?’.

But I can’t stop my Travel Blog just because of what is currently going on in the world. The keyword in that sentence is ‘currently’. We have to believe that this situation which has been consuming our thoughts and actions for almost one year will eventually come to an end. WHEN that will be we don’t know. Some people say Summer of 2021, others say the end of 2021, and even the true pessimists say the end of 2022.

For our sanity, we have to remain positive and hopeful for a better day when we can go to restaurants, stores, and we can travel again without wearing an uncomfortable mask and being afraid of catching the virus.

This time last year I was busy building my website, blog, and business which officially launched on March 1st. I put so much effort into this endeavor. With my recent lack of motivation, I thought long and hard about my direction with this activity.

Found this phrase appropriate for me now

I decided that I don’t want to bail out now. I didn’t come this far to only come this far. So I have decided to jump back into my writing and search long and hard for appropriate blog posts to please my readers.

To be honest, I’ve been quite distracted for the last two months with the year-end holiday period and with moving house. We bought a house in October 2020 and moved in on January 11, 2021. It was a lot of work to pack up our belongings (which seem to have quadrupled since our last house move 5 years ago), organize the full day of loading and unloading trucks, and then put our new abode together.

View from our new home

I’ve never worked so hard and never been so happy. The excitement and joy of something new get you through exhausting times like this. After the last month of unpacking and arranging, I can finally take a deep breath and focus on something else. Sure, there is a lot more to do, but the essential house set-up is done.

Scenes in our new village

I’ve also been busy entertaining friends and family over the last two months. Everyone wants to see our new home and I’m enjoying having guests here. Because we are still under pandemic restrictions, I’m even happier to have my own home and to spend time in it.

My HOME is my HAVEN these days. What does this mean? The definition of a haven is a safe or comforting place. A nice, comfortable and safe home is an example of a haven. At times like this, we all need to feel safe and comfortable in our homes. My goal for 2021 is to enjoy my haven!

Horse on a farm near my new house

Other than moving into our new home, we also have added to our family. We recently got a puppy, an English Cocker Spaniel, who we named Tilly. She is only 13 weeks old and such a cutie. I knew I wanted to get a dog this year but didn’t realize it would happen so quickly. We are thrilled and physically exhausted at the same time for training a puppy!

Meet Tilly!

I recently shared on my personal Facebook site what my WORD is for this year. It’s ‘PROFITEZ’. This is a French word that means to enjoy, take advantage, and benefit. This is how I want to focus my time and energy during 2021. I want to enjoy my new home and pet, take advantage of my health, and benefit from all the people and love around me. What is your word for this year?

We are all capable of changing our mindset and behavior to be happy. I always said that ‘happy’ should be a verb, meaning that we choose to be happy and don’t expect happiness to come to us. Of course, bad things happen for no real reason and we have to deal with these situations. I’ve been recently saddened to hear about people I know who died from Covid. It breaks my heart.

I am patiently waiting for this pandemic to come to an end and am looking forward to having gatherings with more than 5 people. Not to mention, going out to eat in restaurants and to be able to shop for anything I want and not just the essentials. I am excited to plan a trip somewhere fun! Am I the only one who feels this way?

So this leads me back to my blog topic of Planning for 2021. We may not be able to concretely PLAN for any travel or events, but we should focus our energy on what we CAN do in the meantime. I am planning to do some house and yard projects in the coming months. I am planning to train my puppy to be an obedient and friendly dog. There is so much to learn and apply when we decide what we want to do.

I have an account on Skillshare where there are tons of training courses. Skillshare is an amazing platform where normal people like you and me share training videos. The topics are endless and the content is enormous – 26,000 training sessions are available!  You can learn just about anything, including painting, piano, online marketing, knitting, and starting your own business.

If you are looking for some stimulation, I encourage you to check out Skillshare. If you click on the box above and these links, you can have a 2-month free trial.  As an affiliate of Skillshare, I may receive a free month subscription if you sign up.

Leave a comment below as to your thoughts about the coming year and what plans you are making. I would love to get some ideas on how others are surviving this limbo state we are in. In the meantime, please take care!

If you enjoyed this article, you may be interested in joining my email distribution list where I share more personal tidbits and updates from my blog as well as my life. Just click here and scroll down to the sign-up box on the right-hand side. I would love to have you join my community!

If you are looking for assistance to plan your next trip, I am here for YOU! I love to plan travel itineraries for myself and others. For more details on how I provide this service, please check out my Itinerary Planning page and drop me a quick email at jan@janadventures.com to get started!

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