Life without travel

Over the past couple weeks, I've called and visited airline offices to cancel dozens of flight legs I had planned for this year. The destinations spanned across Asia, North America, South America, Europe, and Africa. The mind-numbing hours spent on the phone listening to United's hold music pale in comparison to the sadness of missing out on memories that won't be formed, of life put "on pause."

My work is not yet complete: I still have several domestic US flights I won't be taking, but I'm waiting for more favorable airline policies emerge before I cancel (gunning for penalty-free). And then there are those flights booked to destination weddings that may not be happening. Still waiting for the final word on those. To my friends in the tough position of figuring out contingency plans for weddings, I salute you.

And things are just looking kind of weird in general. I basically envisioned a travel sabbatical between October 2019 and the start of business school in May 2020. While I was lucky to have been able to visit Colombia, the East Coast, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and India before the world came to a standstill, there is a bit of regret that this “perfectly timed” period to travel while young and unencumbered didn’t come to be.

But isn’t that just life? Why all this entitlement that I can do whatever I want? Even to go to business school? And in this moment, I have no pressure from anyone except myself to do something useful with my time. And the opportunities to do things are endless.

So instead of traveling to learn something new, to feel open to meeting new people amidst anonymity, what can I do here and now in a vibrant city that is still alive and kicking?