We Should Have Been in Ireland
I should not be here right now. By this point in my summer, I was supposed to be in Ireland and Northern Ireland. I was supposed to be showing the twins the Book of Kells and taking them to Bewley’s and listening to buskers on Grafton Street. We were supposed to be traveling to the Giant’s Causeway and seeing castles and learning Irish at Áras na nGael.
We shouldn’t be home.
But we are.
Back in March, we couldn’t imagine that COVID-19 would still be around in July. Back in April, we started getting nervous that we wouldn’t be able to go and plotted out Montreal as a Plan B. Back in May we realized Montreal was not going to be possible, but we hoped we would get to a nearby beach. Back in June we realized that we were not going to go anywhere. At all.
We consider ourselves lucky because as long as we keep staying home, there will hopefully be a point in the future when travel opens back up again. In the meantime, we will stay home as much as possible, wear our masks whenever we need to go out, and keep planning our trip.
Hovering somewhere between sad and resigned.
10 comments
And who knows how long it will be before Ireland let’s you in again anyway. 🙁 Sorry you’re missing out on your trip. I hope things will settle down soon.
We would just have gotten back from Tokyo. I feel you.
Weren’t we going to get virtual coffee sometime? Let’s do that. ❤️
We had ambitious plans for this year. Disneyland—1st time for the kids, Grand Canyon, and a trip to the Caribbean for our 25th anniversary. in retrospect 😂😩 Fortunately the only thing we’d booked was Disneyland (my hemming and hawing paid off for once). Disney tickets were non refundable but retain face value. So in a few years once I feel safe going, we’ll go to Disneyland. Probably same for Caribbean. Right now I can’t imagine flying (ick!) or staying in a hotel.
I’m sorry your plans changed so drastically. We didn’t have a big trip planned for this summer but we surely didn’t expect it to be like this. I’m also sad and resigned and frustrated. We are still staying home and wearing masks in public but so many people aren’t it’s hard to feel hopeful about future trips or…much of anything outside the walls of my home and family.
I assumed back in March that we (the US) would do the same as China and Europe had done, i.e. a big peak and then a decline such that we’d be past the worst part by now. WTF Trump. Thanks for effing this up for us.
We hadn’t made any big travel plans for this summer, other than heading west as usual for a family visit later this month. BUT we were supposed to be giving a party (a come-and-go afternoon tea in the church basement) for my parents’ 60th (!) wedding anniversary one weekend, followed by a family reunion in NW Minnesota the next. Neither is happening now. Party or no party (and it never got beyond the initial planning stages), travelling to see my parents in another province, whether by plane (2.5 hours), train (30+ hours) or automobile (20-25 hours with two nights spent in hotels/motels along the way), would currently mean quarantining for 14 days upon arrival. The reunion was also cancelled, but even if it went ahead, we couldn’t go because the US/Canada border is also closed to all non-essential traffic.
It all sucks. 🙁 I do hope you can do Ireland some other summer. It’s on my travel bucket list too.
Aww bummer. I love Ireland: my father was born and raised in Cork, and we still have lots of family in County Cork.
I hope you are able to reschedule sometime.
Oh, Mel. I feel you. The space between resigned and sad. Yup.
I just got back from my trip-that-wasn’t yesterday. For 2 weeks my calendar has been reminding me what we were missing. Sigh….someday…I hope.
Justine — Tokyo! I’d love to join the virtual coffee time and talk about our (non)travels.
I’m sorry. Resigned is how I’ve been all year. I am really surprised though that in March you thought you were still going to be able to travel. I noticed that in a lot of US friends and family. Regardless, I understand how it feels to be missing out on a trip you were happily anticipating. I’m trying to keep my expectations low, and holding out for travel by (maybe) late 2022.
I’m so sorry, that’s such a disappointment. Resigned and sad sound about right. Who knew that at this point we’d still have no end in sight? And that the U.S. would be the worst and other countries wouldn’t let us in? (Other states, too — NY has that quarantine requirement for people coming in or coming back from high case states…) I hope you can get to Ireland when this is over. Sending you a hug, Mel.