Travel in 2020? Time for a new bucket list.

My New Year’s Resolution for 2020 was to launch a travel blog. I know, right? I had a plan for what I’d write about: mostly saunas and hot springs. I also had a plan for my next trip: cycling in Italy in April. Those things don’t matter much now, because we all had travel-related plans which have been turned upside-down by the COVID-19 global pandemic. For obvious reasons, I put the project on pause.

I’ve had more than 100 days at home in Toronto think about whether or not to publish Liisa Wanders at all. With much of the world being told to avoid non-essential travel by public health authorities, with international flights and border-crossings severely restricted, and so much fear and confusion about whether or not to travel even if you legally can, who is thinking about wicked new places to visit? What does travel in 2020 even look like? And it is selfish or shallow to promote travel in the middle of this crisis?

Yes, I decided, I will write about travel this year. First, because daydreaming is a big part of travelling. If you’re like me you might actually spend more time researching and planning your trips than actually being away. So we can still read about our dream destinations in these times, even if we don’t know when those dreams might come true.

Mostly, I will write because I’m confident travel is not gone for good. But it will require a new way of thinking. Not just about where we go or how to do it safely. I mean rethinking why we travel at all. And that’s a big part of what I always intended this blog to be about. Not so much the destinations, but the personal discoveries. I write about travel as a way of learning about ourselves, about the things we bring home that you can’t buy in the gift shop. I believe that there are lessons to learn by getting outside of where you live, and that’s still valid, whether you’re going around the world or around the block.

So as an opening salvo, as a way of introduction to me and what you can expect from my writing about travel in the times of COVID-19, here’s my personal New Bucket List. I’d love to hear yours.

Travelling within Canada

I just ordered a Lonely Planet travel guide to my own country. Because even as some international destinations reopen to Canadian tourists, our government still requires a 14-day quarantine upon return, and I have a real fear of being stranded in another country that goes into lockdown, so this year I prefer to stick within my own borders.

Canada boasts gorgeous geography and parks, great cities, and wonderful long-distance drives. I’ve already visited many of the highlights: Been driven through the Rocky Mountains, and around the Cabot Trail. Hiked and canoed Algonquin Park. Marvelled at Niagara Falls and danced in Montreal.

But I’ve never been to Newfoundland, or the Yukon. (Mostly due to cost: Canadians can fly to another continent for half what it costs to cross our own country.) So I’ve just moved both up on my travel bucket list. Since both of those provinces have their own travel restrictions right now I have plenty of time to research and to save up for some epic Canadian trips when it’s safe to visit.

Adventures by bicycle

At time of writing, plenty of evidence suggests a much lower risk of catching COVID-19 outside. So any kind of outdoor adventure is the safer way to go, and many are turning to cycling — an excellent way to get around both city and countryside while keeping well apart from other people.

After 20 years of using my bike mostly to commute to work, I took my first organized bike trip in 2019, a two-week trek through the mountains of Morocco with Intrepid Travel. (Go big or go home, right?) It was a life changing adventure, one that has made me want to explore more of my own region on two wheels. The Great Waterfront Trail stretches more than 3000km, and I use parts of it every weekend to bike around the great Lake Ontario with my friends. But I think it’s time to expand those fun day trips into weekenders. I hope you’ll read a blog post on my first Canadian bike trip very soon. 

Stop contributing to over-tourism

This one is about what I plan not to do when international travel resumes.

Having been to Barcelona, Spain (where I was confronted with graffiti from angry locals sick of visitors overrunning their parks), and the Sahara Desert (where my overnight camp was cancelled after the Moroccan government banned tourists because they were leaving too much trash) I’ve thought more and more about my footprint on popular destinations.

As visitors, we must try harder not to wreck sensitive environments and ancient archeological sites, or contribute to gentrification that pushes artists from their homes so we can rent an Airbnb just to stay on the “cool” street instead of a hotel room a few blocks over. And while I believe it’s on local governments to enact the laws that will protect these things, travellers have a responsibility, too.

I’ve been to the Louvre and not looked at the Mona Lisa. It was still the best museum in the world. So I think I can handle going to Italy but not Venice, or picking a different Inca site other than Machu Picchu for my trip to Peru. As part of rethinking how and why we travel, let’s give some of the overcrowded destinations a break.

Tell their stories

As a white person who often travels to countries where the majority of the population is not white, and to places which may have very different cultural and religious practises, or economic realities, I’ve always tried to be a respectful traveller.

For most of my career, I’ve interviewed people for a living. And on my travels, I like to get to know my guides and other locals. Yet I’ve never thought to interview locals while travelling. Liisa Wanders will give me an opportunity to do that, to connect with more members of the communities I travel through so that these stories are not just all about me. My objective is to contribute to a new way of writing about the places I visit that is not exploitive of those who live there.

Stay longer in one place

One of the best travel experiences of my life was spending six weeks in Puerto Escondido, part of a six-month trip across Mexico and Central America. I developed a routine – I had my favourite fruit vendor in the market, my spot on the beach for sunset: I got to know the local mini-bus driver and the ex-pat bartenders.

Most of of the time, I try to cram as much as possible into my trips. Let’s face it, you might only visit that country once so who wouldn’t want to keep moving and see everything? But lately I dream of getting to know a place better by staying there longer and travelling less. I read Patti Smith’s books and envy her local café haunts. Maybe I need my own local in Marrakesh, or Lima? And since working remotely from home is becoming a new normal, maybe it’s possible to spend time in another city, working weekdays with language lessons at night and day trips on weekends?

So much of travel is the wanderlust that proceeds it. Right now, I don’t yet know just how long it may take to realize some of these plans, but a girl can dream, right?