I find myself day dreaming about holidays and travel recently. I think as life very slowly attempts to get back to normal I am struggling with the reality that I will not be going abroad any time soon.

With the UK’s quarantine rules for those arriving into the UK and the FCO advice currently being against travel anywhere it makes it very hard for anyone in the UK to leave.

Yesterday I found myself on the Air Canada website, just having a little gander at flight options for our postponed honeymoon for next year. I was wandering around their website looking at images of the air craft, the food, the services they offer, all like some addict that just need a little airplane fix!

I love travel. How could I not. I have worked in the industry for 14 years. It is all I know and to think that this fantastic industry may be crumbling around me makes me very sad. There is a very high chance that not only me but many people I know may be facing job losses as travel businesses shrink to survive. Where will be all go? What will we do? Not to be talking about new travel ideas with someone is strange. Why am I not looking at google maps trying to work out the travel times for destinations in Kyrgyzstan?

The travel industry as we know it is going to change, there is no way it cannot in the immediate future.

One positive that may come out of this is people may look closer to home, explore their own country more and see places they may have perhaps dismissed initially for a city break abroad. I know I am certainly thinking about it. An autumnal break in a lovely Scottish hotel perhaps – do some walking, eat some good food and relax. If people are staying closer to home then at least that boosts the economy.

I am hesitant to travel abroad at the moment. Having spent so long in lockdown, trying to stay away from people, the thought of having to sit in an airport for 2 hours before then sitting on a plane with people sends me into a slight panic. I am going to have to ease myself back into society I think before I plan any longhaul travel.

The only problem is, having all this furlough time on my hands has me day dreaming about travelling, looking places up that I maybe see on Instagram or Twitter and then pondering what an itinerary would look like. I already have about 3 itineraries stored away in my head for a new trip to Japan, and a couple to China.  I am a travel addict!

I have had to start deleting emails I get from travel publications so that I do not fall down an internet rabbit hole of reading about the place or hotel and then delving further into reading about it. One click leads to many clicks.

It is a strange time. As someone who finds joy in the planning of and going on of holidays, knowing I will not be going anywhere for some time is saddening, as I am sure it is for many who have had holidays cancelled  or postponed during the pandemic. I would like to think that I will stop day dreaming about travel but that is a lie, I need it. It is a distraction to the madness going on  around me. I need some shred of normal to keep me going, and normal for me is reading about hotels, researching restaurants in a city I may one day visit and scrolling through the train bible that is The Man in Seat 61.

Travel may be off the books for a while, and my air miles are gathering dust, but I can still find a little bit of joy in dreaming about those destinations I will visit and explore in the future. I just hope the future is not too far away.