Someday...

My On This Day feed in Facebook has been filled with cruise pictures from three years ago.

As most of you know an Alaskan cruise was one of those bucket list things. It also was something that took me ages to go ahead and book. It was expensive, first off. I have started getting seasick secondly. And third...germs.

You would hear all of the stories about people getting sick on cruises. Stomach bugs that would spread like wildfire.

It took a lot to convince Brent and me that we would be fine. But we took a lot of precautions on the boat. We didn't touch things. Like the handrails on the stairs, we would walk up and down without using them. We used the hand sanitizer stations every time we walked by one, and certainly before eating. We were just careful. And it was all fine. We didn't get sick.

We had a lovely time. It was a beautiful cruise and I recommended it to everyone when we got back. And I started thinking about taking another one someplace else. It was a nice way to see a lot of places without having to pack and repack and get on and off planes. It was really relaxing to sit at the front of the ship and just watch the ocean. The Alaska cruise is especially good for wildlife, but just the ocean is lovely to watch on its own.

Brent has another sabbatical coming in 2021 and we talked about taking a cruise for part of that time.

Then...

Well...

Watching boats get stuck at sea because no one would let them come to shore. Watching Covid then spread among the passengers who, again, couldn't leave. It made cruising go right back on the well maybe not list.

But he still has a sabbatical coming in 2021 so I guess Hawaii?

But to go to Hawaii (maybe, if they ever stop pushing the dates back) you need a negative Covid test taken within 3 days of landing. Right now it's taking almost two weeks to get results back from tests. Yes, the entire "I might be sick let me quarantine until I get my results" time. Unless you're the president who gets multiple tests (and I've said it before I think it's reasonable to test the president and those that come in contact) or if you are a professional athlete then you can get tested daily and get your results within hours (which, though I love my sports, seems a little unreasonable considering how long it takes for the rest of us to get tests and results). And if you can't get a test you have to quarantine for 14 days. And they are STRICT. You go directly to your quarantine location and you don't leave. No walking out to the beach, no stopping at the grocery store, no nothing.

So that doesn't really work.

So I'm guessing we might be pushing sabbatical travel to late 2021 at best or just not taking the mini-sabbatical this time and saving for a big one in 7 years.

That's really the worst of Covid 19 for me. The losing of travel. And shows. And sports. But mostly travel. We were SUPER lucky to have just come home from a big vacation in February right before all of this started. And I'm hopeful that Christopher will feel comfortable enough to fly home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But with the new stories about how the antibodies seem to fade away he might not want to travel, and I couldn't really blame him if he didn't.

But that's where we are right now. In the holding pattern. Waiting for someday.

Someday when there is a vaccine. (In a year maybe?)

or

Someday when the virus has died off due to herd immunity. (Hoping we don't die off in the few years it would take to get there.)

or

Someday when we figure out the right combination of masks, hand washing, distance, personal Lysol sprayers or whatever that lessens the risk of contagion.

or

Someday when we crack the code on how to treat the disease itself so it's not a huge threat to some.

Someday.

Until then,

Wear your fucking masks.
Wash your damn hands.
Keep your distance!