cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
If You Travel to Escape Your Problems, What Happens When You’re Trapped in Place? - Fodors
For most people, travel is a positive means of escape. It’s natural to want a break from routine, from work, from responsibilities, and the people who drive you crazy on a daily basis. Those Pinterest boards of over-saturated images of Santorini, piles of guidebooks on our shelves, and Duolingo lessons aren’t a waste of time; escaping somewhere that’s not your home is an exciting privilege that should be taken advantage of as often as possible.
The recent disruptions of COVID-19 have changed all that, however; every day, there are new restrictions on travel, both domestically and internationally. The virus is highly contagious, and every country in the world has at least one case. For now, most vacations, honeymoons, and family reunions are on hold. This has caused its own set of problems for casual travelers.
“Travel and vacations are a means to reshift and reorganize identities,” states Karen Stein, a sociologist studying culture and travel and author of Getting Away from It All: Vacations and Identity. “We can use travel as a way to reexamine our priorities and devote our time and attention to identities and commitments that we, unwillingly, have to put in the background in our daily lives.”
For most people, travel is a positive means of escape. It’s natural to want a break from routine, from work, from responsibilities, and the people who drive you crazy on a daily basis. Those Pinterest boards of over-saturated images of Santorini, piles of guidebooks on our shelves, and Duolingo lessons aren’t a waste of time; escaping somewhere that’s not your home is an exciting privilege that should be taken advantage of as often as possible.
The recent disruptions of COVID-19 have changed all that, however; every day, there are new restrictions on travel, both domestically and internationally. The virus is highly contagious, and every country in the world has at least one case. For now, most vacations, honeymoons, and family reunions are on hold. This has caused its own set of problems for casual travelers.
“Travel and vacations are a means to reshift and reorganize identities,” states Karen Stein, a sociologist studying culture and travel and author of Getting Away from It All: Vacations and Identity. “We can use travel as a way to reexamine our priorities and devote our time and attention to identities and commitments that we, unwillingly, have to put in the background in our daily lives.”