[ProfNewton22 (OP)]

Hey guys,
honestly I just need a place to complain about the current state of everything. I love to travel and obviously that's not an option right now. I already had to cancel all of my travel plans last year during my planned term abroad. Currently, I've been reading articles about traveling a lot and it's really getting to me. There are these articles where different travel destinations are presented and rated and I'm half happy and half depressed reading them. One of my favourites is one about Barcelona. Has anyone ever been there and is it as great as it seems? I hope I can go there sometime in the future

[alancalverd]

All cities are awful apart from Paris and Venice, which stink but are fun. 

[femaleminer]

I totally get your frustration and I think that a lot of people can sympathise with how you're feeling. The situation is also getting to me and I can't wait to travel either, though I have nothing planned yet. To answer your question about Barcelona, I have been there two years ago just around this time for a week. Of course it is a beautiful city. However, I do not think that it lives up to what is being said about it. What is important though is what you want, if you want to see the city and reading about it makes you happy then take the first chance and go! This pandemic has shown that life literally is short and we should not postpone our plans. One thing that lifts up my mood is online shopping especially for the summer in the warmer days. Though it is a German website, [commercial links removed]. Look at the bikinis you can wear at the beach of Barcelona. :-) it will lift up your mood.

[CliffordK]

As more people get vaccinated, traveling will come back.

So far I haven't see businesses treat vaccinated individuals differently than those that haven't been vaccinated, but I could imagine airlines, cruise ships, and ports of entry start checking vaccination status. 

Some places like Hawaii have had mandatory quarantines, but those might be lifted with a current vaccination + health check.

My brother lives about a 1 day drive away.  As soon as Mom was a couple weeks past her vaccination, she went to visit him for the first time in over a year.  I missed that trip as I was mid-vaccination, but may accompany her on the next one.

[charles1948]

Is this whole business of "travelling" a modern  20th/21st  century fixation. I mean, why do does anyone need to keep "travelling"?

It didn't happen in the past.  In those times, most people were content to spend their time, living where they were born.  Not  "travelling" around all over the place.

Was that just because the people of past times, didn't have access to "travelling" machines such as automobiles, trains, ocean-liners and aeroplanes?

Or is the supposed desire to "travel" mere commercial exploitation by travel companies out to make money.

[evan_au]

I share your frustration - we booked a vacation at a warm beachside town, 1,000 km north of here - for April 2020. The borders slammed shut every time we were ready to go. We finally made it in April 2021 - on the 4^th attempt!

With a wide-screen TV, you can visit 10 cities in Spain in 1 hour; get into sites for which you could never get tickets yourself, and see it from angles that you could never reach yourself...
- Unfortunately, today's technology can't replicate the tastes of certain locations, or the rocking motion of some modes of transport.
- Fortunately, it doesn't cause jet lag, expose you to extremes of temperature or dangerous pathogens.
- Smells can be a mixed blessing....

In Barcelona, Gaudi's architecture is on display - including the analog computer he used to design his buildings. The Sagrada Familia is much more complete than when I visited. My daughter (at around age 9) was disgusted by the Miro art gallery - she felt that she could do better....

As vaccination rates improve, we can expect that travel bubbles will open up to those with a vaccination certificate. But countries which ignore quarantine, masks and contact tracing will suffer repeated lockdowns. So be patient.

[wdb2021]

After the situation improved We will all be able to travel again.

[charles1948]

 When you think about it,  Homo Sapiens does seem to be a very " travelling" species.  We've travelled all over the Earth.  And established human colonies in every continent, from Africa to the Antarctic.

No other species has done that.  For example penguins live in the Antarctic, and stay there.

Do we humans have a unique "travelling gene" in our DNA,  which gives us the urge to get on airliners and fly to somewhere far away.

[Zer0]

Domestic Travel might return sooner than Predicted.
👍

International Travel will take a Long time to make a comeback.
👎



P.S. - You can completely Forget bout Travelling to Third World Countries...Simply Banned!... perhaps Forever!
🙏

[alancalverd]

No other species has done that. 

Apart from the Arctic Tern, who does it every year.

Fish and whales occupy and migrate around 70% of the earth's surface - far more than humans.

And everywhere that humans have been (including space), so have rats and dogs.

Interesting distinction made in a TV discussion last night. The middle classes travel. The working class are tourists or holidaymakers. But real Travellers are casual workers.

[Bored chemist]

I'm planning to go to the pub next Monday.
It's not much, but it's a start.
Things are already getting better.
People are already travelling.

[charles1948]

I'm planning to go to the pub next Monday.
It's not much, but it's a start.
Things are already getting better.
People are already travelling.

Hasn't the term "travelling people"  acquired unfavourable connotations.

Why could that be?

[Zer0]

SideNote - Travelling seems amusing.

Going around from one place to another...to see pretty much the same thing, just rearranged in a different format in different proportions.


P.S. - Solid, Liquid, Gas & Plasma.

[charles1948]

"Travelling" in modern parlance, seems to mean having  to move your physical body from one place to another.

Such as by putting your body onto a plane or ship.  This seems crude.

Can't you travel with your mind, by reading a book, or watching a movie?

[Zer0]

Can't Help but Think...
Senses of Touch, Smell, See, Hear & Taste are All but mere Raw Data collected thru Sensory Organs analyzed thru the Nervous System.

Easy at times to Fool the Brain into Believing or Feeling what isn't Real.
🧠

" Staring down at the ' Lady in Red ' seated at the other corner of the Pub... "
Perhaps, the distinguishing factor is going home with Her vs without Her.
💃



P.S. - Those who can, Do It!
Those who can't, Imagine!
✌️
(Shall self restrain from commenting further as this would/could/should be considered & Held accountable as an Attempt to Hijack the OP & steer it into a completely different direction)