Reflections of a Grounded Traveller During a Pandemic

2020 is shaping up to be the year of the perfect storm.

As a global community, we are facing political and social upheaval, an environmental crisis that threatens the stability of the human and animal kingdoms (which are really one and the same), and a pandemic that has already killed almost 700,000 people and sickened countless more. The fallout from Covid-19 has crushed local economies, created a sense of uncertainty for the present and future, and closed down most international travel.

We know that Covid-19 has overwhelmingly had a much greater impact on poor and marginalized communities – from a health and economic perspective. This needs to be addressed if we’re to actually find our way forward – particularly with the looming environmental crisis promising to upend many aspects of life on earth.

Of course, the impact of the pandemic has been felt throughout society. For instance, being locked indoors with kids for months on end, while trying to work remotely (again, a privilege), can be very challenging mentally for all parties, including the kids. In my case, the life/work balance that I’d worked so hard to find went out the window overnight, along with my long distance trail running and much of my time for creative projects. But I count my blessings and knock on wood that we have remained healthy and relatively sane through the pandemic (but there have been days…).

For someone with wanderlust like myself – and who sometimes writes travel articles for a living — not travelling has added an extra layer of stress. Travel is therapy, particularly when it involves hiking and running in the mountains alone. It grounds me in a world that has been in existence long before human civilizations gobbled up so much of the earth.

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In my 2018 Outpost Magazine feature “Wanderlust – Dispatches from the Trail of An Obsession” (issue 122), I tried to come to terms with my endless desire to travel: “Variety is the spice of life, while routine has a habit of dulling the senses and making life seem less vibrant. In physiology, it’s called the ‘orienting reflex,’ which compels the mind to focus on novel visual and auditory stimuli. From an evolutionary standpoint, this mechanism helps keep us alive by focusing our attention on new and potentially risky environments. For travellers continuously being exposed to novel things, the switchboard in our brains is constantly lit up. That makes life pretty exciting.”

The other cool thing: Travel can actually rewire our brains. As we’re exposed to new experiences, including immersive cultural exchanges, fresh neural pathways are created in the brain. This increased activity not only enhances creativity by allowing the mind to make connections between disparate ideas, but it can keep our brains ‘younger’ and more flexible as we get older. If you’re travelling in natural surroundings, there’s the added bonus that exposure to nature reduces the stress hormone cortisol and can calm an over-active mind.

The upside to the current halt of most international travel because of Covid-19 is that it has given the planet a welcome respite from the polluting buzz of human activity. This has been a big win for the planet and all living creatures that rely on a clean environment to survive and thrive (whether these short-term changes in human behaviour will have any longevity is yet to be seen).

This world event has perhaps also turned us inwards toward our local communities. For myself, I’ve started to get to know more of my neighbours, striking up interesting conversations up and down the street. And instead of flying to France and Squamish, British Columbia, this year, my family has been doing smaller local excursions – like staying at a friend’s vacant cottage for 5 days or camping in another friend’s backyard in the countryside. What most of these outings have in common is that they involve travelling beyond the city limits and reconnecting with the wider natural world.

Since the coronavirus shut things down in Toronto in March, I’ve also travelled a lot through my memories. More than once, I’ve rewatched videos I shot while running through the Dolomites and the Canary Islands, as well as my bicycle trip through Slovenia’s Triglav National Park (see links below).

I sometimes imagine what life would be like if I never travelled abroad again. No more wandering the Andes mountains of South America. No more exploring parts unknown – beyond Canada’s borders. In truth, I don’t know when I’m going to board a plane again. But it’s not lost on me that I’ve had the great fortune to travel extensively in the first 50+ years of my life, and those experiences have radically shaped me — no matter what happens next. For that I’ll always be grateful.

One last thought on the pandemic: This crisis has made me think a lot about the different notions of freedom. In some communities, freedom seems to be strictly grounded in the individual (me, my, I), so a requirement to, say, wear a mask in a store, seems like an affront to one’s personal freedom. On the other hand, a more inclusive concept of freedom that envelops the community itself seems to be a more powerful tool to combat a pandemic (i.e. “I will wear a mask to protect my neighbour and for the greater good.”). By virtue of living on one planet, we’re all tied together and so our personal well-being is inextricably linked to all other living beings on this planet. It’s my dream that we all live our lives conscious of this truth.

Stay safe & healthy.

If you are hankering for some vicarious travel, check out some of my travel videos below:

Running and Biking Slovenia (2019):