Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020
Slide Nr 1You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. In this case, we’re talking about the ability to go anywhere that isn’t the local grocery store. Travel is of course low on the list of things we’re collectively mourning in a year of lost livelihoods and lost loved ones, but it’s something we’ve lost nonetheless, along with the many different things it represents to each of us: discovery, adventure, revelation, courage, understanding. To reflect on what we’re missing out on – and, by extension, what we’ll gain when travel resumes – we check in with travel influencers around the world, as well as our own editorial team, and ask them to share what they’ve missed the most about venturing abroad.
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Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 2There are so many things I miss about travelling abroad – destinations I dream of being in, culinary delights I crave and iconic landmarks just waiting to be explored. But what I miss most is the incomparable feeling that international travel gives me. The feeling of stepping off the plane in an unfamiliar place, the challenge of navigating my way to my hostel. Being in a bustling city, with foreign voices echoing around me and different smells lingering in the air. Seeing everything for the first time with fresh eyes and having that hunger to discover a place and its people. Nothing compares to the sensation of being transported completely outside of my usual environment and landing in total unfamiliarity. – Sally Rodrick of Sally Sees [Photo: Sally Sees]
1/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 3As someone who’s always been a wanderer at heart, I miss discovering new things, trying new food and simply wandering around a new place. Ever since I was young, I’ve always liked to wander. I was the kid who would eat quickly at the dinner table because I wanted to go out and play. And as an adult, I love to roam around a new place and learn about a new city or new country. I love wandering and seeing the world on foot. I miss travelling! – Queenie Mak of Ms Travel Solo [Photo: Ms Travel Solo]
2/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 4For me, one of the hardest parts of lockdown and travel restrictions is not being able to visit my family abroad. All of us living in different countries, we try to visit each other at least once or twice every year. This year, we were forced to have our family traditions – and even meet a little new member of our family – through a computer screen, so being all together for a couple of weeks is definitely what I miss the most. – María Elisa Gomez Sosa, Amex Essentials Spanish Editor [Photo:María Elisa Gomez Sosa]
3/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 5What I miss most about travelling abroad are my friends in Montenegro, the alluring temperature of the Adriatic Sea in the summertime, and the opportunity to speak another language throughout most of the day. – Chanoa Tarle, Contributing Editor [Photo: Chanoa Tarle]
4/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 6One of the things we miss the most about travelling abroad is definitely the planning and all that pre-travel excitement, up until hopping on the plane. We also miss discovering new cultures, new cuisines and meeting different people. Being in contact with natural environments far from home is a big plus, as we love hiking and exploring the natural beauty in new places. Finally, we miss the fun of taking creative pictures, collecting memories and sharing all the stories with our loved ones. – Laura and Marine of Our Colourful Journey [Photo: Our Colourful Journey]
5/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 7I miss the awe of being in Japan. The level of attention to detail Japanese people put in everything they do is so inspiring. I miss Kyoto’s Kamogawa River. Cycling along its banks on an e-bike, having a drink at one of its terraced bars, maybe catching a furtive glimpse of a geisha. I miss goya champuru – the bitter, gourd-based Okinawan dish (pictured here) which is so umami. I once had one at the airport the minute I landed. – Livia Formisani, Amex Essentials Contributing Editor [Photo: Livia Formisani]
6/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 8For me, travelling has always been about people. I’m so lucky to have friends all over the globe, and not knowing when or how we’ll see each other is disheartening. I miss hearing their voices on my phone the moment I land, and that first feeling of joy when one of us walks through the door of the café or waves from the end of the train platform. That little wash of joy is what I miss the most. When it comes to the little things, I miss the Italian ritual of coffee at the bar. It’s a symphony of familiar sounds: the special orders, the stealth baristas who could make a million espressos in their sleep, the little spoons clinking against ceramic cups, customers saying buongiorno when they arrive and arrivederci when they’re finished to no one in particular. One of these days, I’m going to record that sound so I can have it forever. – Annie B. Shapero, Amex Essentials Contributing Editor [Photo: Annie B. Shapero]
7/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 9I long for the sensory overload of India. Wherever you go, there’s always so much smell, see and hear, whether pleasant or less so. Normally we visit my family-in-law once a year, and the minute we leave the airport, my senses are heightened: loads of people bustle around (even though we usually arrive in the middle of the night), snacks are being cooked in little booths, there’s honking and clamouring. I also miss Italy. I used to live in Rome, and I miss experiencing everyday Italian life. Whenever I visit, I immediately feel part of the neighbourhood I’m in, with its restaurants, bars, shops and locals. Really, though, exploring the unknown is the best part of travelling for me. As I get older, travel is no longer about bucket lists or ‘must-sees’, but I try to seek out locales with a distinct and ancient culture, such as Japan. We’re saving up for an epic trip. – Irene de Vette, Amex Essentials Editor-at-Large [Photo: Irene de Vette]
8/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 10This may seem so random, but I miss so badly my pre-travel routines. Small things like ensuring I get a new haircut, triple-checking all bookings a day before the flight, and staying up late because I’m so excited about my trip. I never thought I would miss these seemingly small things, but I sincerely do. I miss the journey, too, the highlight is usually taking off, especially when I’m assigned a window seat (it’s cherry on the top). The further we fly into the sky, the more I’m reminded of the insignificance of it all, and I can for a moment leave all my troubles behind. I truly miss leaving a place I am so familiar with to embark on unknown adventures. – Pelumi Nubi of Black Kintsugi [Photo: Black Kintsugi ]
9/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 11Never more than in this moment, I miss my adventurous spirit and the freedom to travel without any particular planning. Perhaps it’s catching the last bus to “poor but sexy” Berlin on a Friday after work; or a last-minute flight to my hometown of Catania for a quick weekend with family, fresh fish, tavola calda pastries and a hike up Mount Etna; or maybe a road trip to Treviso or Florence to surprise some beloved friends with a few Bavarian treats in my backpack and a long, non-virtual hug. There’s nothing I miss more than the joyful carelessness of not having to check updates on travel restrictions. – Giorgia Capozzi, Amex Essentials Social Media Editor [Photo: Giorgia Capozzi]
10/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 12This may sound weird, but I miss the long queue at airport customs to get the passport stamp. It’s so cool to check your passport and see the stamps you’ve collected from all your travels abroad (and then brag about it). And the adrenaline rush when you’re about to miss a flight is priceless. I’m looking forward to landing in Germany to have some beers with family, and seeing locals inevitably staring, wondering where I’m from. – Kevin Blanco Borja, Amex Essentials LatAm Community Manager
11/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 13Our family loves overseas travelling, and we can already see how much the exposure to other cultures and countries has shaped the children. We love the array of food available – especially when we’re in Asia – and one place we really miss is Goa, India. It is so inspiring to wake up and walk along a beautiful sandy beach as the sun rises, watching the fishmen counting their catch, and then enjoying a tantalising, rainbow-coloured smoothie bowl and an exotic fruit platter for the children. – Amanda and Michael of That Travelling Family [Photo: That Travelling Family]
12/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 15There’s nothing quite like that anything-can-happen feeling you get when you’re travelling, and that’s what I miss the most. Not knowing who I’ll meet that day, or what unexpected thing I’ll see, eat, do or learn – it’s a thrill unique to the experience of being in a wholly unfamiliar place, and certainly one that’s missing from life at home in quarantine. – Jessica Keller, Amex Essentials Managing Editor [Photo: Jessica Keller]
14/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 16For me, experiencing different cultures is one of the things that I’m missing the most at the moment. Just interacting with new, different people is a learning experience that teaches us so much about their country. I’m missing the adrenaline and the sense of awe when embarking on new adventure experiences and setting foot in a destination for the first time. For me, travel is a gateway to discover new things, learn and expand your universe. And, this one might be dumb, but I miss Thailand’s street food! I can’t wait to have a street cart Pad Thai and a sugar-covered roti for dessert. – Norbert Figueroa of Globotreks
15/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 17We miss both connecting and disconnecting. Pre-COVID, we were location-independent, chronically footloose and fancy-free, but also self-employed – which means that work time was any time. Our only true time to disconnect was during travel days. Now, there is nowhere to be but at home, on our laptops, with no excuse not to be in full work-mode on our tea shop, MatchaAlternatives.com, at all times. It’s now up to us to allow ourselves to switch off – which is harder than it should be! At the same, we miss being able to celebrate milestones in person with family. We’ve missed a graduation and a wedding, and we’ve also just started a newly settled life in Portugal, but have only been able to share it with family and friends on Zoom. All these connections, all this time together, was cancelled by COVID. – Elizabeth & Vientiene Ta’eed of Travelling for Tea [Photo: Travelling for Tea]
16/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 18Travelling is all about people – meeting the locals, connecting with fellow travellers, forming friendships with people you might never have met without stepping outside your comfort zone. Although some travel was possible in 2020, it wasn’t the same without that human connection. Whether it’s finding out what you have in common with someone whose life couldn’t be more different, learning something from an insightful local guide or discovering the meaning of life at the bottom of a shared bottle of wine – it’s people that make travel truly magical. – Fiona Brutscher, Amex Essentials Contributing Editor [Photo: Fiona Brutscher]
17/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 19What I miss most about travelling abroad is the adventure and excitement that travel brings to my life. For me, travel is an opportunity to experience new cultures (including the cuisine and customs), learn about the destination, and escape from my day-to-day routine. It gives me the chance to visit historic and popular attractions, try new things, and ultimately enjoy all that the country or city has to offer. – Sara Marano of The Average Tourist [Photo: The Average Tourist ]
18/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 20If I had to pin it down, it’s the novelty and thrill of a first-time experience as well as the awe and adventure that comes from being a stranger in a strange land. I also miss the pleasure of leaving all my worries behind in my homeland and living an oddly blissful, carefree, touristy life overseas, even if only for a few days. Oftentimes, I also feel pangs of nostalgia for my forever favourite Singapore. There’s something about being a foreigner yet knowing my way around. It’s a little slice of the familiar that you never thought you’d miss until it’s taken away, just like that. – Purnima Shrinivas, Amex Essentials Contributing Editor [Photo: Purnima Shrinivas]
19/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 21When it comes to missing travelling, what our hearts long for the most is just ‘connecting.’ We love travelling abroad and navigating new experiences, diving headfirst into the unknown. We love experiencing new cultures, trying new cuisine, and making new friends along the way! – Tasha Courtney and Dave Neal of We Are Tada Travels [Photo: We Are Tada Travels]
20/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 22What I miss the most about travelling abroad is probably the excitement. You know, buying the ticket on a whim, without knowing where I’m going to stay or what exactly I’m going to do once I’m at the place, but getting it anyway and figuring it out later. Then I probably miss all the planning: Where should I stay? Which museums am I going to visit? What do I want to eat the most, and where can I get the best version? And of course, once I’m there, getting to know a different culture and experiencing the vibes of the place. – Paulina Diazgranados, Amex Essentials Contributing Editor
21/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 23I mostly miss the novelty of a foreign country. Hearing a foreign language, trying to navigate my way around a city where I don’t speak the language, trying local foods for the first time. I miss discovering new foods, new cultures, and meeting strangers. – Dani Heinrich of Globetrotter Girls [Photo: Globetrotter Girls]
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Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 24As a seasoned traveller, this year has been particularly difficult for me not being able to go abroad for work or pleasure (I work in travel hospitality). Travelling nurtures my soul with the magic and wonder this beautiful planet has to offer. I feel completely free, and my heart skips a beat with the thought of discovering faraway places and new adventures. I love submerging myself into a different culture and meeting fellow travellers who understand what it feels like to have incurable wanderlust. We share our stories and our dreams of where we want to visit next, which is like a rite of passage within the travel community. I have never imagined living my life any other way. If I were meant to stay in one place, I would have been born a tree with roots. – Lisa Wilson of What She Seeks [Photo: What She Seeks]
23/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 25When it comes to travelling abroad, we miss the adrenaline rush you get before you head to your destination; packing your luggage, organising an itinerary, the drive to the airport. The overall excitement for a new adventure gives us an adrenaline rush that’s hard to compare to anything else. We also miss the excitement of being on vacation and waking up each morning knowing you will experience something new that you have never done before, there is nothing comparable to that. But the thing we miss the most is the FOOD! We love experiencing all of the flavours and traditions that go into each dish we try when travelling abroad. Anywhere we travel, we try to eat as much street food as possible, because we feel it is usually the most culturally accurate. – Vicente and Kirsten Sosa of Kasventures [Photo: Kasventures]
24/26
Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 26What I miss most about travelling is experiencing things that are different to home, as I soon appreciate them in a new way I didn’t realise before. Something intangible I miss is omotenashi (Japanese hospitality) where a customer’s needs are anticipated and met in advance – the way taxi doors open automatically, hot hand towels are served before a meal at restaurants. Attention to detail regarding customer service is on another level in Japan. I also yearn for the feeling of gratitude that fills my soul when I finally experience something I’ve longed to see in person, like finally witnessing Mt Fuji without a cloudy blanket. Those kinds of moments, and the anticipation of them coming to fruition, are the ones I miss most because they stick with me forever. – Alyse of The Invisible Tourist [Photo: The Invisible Tourist]
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Travel
The Lost Year: What We’ve Missed Most About Travel In 2020.
Slide Nr 27The greatest loss (at least in a travel sense) from this year’s difficulties and, at times, inability to travel is that loss itself. The intrinsic joy and excitement of being able to dream of distant horizons and to seek out new unexplored destinations has been denied. And if we can no longer dream, what is left? Of course, this general sense of confinement is amplified by the myriad of simple travel delights that have also been removed: new sights, sounds, scents, faces, languages and more. – James Lee-Tullis, Amex Essentials Editor-in-Chief
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