Balancing Optimism with Realism for Upcoming Travel

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Let’s be honest. These last few months haven’t been fun.

People have been stuck inside for months due to the pandemic. Even though certain things are opening, life is nowhere back to “normal.” Trips have been cancelled, plans have been altered, people have died from Covid-19, and the U.S. is dealing with social issues a long time in the making.

When I think about all of these things, I start to get really down with a doom and gloom attitude. It’s easy to turn into a “Negative Nancy”.

Optimism vs. Realism

When it comes to travel and the return to pre-pandemic life, I want to maintain a level of optimism. Things WILL get better. We will still make memories with our severely altered travel plans this summer.

But at the same time, I’m also a realist. I like to read facts and see the stats about Covid-19. I want to make informed decisions about how “safe” we will be during different types of travel and other activities. And, I want to keep things real for my kids so that they don’t have unrealistic expectations as to what our travel plans will and will not include over the next few months.

That said, never have I seen a more optimistic and unrealistic group of people than I see in die-hard cruising fans. From what I’ve noticed on social media, this subset of travelers is completely in denial about Covid-19’s effect on the cruising industry.

Crew members are still stuck at sea. The CDC doesn’t know when it will be safe to cruise again (but it won’t be until at least August).

Yet, some faithful cruisers think they are still going on their cruise vacation in a matter of weeks. I had a discussion with some recently who think this pandemic will all disappear any day now.

While I appreciate their optimism, I just can’t go that far. I would be even more disappointed if I believed that a trip would happen up until the last minute, and then it fell through.

So, I try to strike the balance between optimism and realism about travel and this whole situation. Some days, I drift more towards the pessimistic side when I watch the news too much. Other times, I try to ignore all the bad news, but then I get smacked with an email about how a record number of new cases are being diagnosed in Texas each day. Ugh.

How are you dealing with the uncertainty in the travel industry? Is your attitude helping you get through these times? What are your predictions for “normal” travel returning?

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