The Roaming Flamingo is back!
We are in a weird time in our lifetimes, aren’t we? Who knew a percentage of the world’s population would be ordered to stay indoors and help fight off the giant microscopic elephant in the room – COVID-19 aka coronavirus? Oooooh corona just go away!
In a world of globalisation, borders have been closed off. From the person that seems to be perpetually on the move, it is super hard to fathom that many of us will be in some kind of lockdown. The natural beauty that the world bestows needs to be seen, but it is the walks of life that makes a destination one to hold dear more so.
My job is to inspire people to travel to places but err, we are being told by our governments not to. Forced to! So, what do I do now?
The world will continue to spin despite wheels stopping motion, doors closing, planes landing and boats docking – for now. We will all come out of this eventually (hopefully after some decent self-reflection time too) and embrace the world in a new way.
I imagine a lot of us would be scared. Did that person just cough? Gross, that person just sneezed! Second-guessing these happenstances may be the new normal, but I really hope not. I hope that we (in the long term) don’t become fearful of our neighbour, the stranger that walks by.
About work, it is uncertain; however, I am going to seize this chance to make up for what I had lost my way with over the last year – my blog.
To be honest, I let life get in the way. It wasn’t like I wasn’t writing or off on other adventures; what I failed to do was to share them here with you all. I had a bit of imposter syndrome going on too. I’m sorry. I know I am not the only one writing about travelling and how to live your best life but I let that get to me on my own platform. On the flip side, I have enjoyed much success in the last year writing for other new publications, including Caravan World magazine, So Perth and launching a national travel website, So Where Next? (a sexy website at that) with like-minded travel folk.
One of the things I love most about travel writing is that I can inspire people or maybe even challenge people to explore parts of the world that didn’t consider or know about. Or get involved in activities or events they may have never dreamed of doing so expect there to be more storytelling on a refreshed-looking website in the upcoming months – yey!
Travelling is not all sunshine and rainbows, there are hardships too and most of those, in my experience, have come from within. The ultimate lesson I have learnt from my travels is resilience and to bring the conversation full circle; this is when we need to be resilient most.
Yes, this is a strange time. It has brought out the absolute worst in humanity, i.e. people fighting each other for toilet paper (seriously, maybe time to consider getting a bidet) BUT it is also showcasing the best. That we care about the people around us, we are becoming more diligent with our hygiene, and also we are reassessing how we treat and interact with each other.
Tough times are ahead, no doubt. I have accepted the situation as it is. The only thing we can do is support each other and still find that fire to continue to inspire and think positive because the world will bounce back from this and it is united nations party I look forward to.
Just wash those hands upon entering…