Is it time to travel yet?
Summer trips are canceled. Business trips are being held via Zoom. Weddings are postponed. Family reunions are rescheduled for 2021.
2020 has thrown us for a loop, to put it mildly. But here we are, stuck in limbo. Case counts are decreasing. Death tolls are dropping. But will it last? Will there be a second wave? If so, when will it start? Can we board a plane in July? August? How about a train? Nothing is certain save one option…The road trip!
We are Urban Upscale. This makes us feel like, more than likely, you (our readers) live in a metropolitan area. The benefit of this is that pretty much all of us can drive to a scenic…nee…idyllic destination in 4 hours or less. New Yorkers can drive to the Jersey Shore. Los Angelinos can hop on California Highway 1 and drive up the coast as far as San Fran or anywhere in between. Atlantans can be on a beach on the Florida panhandle in less time than it takes to make a peach cobbler. Detroiters? Hop on I-96 and you can have sugary sand between your toes on the west coast of Michigan replete with dunes and lakefront Air BnBs. All any of this takes is gas, a cool playlist for the ride and a couple of hours and ….Blammo! You are suddenly on that elusive 2020 summer vacation that we all feared died like the TSA line at O’Hare.
The road trip has been an excellent family or couples bonding experience since the invention of the Studebaker Commander. Car trips from Detroit, Michigan to Birmingham, Alabama to visit Granny or similar were a staple for many of us as children. There is no reason, not even a global pandemic, that we cannot try to replicate this experience for our offspring or our significant other. The difference is that we now have to pack hand sanitizer, masks and common sense (On a lot of my previous road trips, “common sense” was not always an omnipresent entity).
So here we are finding ourselves on the brink of summer and we are stuck in between the thoughts of safety and the dreams of fun.
You may not have needed me to tell you this but…
Both can happen!
Just hop in the Caddy, Buick, BMW or Lexus and skip ORD, ATL, JFK and LAX.
Simple.
Be safe and you’re welcome.