Post-Vaccination Vacation Plans: New Developments

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I have vacation plans!  I’ve plotted so many things for 2021 that have already been cancelled.  It’s difficult to share thoughts of travel without the caveat that – what with pandemics being the nasty, unpredictable beasts they are – any plans are more likely to be trashed than not.  After a trip to India was postponed to 2022 and a European cruise was cancelled (which was entirely expected), it’s difficult to feel entirely optimistic about 2021 travels.  However, I’m going to embrace hope and share my currently scheduled adventures anyway.  I’m genuinely excited, and I think these post-vaccination vacation plans have a good shot of happening!

Recent History:  Florida

Just a note:  We were able to take a quick break in Florida recently to see my partner’s family and spent some time kayaking in the Crystal River area.  It was the first time we’d seen any family/friends in a shared space since March 2020, so it was a great opportunity to finally relax.

We do tend to keep masks on inside public buildings.  But that was clearly not an expectation in central Florida, and it felt very foreign to us.  Too soon, Florida, too soon.

But the water was beautiful, the paddling was quite a lot of fun, and we even saw a number of manatees… and even more otters!

To Manatee or Not To Manatee…

We didn’t feel the need to participate in manatee tours. Manatees are less abundant outside of the winter months, and each individual spotted by tour groups seemed overrun with attention (and snorkelers).  Maybe it doesn’t appear quite so overbearing when more manatees are present?  But the optics weren’t great as an observer.

Then again, when the manatees arrive in the winter in huge numbers, they’re escaping the cold waters of the Gulf.  Seeking refuge in the warmer waters of central Florida’s natural springs here in the Crystal River area is as a matter of survival.

I’m usually an avid supporter of eco-tourism.  The manatee tours certainly benefit the local economy.  And it sounds so cool – I completely understand the appeal of the gentle, floating giants.  But seeing crowds of snorkelers around a single manatee made me pause.  I don’t know that there’s genuinely any negative impact there at all, so I’m not saying do or don’t.  I just felt like I needed more information about the impacts of those tours before I could support the practice myself.

International Plans: The Galápagos

I’ve paid a deposit for a trip to the Galápagos Islands in August!  It’s one of the spots I recently described as a bucket list destination, and I’m excited to follow through with my hopes to travel more intentionally!

My trip is going to be a cruise rather than a land-based tour.  The land-based options can certainly be more budget-friendly, but a cruise is generally a more highly-recommended way to explore the Galápagos.  You can see more – and more remote areas – of the Galápagos National Park when your hotel is moving among the islands.  I really want this trip to be as wonderful as it has always sounded, so I’m going with the more expensive option here.

Also, I do think there are legitimate, conscientious reasons to choose a cruise instead of a land-based option.  The Galápagos National Park has created restrictions on the number of boats visiting the islands, their size, and their frequency.  Although very little of the islands is developed, there’s a not-discountable number of people living there now.  Luckily, about 97% of the islands are protected as part of the National Park, so the threat might not be entirely alarming.  But, if not capped in a similar fashion as cruise capacity, the land-based tours could support continued development and population growth on the four islands where lodging currently exists.

Ramblings of a Fan-girl

It may seem odd to say, but this trip is something of a pilgrimage for me.  As a wildlife biologist, the Galápagos is the place on this earth where we can see the species that inspired Charles Darwin to think beyond species being unchanging forms established by a Creator.

No, Darwin didn’t actually develop this theory in a bubble.  Elements of adaptation had already been proposed, some as somewhat fringe concepts.  And, more importantly, Alfred Russel Wallace played an instrumental part in identifying natural selective factors leading to speciation.  He was Darwin’s contemporary.  Much of his work occurred in islands of southeast Asia and in the Amazon, though, and so the connection to the Galápagos is very specific to Mr. Darwin and that famous Voyage of the Beagle.

So I hope there will be blue-footed boobies and penguins!  In addition to sea lions, marine iguanas, and giant tortoises.  All of those things are appealing and most people rave about them during their Galápagos cruises.  But I’ll also be very excited to see nesting Waved Albatross, the Flightless Cormorant, and even those remarkably similar but very inspiring finches* Mr. Darwin wrote about.

And after, maybe there will be a few more days of birding?  In Ecuador or Colombia.  Few of my photos survived from my first trip to Ecuador, so it would be nice to see some old feathered friends again.  And maybe properly maintain their images this time around…

*Those inspirational, beaky little birds are actually in the tanager family.

Domestic Destinations:  Glacier National Park

We’re hoping to find ourselves in Montana in late September.  Our intent is to be in Glacier after the larger crowds but before everything shuts down entirely.  Currently I’ve even planned a couple days in Waterton Lakes National Park (Canada), so our plans might need to change if international borders remain closed.  It would be my first time in Canada, though, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Visiting National Parks is a popular thing during the pandemic, but many logistics are different while the Parks struggle with covid-19 guidance, safety, and staffing.  Some campgrounds aren’t available, for instance, and more maintenance is being planned on roads and infrastructure.  Waterton is actually in our plans because another very popular area, Many Glacier, will be inaccessible during our visit.

Even so, we should be able to see some beautiful landscapes, view wildlife, and get in a number of lovely and/or challenging hikes.  And like the Galápagos, this trip maintains my focus on more thoughtful travel.  I recently discussed Glacier National Park as a domestic bucket list destination.

Currently trail plans include a couple shorter trails in Waterton Lakes NP and a longer hike in the Two Medicine area.  I’m hoping for several hikes – including the Highline Trail – accessed from the Going to the Sun Road.  We’re just hoping for decent weather, open borders, and accessible roads!

Now that I think of it, that might be hoping for quite a lot…

Patience and Gratitude

We talk about 2020 as if somehow an arbitrary period on the calendar has some significance.  As if once the year changed to 2021, the doors that had closed would be opened.  This is our resilient – and maybe slightly irrational – nature rearing its ugly head.  Clearly the spread of contagions and the distribution of vaccines just isn’t dictated by the flip of a calendar page.  (Although that would have been really nice, I gotta say.)

But now that a bit of 2021 has passed, I’m happy to be fully vaccinated.  And I am very hopeful that things return to some version of normalcy that allows more movement and more exploration.  It’s great to be able to feel like we can relax enough to go to a book store, or a coffee shop, or a remote South American archipelago.  Any of those things sounds awesome, even with a mask on.  I’ll take it!

I just try to remind myself that travel restrictions or delays?  Those are minor inconveniences.  There’s still a pandemic impacting most of the world.  Many countries do not have nearly the access that those of us in the United States were lucky to experience.

Basically, I am terribly grateful that I can leave my house again and recognize that travel is a tremendous privilege for those of us who have easy and early vaccine access.

Do I want to take advantage of it?  Heck yeah.  Am I super excited about upcoming plans?  Goodness, yes, there is so much squeeing about the Galápagos!  But I’ll try to be a thoughtful and responsible traveler at those destinations, too.  Because it’s important to not be a total jerk!