The Pleasure of Planning Ahead

There’s uncertainty in the air but one thing we know is that when we can travel again, we will. For now, we’re all safely at home, the world on our doorstep, yet just that little bit beyond our reach. For now, our plans and yours are on hold. But we’re already looking ahead. In our mind, our holiday plans and yours aren’t cancelled, merely postponed. And with the promise of adventures on the horizon comes the pleasure of planning ahead.

We’re travelling vicariously through all the cruise destination guides we can digest and we’re getting a taste for the restaurants we’ll be seated in for dinner with a view, soon. We’re looking ahead to great escapes, embracing wanderlust in all its forms, putting things into perspective and planning our ‘something to look forward to’. Because there is so much to look forward to.

Here are all the ways we’re finding pleasure in planning ahead.

We’re starting small and looking close to home

We don’t just love to cruise, we love to travel. And for a short time at least, that might well mean looking towards coasts closer to home. The minute we’re allowed out we’ll be making our way to the beach, armed with two pence pieces for the slot machines and an appetite for fish and chips. There’s a whole world out there, but our home shores will do just fine until it reopens.

We’re dreaming big

When this is over, we’re all going to need a holiday; we’re making sure it’ll be a good one. We’re dreaming up trips that have languished on our bucket lists too long, whether that means we’ll finally tap a toe in America’s music cities of Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans, or embrace the frivolity of an indulgent few days in Lake Garda alongside our Mediterranean cruise in 2021. We’re using our time spent locked away to plan Christmas in New York and next autumn in Canada and New England, where we’ll finally live out our fantasies to see fall colours in all their glory. What better way to stretch your legs after isolation than to make some of those travel dreams a reality?

We’re missing familiar faces

While the world may be hurting, there’s a simmering anticipation for all of the things we’ll do. We’re planning trips on our favourite ships, with crew that offer nothing but service with a smile capable of turning an early start into a good day. We’re missing fresh pasta at family trattorias in Rome and espresso by the canal in Venice. It breaks the heart of any travel lover to see the bustling streets of Milan and the like stand still, but we’re planning our return already. 319 million people around the world rely on tourism, that’s one in nine jobs. We’re planning our holidays, albeit much later in 2020 and into 2021, full of hope that our favourite restaurant will be right there waiting when the world reopens.