The hardest part of the COVID-19 pandemic for many of us has been being apart from our family and friends. When it’s safe to travel and gather, our Nomads community shares where they’ll go, what they’ll do, and why it will mean so much.
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“I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends in England again. I will first visit my Dad, who is no longer very mobile after a lifetime of activity, and who I haven’t seen now for more than 18 months – our longest time apart. I cannot wait to hug him and to laugh at the old stories. Then I will head to rural Suffolk to see a gathering of my dearest friends. We will all meet in the ancient 50-acre wood owned by one of my friends, to camp, cook over the fire, eat, drink, talk and laugh. Like we always have. Nothing changes even though everything changes, and for me, travel is always about the people.” – Kate Duthie, Managing Editor, World Nomads
"It's been a crazy 12 months, but now that some sense of normality is starting to return, we're excited to finally catch up with friends and family who are interstate [in Australia] and go on a series of big camping trips! Whether it's in our campervan or roughing it in a tent doesn't matter. As long as we're with the ones we love it's going to be incredible." Alesha Bradford and Jarryd Salem, Directors, NOMADasaurus
“My plans, now that I’m fully vaccinated, are twofold: go see my folks and take my family…somewhere. I’ll see my folks first. They live on the delmarvelous Delmarva peninsula, a dollop of marsh muck and seafood shacks sandwiched between the Atlantic and the Chesapeake Bay. I’ll take the canoe out with my brother, I hope, and cast for striped bass, and maybe look for shorebirds at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. I’ll go toss horseshoes on a sandbar off the coast of Cape Charles and ride a cruiser bike to The Shanty for fish and chips. I’ve been a mountain guy now most of my life, but I’ve always had saltwater in my veins. The pandemic has left me deficient in that way, and so I’ll go back and reconnect with the beauty of an endless marsh and savor the mucky funk of the marsh. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.” – Tim Neville, travel writer and World Nomads scholarship mentor
“My partner and I have recently invested in quality camping gear, so we’re keen to get some good use out of it. We’re planning road trips to visit our family and friends interstate [in Australia], setting up camp along the way and discovering so many new hikes, landmarks, and places to eat that we would have missed if we had flown there.
Now as semi-seasoned campers, we’re looking forward to organizing trips with our friends. Nothing like reconnecting around a campfire, under the stars, with some hot chocolate!” – Parinaz Bilimoria, Brand Programs and Community Manager, World Nomads
“I’m looking forward to seeing my best friend this summer. We often joke that we live our lives in parallel, the most recent example of this being when our wives gave birth within two weeks of each other during lockdown.
We’ve been on several outdoor adventures together in the past but, this time, the pace and activities will be different from when we were without little ones. With international travel out of the question, we’ve settled on hiring a cottage somewhere near the New Forest National Park and the Isle of Wight here in the UK. A beautiful part of the country that we haven’t fully explored in the past. Not only will it be great fun for both our older kids (who are also the same age and have had limited opportunity to socialize outside our bubble) but it will be a chance for us to take turns to go on date nights with our better halves and have hassle-free childcare!” – Dave O’Malley, Global Partnerships and Business Development, World Nomads
“With international travel still on hold in so many places, I’ll be visiting with friends across the country here in the United States. I’m looking forward to actually staying with friends in their homes, long hugs and catching up over this year. Hopefully there will be BBQs involved. This year has made me nostalgic, and I just got together with a friend I haven’t seen since childhood. I have a photo tour to the ’Stans – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan – in Central Asia in September and a trip to Vietnam in October, so I’m hoping international travel picks up by then.” – Alison Wright, photographer
“For the last four years (minus last year, obviously), my friends and I would do a Christmas in July (it being winter in Australia and all) at someone’s house or a holiday house. Looking forward to doing that again this year.” – Stefan Chan, Digital Specialist – SEO, World Nomads
“I've been traveling during the pandemic and have visited my mom several times (always getting tested first and wearing a mask around her all the time, even outdoors), but now that she, my sister, and her husband have been vaccinated, my family is planning a vacation. We're going to rent a cabin in northern Wisconsin at the campsite where my family went for 50 years up until about 15 years ago. I've been on a waiting list to get a cabin there for 15 years and we think we have a chance this summer – if not, we'll go off-peak in September.
As Covid is still an issue, we won't do the group activities there, but since my mom has Parkinson's and her condition has deteriorated significantly in the past year, the accommodations we'll make will more so be related to her limited mobility.” – Cassandra Brooklyn, travel writer
“I think the most fabulous plan would be to meet in Iceland. We’d rent a couple of camper vans and caravan around the island, stopping to camp and hike the fjords. We would take in the Arctic light and the smell of the sea, and cherish the freedom of the outdoors as well as rejoice in the reunion of camaraderie.” – Kiliii Yüyan, photographer
“Given the frictions and frustrations of international travel (plus the social responsibility of reducing risk), my travel will mostly be UK-based. I live in the city and have missed the great outdoors, so I’m looking forward to multi-day treks on the coast and highlands. Other than that, it’s all about breaks with the family – heading to retreats in the English countryside, renting a house together and visiting pubs!" – Ash Bhardwaj, filmmaker
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