Adventure in the Covid era

Pictured here are bikes for loan at the author’s favorite vacation destination, Pirate’s Point in Little Cayman. She visited with her family in March 2020 and managed to get home a day before the borders closed to tourists. They remain unopened.

By: Stacie Charbonneau Hess

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.— Mark Twain

If you’re like me and most of my friends, you are happier when there are things to look forward to. Birthday parties and barbecues in summer, ski trips and Caribbean vacations in winter. While some of this is still possible, with Covid-era accommodations of course, a lot of our former gallivanting is off-limits. Road trips take precedence over airplanes, sticking close to home over visiting a neighbor. It can all get rather wearisome, really, and here we are coming up on one year of rethinking the way we socialize, and the way we travel.

If you are of retirement age, perhaps you’re extra angry and feel short-changed at having to stay home in chilly New England during the sometimes wretched winter-weather months. To cope, I have compiled a list of ways you can travel – or plan to travel – safely, right now, without waiting another day. If you give yourself over to the planning, with hope and anticipation, the brain is even tricked, outwitting winter with dreams of light and warmth.

Think of planning travel and embarking on local, short trips as taking care of your mental health. Instead of focusing on what you cannot do, your mind focuses on creation. Lifestyle writer for the New York Times Melissa Kirsch writes in her article, the “The Importance of Anticipation,” that “We all need things to look forward to.” She quotes a researcher from The Journal of Experimental Psychology, Christian Waugh who confirms that “[Anticipation] promotes approach thinking, so the feeling that you’re going toward something you want or desire, as opposed to going away from something you fear, which gives a sense of well-being.” In yoga we say this more simply: “What you focus on gets stronger.” This becomes a mantra for creating something anew, something that has not yet materialized for you. Here are a few ways you can focus your attention on creating something beautiful, something hopeful, something that can get you through the rainiest, sleetiest, windiest, wretched-est of winter days.

Take an “Awe-Walk”

A friend of mine, Josie, is a public health advocate and sent me this awesome new study about Awe Walks. It focused on older adults (60s, 70s, and 80s) in the San Francisco Bay Area. The study showed the difference between people who just walked for “exercise” and those who were given the task of finding “awe” in their everyday walks. The study was performed over eight weeks, with two groups: the control group and the “awe-seekers” who were told by the researchers to try to seek out new places to walk each day, to cultivate a sense of child-like wonder, notice the details – in other words, get out of their own self-focused thought-patterns which can lead to malaise and worry.

This study took the idea that “exercise is good for you” and added an element of intentionality to the physical part of it. Apparently, the most surprising part of the study was the selfies that participants were asked to take. Researchers noticed that as the weeks progressed, the selfies in the “awe” category became more about the surroundings than the walker herself. In other words, the awe-walkers were outwardly focused, connected to their surroundings and appreciative of them.

I see this study as evidence of a gratitude practice. I am not surprised that the awe-seekers reported feeling a sense of well-being in more instances than the control group. It’s back to that yogi advice: what you focus on grows stronger. It can be really simple, even if you visit the same place day after day. Zero in on something: on my own awe-walks these days, I try to name the types of trees I see.

Try going on your own “awe-walk” wherever you can, for 15 minutes a day. Throw on a pair of snowshoes if it’s one of those snow days. Get a bit out of your comfort zone. Take some selfies, like the participants in the study did, but otherwise stay off your phone. Be present. See if you feel the magic of nature and your surroundings as they envelop you and invite you to be part of something larger than yourself.

Join a learning community

Josie also introduced me to an organization that serves older adults called Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLI), with a local chapter, run out of UMass Boston. The mission of the organization is to “foster accessible lifelong learning, individual growth, and social connection for learners age 50+ by providing opportunities to enrich the intellectual, social, and cultural lives of members.” As I was reading through the catalog of courses and “Brown Bag Presentations” I got really excited! I almost can’t wait to turn 50 so I can join the group!

How OLLI works is that by becoming a member – for a very reasonable fee of $225 for the whole year – “students” have access to a huge variety of classes and programs each semester. Some are one-time presentations, with others running for up to ten weeks.

Think of almost anything you are interested in (Art History, Indian Cuisine, Meteorology) and OLLI will have a workshop or presentation for you. For travel-based opportunities, the Spring 20 21 catalog describes classes such as: “Intermediate French Conversation Through Cinema,” “The Art and Architecture of Beautiful Barcelona,” “A Year in Chile,” and “Mestizaje: A Trip on the History of Mexico’s Cuisine.”

These are not fluffy adult learning courses on knitting (though OLLI does host those as well). These are substantive, academic courses that provide historical and cultural education, as well as enhance your social circle. Instructors and presenters are mostly college professors. There is no particular academic background necessary to join. Full members receive a student ID from UMass that allows them to enjoy the same discounts as students.

While I am optimistic that the remainder of 2021 will be about navigating out of this global pandemic, I also hope that we will be navigating ourselves towards that which nurtures us: visiting a faraway relative, watching inspirational television, or taking a class.

I hope that these ideas will spark your own explorations: whether from your sofa or to the long-awaited journey to France that you know will happen someday – maybe this year, maybe not. I hope that through joining a community of travelers, virtually or otherwise, you will continue to focus on the possibilities. What you focus on grows, so plant some seeds today and keep nurturing them until it’s their time to blossom. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” May you cultivate it inside, so you see it wherever you go.