Many yearn for return to traveling

They’re looking at less conventional places for escape or vacation,” Modak said. “They’re thinking differently about what it means to take a vacation.”

Modak said this might be because, after two years of the pandemic, many people miss human connection and are factoring that in more to their travel.

Modak isn’t the only one saying this either. In a survey done in the middle of the pandemic about what people want their next trip to feature, the top answers were: “Get to know other cultures more deeply” and “Meet new people/make friends”, according to World Packers.

Students at the university are no exception to this trend. Arturo Ochoa, biomedical engineering sophomore, has traveled to various spots since the pandemic restrictions have let up, including visiting family in Mexico, doing a studying abroad with programs in Italy, and then visiting Austria and Spain. Ochoa said when he is traveling, he wants to gain something he can’t get back home.

“I want to have experiences and see different cultures,” Ochoa said. “Culture expands your mind. The way people function in other societes — how something can be normal here and not over there — that’s what I want to experience.”

Ochoa is not alone in this. According to the Booking.com 2022 Sustainable Travel Report, out of 30,314 respondents from across 32 different countries, 66 percent of travelers want to have an experience that is representative of local culture, and 25 percent of people are willing to pay more for activities they know will give back to the local community in some way. Modak said that many people might be asking themselves new questions when coming up with their next destination for a vacation.

“I think (the pandemic) made us rethink everything,” Modak said. “It’s made us rethink the carbon footprint of our travel, what we do when we’re on the ground. Does every vacation need to be at an all-inclusive resort? There’s nothing wrong with that, but maybe when people are planning their next trip, they’ll think about engaging more somewhere, they’ll wanna spend a lot more time outdoors. There’s been a lot that I think has been changing people’s values around travel, and why they travel.

According to Claire Newell, founder and president of Travel Best Bets in an article by Today, many people looking to travel want to support the local community and are choosing not to stay in chain hotels, rather to eat and stay in local spots and shop from local stores. The 2022 Sustainable Travel Report says that a third of travelers in the report said they are looking for a more locally relevant experience.

Many people are also trying to change their travel plans to help support the environment. According to the Booking.com

2022 Sustainable Travel Report, 81 percent of global travelers say that sustainable travel is important to them, with 50 percent of those saying that recent climate change news had led them to make more sustainable travel choices.

The report also says that many people want to travel outside of peak seasons to avoid overcrowding, or choose an entirely different destination altogether that is less popular. However, 42 percent of people say they struggled to find an appealing destination that is less crowded.

Not everyone is keen to go to back to normal, however.

Lena Ross, a psychology senior at OU, said that while she has traveled and lived in Japan before the pandemic, she is still cautious of the risks involved. Ross, said while she has traveled to Japan, a country she used to live in, since the pandemic has started to lighten up, she is still cautious of the risk involved.

“Before 2019, I used to go to Japan every year, and then because of COVID-19, I had to take a two year break,” Ross said. “When I was able to go back again, it was mostly the same, but there were a lot more rules. It wasn’t as easy to travel there.”

Ross didn’t mind the extra steps, however, saying that she feels like the U.S. doesn’t care about COVID-19, and she appreciates that Japan still does.

“The whole time I was there, we’re required to wear masks, we’re told not to go out if you feel sick at all, but here, I feel like COVID-19 has been gone for, like, a year,” Ross said. “Nobody really wears masks, and people still go out even if they feel sick. I’m that one person that is still wary of COVID-19. I still wear my mask everyday. The minute I don’t feel good at all I stay at home, and I feel like I’m the only one who wears a mask.”

Ross said that visiting another country where masking is still normalized is makes her feel more comfortable.

“Here, I’m standing out by wearing a mask, and even at work, I’m the only one,” Ross said. “Customers will say, ‘Oh they’re making you wear that?’ and I have to clarify: ‘No, I get sick easily, and I’m scared of COVID-19,’ but when I was over there everyone was wearing a mask. It would have been weird if I wasn’t wearing a mask.”

While these restrictions still may be common in Japan, across the globe this is not the case. Most countries have removed their mask mandates and COVID-19 travel restrictions, aside from a select few. Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Angola, Azerbaijan, Liberia and Ghana are still closed to U.S. citizens who are not fully vaccinated, and various other countries require visitors to quarantine no matter their vaccination status or negative test results.

When travel starts to change, the content written about it will change as well. Modak says that the pandemic helped propel changes that were much needed in the travel writing industry.

“I think (travel writing) is still in the process of figuring out what it is now, but it definitely has changed,” Modak said. “I think some of the changes were already underway. Maybe not a direct product of the pandemic, but also around the conversations around Black Lives Matter protests and everything else. A, a lot of industries, including travel writing, took a look at themselves and asked, ‘Are we really representing the world at large?

Are we representing everyone when we talk about the world?’ And I think the answer was largely no. It’s good to see places shining more of a light on local voices, on marginalized voices, on the voices we haven’t heard in an industry that’s largely been dominated by white dudes.”

Modak says that while this isn’t a direct result of the pandemic, it did give many people a shock to their systems and helped propel it to the limelight, and can hopefully encourage people to rethink why we travel.

“I hope that this means we will move beyond the bucket list approach to travel, where we all need to go to the same place at the same time of year, to take the same photos to post to Instagram. I think that’s gonna become a thing of the past, as we try and have more meaningful experiences when we travel.”

While it may look a bit different than before, the travel industry is growing and will soon to reach the heights it had prior to the pandemic, although those heights may be spread out over a variety of different places, rather than the all- inclusive resorts and luxury cruises that have historically been seen on Instagram for years and years. In the post-pandemic age, the new travel may be more local, more community focused and more culturally diverse at all stages of the trip.

100 Years

AGO AT OU

Hiking at OU has been a pastime for students for a long time as a good way to take a step back from studies and embrace nature.

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Lake Thunderbird.

In the Nov. 28, 1923, issue of OU Daily, hiking was described as “Soonerland’s popular sport,” and “ ... something of that inborn love of beautiful nature.”

OU Daily reported that hiking was popular among couples, but many men and co-ed groups preferred it over an afternoon at the movies.

According to OU Daily, late November through the holidays was peak hiking season for Oklahomans looking to “fnd solace in nature’s playground.”

On Nov. 18, 2010, OU Daily reported about the hobby and recommended various spots across Oklahoma, including the Ouachita Mountains, Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, Black Mesa State Park and

OU Daily reported that hiking is a good way to grow friendships and one’s experience with nature.

Professor Allen Knehans, chair of the department of nutritional sciences, said it’s important to stay hydrated and energized while hiking.

“For the hiker, I would say water (is) a frst priority, Knehans said. “The fact that they’re almost certainly being more active in a typical day — there’s more sweat, losing fuids.”

Khenans also recommended bringing snacks while you hike to maintain energy like an orange or banana, along with a packed meal.

Universal Crossword

10 Take in or let out

11 Arm-twisted

12 Usually

13 “That’s a terrible thing to do!”

18 French name pronounced “eve”

22 Recycling container

24 It abuts N.D. and S.D.

25 Make amends

26 Italian greeting

28 Chess “castle”

35-

32 Fingerprint feature

33 Haw’s partner

34 Snaky swimmers in the Sargasso Sea

36 Voyage

37 “Shoo!”

38 “That wasn’t a good idea”

39 Without assistance

40 Getting just right

43 “My bad!”

44 More than you can count

45 Accept the decision of

47 The “S” of GPS: Abbr.

48 NASA telescope launched in 2021

50 Singer Kravitz

51 Architectural add-on

52 Pester persistently

56 Sitar music pattern

58 Fled or bled

59 Rage

60 Many MIT grads who studied circuits

Solution

March 9-12: Future Voices

Oklahoma City Ballet, tickets online for $20.

March 10: Natural World Exhibit

The Resonator

March 10: Second Friday

Norman Art Walk

Walker Arts District

March 10-12: Jurassic Quest

Oklahoma City Fairgrounds, tickets online

March 11: Norman Wine and Craft Festival

Cleveland County Fairgrounds

March 11: Be Our Guest (DJ Disney Night)

Tower Theatre, $18-22

March 11 and 18: Winter Market Saturdays

The Well

March 15: Science of Sci-Fi

Sam Noble Museum, $25 for members, $30 for nonmembers

March 16-17: Squid

Oklahoma Contemporay, $15.76

March 17: BJP St. Patricks Day Show

Bluebonnet Bar

March 17: ShamROCK the Gardens

Myriad Botanical Gardens

March 19: Disco Doom with AJ Harvey Opolis, $10

Instructions:

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

1 Type of sprout in salads

2 More sordid

3 Fusses over

4 Magical Egyptian goddess

5 Toon frame

6 Paid to play poker

7 Welsh ___ (dog breed)

8 Poetic alternative to “afore”

9 Go kaput