The Sunday New York Times really shocked me way back on January 16, 2022. On that date this venerable newspaper that used to recommend travel destinations each year and send a reporter to check out each one it wrote about published a list of destinations for this year. It had not published a travel section since 2021 when it covered 52 places we love before dropping a travel section completely because of COVID.
This year it bravely wrote about “52 Places for a changed world”. Its choices for travel in 2022 reflect what has happened in the last couple of years when international travel was all but impossible and domestic was not much easier. People are, however, eager to travel again. This new travel section admitted that this pause has not been all that bad. It gave travelers time to really reflect on why they needed to go somewhere. “We’ve selected spots from across the globe where travelers can be a part of the solution”, The New York Times reports. Solution to what? People simply can’t go where they used to. The world and the rules have changed.
The 2022 travel section contains destinations that were not around when the world went berserk. Some of the new destinations include Argentina’s new Ibera Park, Maine’s new Cobscook Shores, and Hoonah, Alaska. Some venerable destinations of historic worth that Ruth & I have been to and are undergoing a new look include Kyoto, Japan, Humboldt, Kansas, and Australia’s Summerland Peninsula where travelers gather to watch fairy penguins emerge from the surf. New uses for old destinations are being discovered. Milwaukee and Cleveland, for example, are undergoing profound changes. Some of the newer places to explore are not yet open to travelers or were hard hit by the virus and are not safe for now.
We have not begun to adapt to the new rules made necessary by the travel industry’s necessary new rules. Cruises may never be the same again. We are entering a new world that is far different from the old one. Travel will be affected.
Hank
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