Unexpected Change
While we hope every travel experience is a life-changing trip, I didn’t expect my life to change so much during my adventure to Portugal and Morocco for the Spring Festival 2020 holiday. My friend and I left Beijing mid-January for what we thought would be an amazing break from our busy lives there. We planned to experience the history, culture, and beauty of Portugal and Morocco then return and get back to work. That’s not what happened.
Right around this same time, news was spreading of a novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. We followed the news quite closely, so much that it added a level of stress and annoyance to what should have been a time to immerse ourselves in the places we were visiting and not worry about life at home.
Decision Time
Toward the end of our vacation, the time came to make a decision about whether or not we would return to the amazing city we each call home. As we prepared to depart Amsterdam for our final leg to Beijing, we chose to reroute ourselves to family in the states. Like many others, we hoped it would be just for a few weeks until the virus situation was under control in China. Now, I write this, three months after I left Beijing.
It took about a month for me to finally get my laptop (Thank, Kristen!). I had to buy necessities to supplement what I had been traveling with, including things like socks and shampoo. I got a temporary tourist SIM card. About five weeks after being stateside, I began realizing that I wasn’t returning to Beijing until May or June at the earliest. Then, the pandemic took a serious turn in the U.S. and both the U.S. and China essentially closed their borders. Who knows if or when I’ll be able to return.
Lonely Heritage
As I think back to the amazing places I experienced in Portugal and Morocco, those memories are overshadowed by Covid-19 and the sadness that those places aren’t being experienced and enjoyed by anyone for the time being. Nobody is mesmerized by the intricate details and vibrant colors of Pena Palace or Jeronimos Monastery. Nobody is gazing up through the broken arches of Carmo Convent having a transcendent moment. The normally bustling, narrow, winding alleyways of Morocco’s ancient cities of Fez and Marrakesh are eerily empty. No photos are being taken in the midst of the magnificent blue walls of Chefchaouen, and the ocean spray in Hercules’ grotto has nobody to hypnotize.
Similar scenes have unfolded around the globe as the normally at-capacity Forbidden City went from around 60,000 people per day to just the cats that roam the palace grounds. Animals in zoos look out wondering where everyone is. Memorials and monuments sit abandoned with no one to remember what or whom they are there to remind us of. Instead, museums, cultural institutions, historic places, zoos and aquariums, and national parks, fight for viewership in the digital world.
Nothing Compares to the Real Thing
The technology that allows this and enables us to continue to connect with each other over far distances is a miracle. However, nothing, no matter how high the resolution or how interactive the touch-screen or voice commands may be, can compare with all of your senses being fully engaged in the sounds and smells of the souks and bazaars in Morocco, Turkey, or Qatar or the vast majesty and wonder of the African savanna and its inhabitants.
In my short five years in Beijing, I’ve taken many people to the Great Wall for the first time. They were all familiar with it beforehand and had seen photos and video of it, but every single time, they arrive and their jaws drop in awe. To be somewhere and experience it in-person is an exhilarating moment, whether that’s seeing a show on Broadway, feeling the wind on your face on the North Short of Oahu, or walking through magnificent ruins of ancient people and cultures.
When will it end?
We all wonder when this will end and when we will be able to go back out and explore. Nobody knows. There are no clear answers, only debates and disagreeing expertise. But, when the world slowly reopens, many of us will be there in line to get tickets and go experience first-hand the places we only dreamed about through digital realms for these months of isolation. Hopefully, the next life-changing trip I go on won’t bring such drastic change.
Until then, I hope me sharing my experiences and photos of Portugal and Morocco will help satisfy your cravings just a little bit.
