Travel 2023: Following COVID Restrictions, It’s About “Revenge Travel”

Antonia Whyatt | April 11th, 2023

For many, the pall of COVID-19 isolation has been replaced by the hope-filled rush of travel. Photo: Credit: Yevhenii Dubinko/Getty Images

Escape and find a purpose! In our February/March 2023 issue of Zoomer magazine, we featured “23 Reasons to Travel in 2023”. In this edition, we look at how one writer sought release from long months of pandemic isolation by travelling with a vengeance. Click on the link at the bottom of the story for more ideas and inspiration for your next trip.

I took my first trip, from the U.S. to Canada, at six weeks old. By two and a half, I had lived in three countries; by the time I was 30, I’d lived in New York, Austin, San Francisco, Montreal, Toronto and London. There’s one place I’ve never been: grounded. So the minute the skies opened up in 2022, I started travelling with a vengeance.

In January, I joined my brother’s family in Antigua. When we landed in St. John’s, I took a victory stroll across the tarmac, smelling the sweet, Caribbean air and drinking in the bright colours. On the bone-rattling ride to the other side of the island, the sight of turquoise surf rolling into creamy beaches soothed me. Later, I was lulled to sleep by waves crashing into Half Moon Bay below my Vrbo villa; it was the closest I’d get to the luxe Mill Reef Club, where my brother was staying.

Next was London for two weeks in March. The weather was bizarrely beautiful – no rain and hovering around 24C – and the English were soaking in the sun outside pubs and cafés. Nature was also celebrating with apple, cherry and magnolia blossoms adorning the streets. Nowhere does spring like England, and this one was a gift.

In early April, I landed in Hawaii for my best friend’s 50th. This was a trip without children, so there were luaus on Oahu’s north shore, cocktail parties, shopping and dancing. I wore bright colours and ridiculous ruffles while sipping mai tais at the palatial pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel, watching plunging tropical sunsets.

In mid-June, I whipped down to Toronto’s Island Airport and got back into the swing of mini-breaks wth a weekend in Chicago. My friends and I took the architectural boat tour, buoyed by cocktails from the Langham Hotel and dinner at the Michelin-starred North Pond in Lincoln Park. Sitting in the dining room in our finest frocks, we marvelled at the luxury of being together again, the pall of COVID-19 isolation replaced by the hope-filled rush of travel.

A version this article appeared in the Feb/Mar 2023 issue with the headline ‘Revenge Travel’, p. 86.

For more ideas and inspiration for your next trip, go here.

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