There are many better articles that could have been published this month in World Wide Travellers. Articles that will hopefully see the light in the next couple of months. A trip to Indonesia by a young member of ours and a great trans-Asian bike ride by another fellow traveller. Yet, this month’s article is not about travel, but about staying. About sitting still, on a chair, locked indoors by law.
It all started in Wuhan, China, but for our members it was Justas who gave the first sign of the swiftly change about to be experience all over the world. He found himself in Cagliari, capital town of the Italian island of Sardinia, when in his own words “Italy went apocalypse”:
Italy has gone apocalypse!
Quarantine, streets deserted, police check points (got in trouble several times already), everything except groceries and pharmacies closed (can’t get a fucking coffee!) Lots of public transport closed and even on the ones running the conductors are to scared to check for tickets.
Maybe it’s time to go up the mountain and wait till the world gets more sane again.
The virus SARS-CoV-2 and its fellow COVID-19 disease hit just a couple weeks ago Europe and now, just like Justas anticipated in Italy, most countries are issuing some sort of isolation quarantine on all the population to slow down the spread.
And it found me at my parents place, in the countryside of Spain. Surrounded by beautiful hills that I cannot go out and hike, since it would be irresponsible and could even grant me a fine.
When it is not a time to travel, not even to socialise, things turn in very different ways and the daily routine is drastically affected. Staying sane, at least in my case, becomes mostly a matter of staying creative: reading, writing and learning.
Luckily, since I’m not the only one grounded while all my friends are outside playing, I’ve found solace on a lot of creative people sharing a bit of their day to try and make yours more enjoyable: illustrators teaching you how to draw, authors of children books reading them for you and your kids, photographers creating creative challenges to train your eye.
It’s unfortunately not a time to travel the wide world, but a time for A Journey Round My Room, like the one that Xavier de Maistre published in 1829. I hope your journey is a beautiful and health one!