A New Normal

Hey Travelphilers!

What an incredible change in life and society we’ve gone through in the past few weeks! We are all coping with different and continually-evolving levels of this coronavirus pandemic, and my heart goes out to all of you. Whether you’re self-isolating, mandated to shelter in place, working from home, suffering from loss of work or employment, managing education and activity time with your kids, dealing with illness or loss, or working on the front lines to combat this virus, please know that I am thinking of you.

I hope you are all doing your best to stay healthy, making the most of family time, self-care and wellbeing, new and revisited projects, and planning for fulfilling and rewarding experiences that await you on the other side of this unprecedented situation we’re all living through.

With the deep-seeded desires to stay connected with all of you, to keep my creative fire ignited, and to hopefully keep all of our travel dreams alive, one of my many goals for this time of self-isolation is to regularly post content again. Over the years, you have become a huge part of my life community, and I want us to keep that strong together.

There’s so much that’s been going on and changing my life in the past two years: some of which only a few of you might know about. I want to be able to share that with you, too.

Just recently, a fellow Travelphiler (and now friend), Andrea, wrote an email to me and my dear friend and colleague Sarah. As a pilot, Andrea travels the globe regularly, knows lots of her own handy travel tricks, and relies on other sources to discover new ways to make the most of her journeys. Her note referenced a video that Sarah and I had made and the work we do. At the end of the letter, she wrote:

“That video was life-changing for me when in London, so I started following you, Trish, on social media… Each post, each video….everything you do makes a difference. You have impacted so many lives in many positive ways. I cannot wait to see where your journey in life takes you and am hoping to join you on an adventure very soon.”

The email impacted me so much. It came at an important time in my life, and I felt truly inspired to generate more content for all of you to enjoy. Alas, as alluded to before, there has been a lot going on in my life—personally, professionally, and now, societally. So, I’ve kind of been missing in action as of late.

But now seems an opportune time to dig into my stockpiles of photos, videos, and stories that I’ve neglected to share with you from the past two years so we can reconnect through our shared passion for travel and for learning about the world. There are people, histories, artwork, feasts, monuments, buildings, and cultural experiences —both domestically and globally—that enliven this world. That’s something we can continue to celebrate…even as we shelter in place.

There is a light at the end of the COVID-19 Tunnel, and when we as a global community get through it, I hope we’ll all be able to resume our normal lives, that we can revive and create new plans, and that we’ll re-engage with the world up-close and personal and no longer at a social distance. In short, I hope we’ll all be able to journey…well. For now, let’s remain united in supporting one another and finding spirit-lifting things to virtually enjoy in this beautiful world that continues to turn.

I don’t know how frequent my posts will be, but I will make the commitment to work on them. You’ll also be brought up to speed with all that is new and changing in my life. Until then, it would be so wonderful to hear from you and learn how you’re occupying your days, how you’ve adapted to changes in your life in these past few weeks, and what your own plans are for the weeks to come.

Thank you so much for being part of The Travelphile Community and for adding happiness and meaning to my life!

Journey…Well

Trish Feaster
The Travelphile