I just laughed when I looked back at my travel goals for 2020 that I posted a year ago. Who would have thought we would have just endured the year that we did?
In January, I set out to visit:
- Algeria
- Bhutan
- Mongolia
- Nepal
- Syria
And ended up visiting none of them…
I set out to try the following products:
- American Airlines 777-3000ER First Class
- WestJet 787-9 Business Class
- Air Canada 787-9 Business Class
- Korean Airlines A380 + 747-8 First Class
- Air Algerie A330 Business Class
- TAP Portugal A330neo Business Class
- Singapore Airlines A380 New Suites
- Air Greenland A330 Business Class
An ended up trying two (bolded in blue)
Yeah, it was one of those years. It started so promising, but the pandemic has changed it all.
Yet I’m not going to gripe today about how the pandemic messed up all three of my businesses (though it did). I’m not going to complain about all the trips that were robbed from me due to the virus and our collective reaction to it.
Instead, I’m just going to express thanksgiving that I am healthy. My wife and children are healthy. My parents and uncle and grandmother and aunt and cousins are physically healthy. In Europe, my wife’s family is healthy too.
Business has been hit hard, but it will rebound. Money is not the priority; family is and my family is by my side today. We spent the day together, hence the canned “best of” posts earlier.
In order for me to be able to get back to them, let me just thank you all again. Thanks for reading. Thanks for making this the best year ever in terms of readership on Live and Let’s Fly. This blog continues to be my labor of love and creative release, not my profession, and I hope to keep it that way even as it continues to grow.
Many have lost loved ones this year. If you have not, consider yourself fortunate. Every day that you have life, breath, a sound mind, and healthy body consider yourself fortunate. As we move into the new year, it would not be unreasonable to look back on 2020 with great disdain, but I choose today to look at the good 2020 has brought.
I’ve spent more time at home with my family this year than at any point in the past. And as much as I love traveling, I don’t mind being a homebody either. So there was good that came this year. I know my wife and children better. I love them more. And that is more important than all the travel in the world.
Goodbye 2020.
Thanks Matthew. Even with greatly reduced travel this year, I got a lot of joy out of reading your blogs. Your kindness and humanity shines through in your writing. I wish you and your family a much better 2021 than 2020.
Thank you, Rick! I wish you a happy new year as well!
Thanks Matthew. I enjoy your blog and it is a small bright spot in my daily browsing and trip dreaming. I hope you have a wonderful New Year. Keep up the good work.
Happy New year, Matthew. Good for you in looking back at the silver linings amidst the horror we have all endured.
Live and Let Fly will always will be my favorite blog. Your personal approach to both revealing deeper thoughts and at the same time responding to people directly, no matter how opposing they are, is truly admirable. I often think that you would do well in politics…I seriously think you should consider.
With that, I will say your taste in food is a bit sketchy. But that is easily forgiven. Unless I ever have to eat with you.
Wishing you a fantastic business rebound in 2021 and better days ahead.
For sure, 2020 has been truly awful. But I’m optimistic about 2021. No doubt there’ll be residual/ongoing sadness and pain as we start to come out of the pandemic, most particularly for those who’ve lost loved ones, jobs, businesses. My own diminished circumstances seem like very small beer relative to those losses ( ..and in any event temporary)
I think 2021 , at least from the northern summer, will resemble the first year after the war: relief, optimism, a greater appreciation of things that truly matter ( even in the context of pain and loss) and some joy. Things we’ve taken for granted will take on a new preciousness, perhaps on fleetingly but hopefully long term.
Happy New Year to you, your family and readers!
Thank you, Matthew. I echo the previous comments, it’s obvious that you are writing this out of passion for travel (and maybe miles!), and I have found myself reading more and more of the blog. Please keep it up, particularly in terms of your experiences of unusual destinations- it may be good to know about a decent brand of gin in the lounge, but the life-changing aspects of travel are to be found outside aircraft cahins and chain hotels.
Happy new year!
Happy New Year, Matthew! I agree about the relative importance of the things in our lives, acknowledging that on a frequent basis and realizing that there was some light in the darkness of 2020.
I, for one, am looking forward to getting my head back in the travel game … even though I really don’t know when that will happen.
2020 was a great year.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/31/us/politics/trump-coronavirus.html
This turd lost his election and that means a lot.
@Debit you are the biggest “Turd” liberal I have ever seen. The election was rigged. Donald J Trump won by a landslide. Why are the politicians not allowing a forensic audit? What do they have to hide? Joe Biden is a senile old man who cheated. Go educate yourself.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/
This is a joke right…?