Virtual Travel by Annette Dashofy

One of the hardest parts for me these last few months was watching my travel plans get canceled. Conferences and personal appearances tumbling one by one, like a line of dominoes. After the long winter of being holed up, writing frantically to finish my book, I was eager to get out and see the world.

Yeah. We all know how that worked out.

Even having reached the acceptance stage of grieving my lost spring and summer (and now autumn), I keep running into walls. My usual reaction to needing my creative well refilled is to take a day trip or a weekend jaunt somewhere. My husband did take me to a favorite park about an hour from home one Sunday. 

Deer spotted at Oglebay Park, Wheeling, WV

We packed a picnic lunch and a supply of hand sanitizer, and armed with our masks, headed out for a day of walking trails. Honestly, I was exhausted by the time we got home. Not from the exercise but from the mental stress of being hypervigilant about avoiding crowded areas of the park, veering off the narrow path when some bare-faced jogger was coming our way, and being aware of what I’d touched (more hand sanitizer!!!)

I’m turning into a hermit, content to write, read, practice yoga, and stroll on my treadmill.

And bake bread.

But my inner need to explore the world hasn’t gone dormant. Enter virtual travel. First, I played with Google Earth as a means of researching locations I can’t get to right now. It’s so much fun, especially in street view when you can “stand” in one spot and “pivot” to see different sides of a building or even what’s across the street. Google Earth is a rabbit hole, no doubt about it.

I tried the live webcam views available as virtual vacations. Big Brother truly is watching, folks. Those cameras are EVERYWHERE. But I found the live streams less than fulfilling. Watching beautiful beaches populated with people who were social distancing (or not) and were wearing masks (or not) failed to provide the escape for which I was searching.

There is one Earth Cam feed from Algonquin Park in Ontario that I find quite relaxing though.

I may have to go there someday.

The most effective method of visiting far-off locations though is the one I’ve used since I was a kid. Books, of course.

Since the lockdown began, I’ve visited Italy, England, and Africa courtesy of Rhys Bowen. (Have I mentioned the perk of being able to transport not just to other continents, but other times as well?) I’ve been to the beach during summer and winter, courtesy of Tara Laskowski.

I’ve been to upstate New York (Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Millers Kill is like a second home). Thanks to Edith Maxwell, I’ve been to Massachusetts circa 1889. I’m currently experiencing present-day Harvard through the lyrical writing of Francesca Serritella and 1920’s Louisiana through the rich, luscious prose of Ramona DeFelice Long.

Since my to-be-read shelves rival some small bookstores, I’m not likely to run out of places to go in my mind any time soon.

What about you? What fabulous literary journeys have you taken in the last few months?