In this time of COVID, I feel that a lot of people are asking this question. Just about everyone is saying “yes”, but that it will be very different from how things have been in the past.
Here is my answer:
‘We have to. There is no other way or other option. If we don’t, we stop being human.’ Two of the key human traits is exploration and curiosity. We’ve done it for thousands, if not millions of years. Without them, we would have never progressed. Even St. Augustine, someone who lived in the 300s, said “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” If we let this disease control us and stop our exploratory instincts, we are doomed. In fact, our exploratory predilections are the only thing that will help us defeat this disease. Without the imagination of making the impossible possible, we’re in deep trouble. That same drive that leads to scientific discoveries fuels our yearning for travel and exploration. Yes, this is probably a once in a century event. Social and political environments will likely change after the pandemic is over (and yes, I am confident it will be over). Nevertheless, it would be impossible for a virus to change our human nature. We have gone through pandemics before, terrible awful pandemics, just like we have gone through wars. Through both, humanity survived and thrived.
Imagine a world without travel, curiosity, or social interactions. How far could we have gotten? Not very. Right now, everyone who had loved travel is dreaming about doing it again. As time goes by, that yearning is only going stronger. I’ll personally admit, I was just sick and tired and travel before the shelter-in-place. I was perfectly fine with staying at home for a few weeks. Now though, I am ready to get out and see the world. I want to visit parks, stay in hotels, and eat at restaurants. I’m thinking and writing about it nearly every day. The status quo of just basic travel seems like such a luxury now. Deciding not to travel would be like changing our identity, which we simply cannot do. Yes, we will adopt different habits of washing our hands and not touching our faces (honestly, we should have done this long ago). And finally, when it is safe to do so, we will no longer social distance. We will hug, laugh, sing, play, eat, and drink together like never before, with a fervor and appreciation like never before. When we are free again, it may even drive our desire for curiosity and exploration even further. I can image maybe five generations from now, instead of peering out an airplane window, out descendants will peer out of a spaceship looking at the moon. Maybe in ten generations Jupiter, a hundred, a nearby star, and in a thousand generations, a nearby galaxy. As long as we are here, we will do whatever it takes to explore and never stop.
So again, to answer the question: “Will we travel again?” The answer is non-negotiable: “Yes!” If we don’t, we’ve lost our fearlessness, curiosity, and learning. It would be the end of our species as we know it.
Platinum Bryan 