In my life, I’ve traveled to many different places including Arizona, Southern Illinois, Florida, and a few extra destinations thrown in. Since March 2020, we’ve been in a deadly pandemic that has had everyone locked up inside for almost two years, which has had a tremendous impact on our everyday lives and mental health. Recently, I had decided I wanted to take a trip to see my grandparents, and I wanted to talk about how COVID affected my travels.
My grandparents are from Prince Edward Island, and it is a place where I spent a lot of my childhood summers. I recently went there for a vacation in September of 2021, and found that most of the island was closed due to COVID restrictions. To get into the province, you are required to show proof of vaccination and have a rapid antigen test done. The places that I loved, like Summerside, Avonlea, and Sandspit, were all closed. Avonlea, being the place of my dreams, where Anne of Green Gables fantasies happened and where there are some of the best raspberry cordials, was closed too. A lot of places were closed like shopping malls and the downtown of Charlottetown, making for a very unwelcoming visit. A family that used to live in the next yard over moved away to be closer to more resources for health and family.
COVID has had us locked up in our homes for a long time, so I know that a lot of people are looking to get away from home and escape. But to go to a place that I used to love, where a lot of memories happened, to a place where nothing was open because of the pandemic, was heartbreaking. Vaccines are promised to help lessen the severity of the symptoms of COVID, but they do not prevent you from catching COVID.
As I mentioned above, COVID has affected everyone negatively and we all want it to stop, which is why we need to follow the mandates. Even if you stay unvaccinated, you can still keep yourself and others safe so we can all get back to our normal everyday lives.