This week was my 27th birthday. How did I get here? It seemed to creep up so quickly. I remember this time last year the pandemic was in full swing with restaurants, bars and attractions closed. Friends and family couldn’t travel to see one another, and people were unsure how life was going to unfold in the next year, let alone the next day.

As I sit here writing this, I am grateful for all I have from this past year. I was fortunate enough to have my family safe from catching COVID-19, even though I contracted it around Christmas. I moved to a new city, adopted my dog and traveled as much as I could with the limitations.

Right before the pandemic hit I was in Orlando, Florida, on a work trip with my previous company that I extended for some much-needed vacation time. We bought tickets to Universal Studios, as we love the magical feeling of Harry Potter World, and passes to Disney. We really wanted to experience the newest ride, Avatar: Flight of Passage. While in line, our phones began to explode with news of how serious the coronavirus was becoming. We were surrounded by thousands of people from all over the world in a tiny, confined line.

A week later is when the country started its official lockdown. Shops, restaurants and attractions were all closed, and people were encouraged to stay inside and quarantine, only leaving their houses for food. We spent most of the summer hanging out with our families, enjoying the weather on the porch and picking up new hobbies. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and we were getting restless like the rest of the world.

Flash forward to now, a vaccine is available, and people are ready to swing right back into travel. In the course of four months I have been skiing in New Hampshire; walked Boston; visited Washington, D.C.; road tripped to Virginia Beach; hotel hopped through the neighborhoods of Miami; had outdoor adventures in Sweet Valley, Pennsylvania; tried local breweries in Norfolk, Virginia; made a pit-stop in Maryland for a beer dog park; and have a couple more destinations coming up. I am grateful I am here and able to experience these places.

The travel rush is on the brink to fully explode, and I am ready for it!

— Audrey Lee, assistant editor