WILL THIS BE A NEW BEGINNING?
I wanted to touch base with all of you who have travelled and supported us over the years. As we complete our final week of isolation in complete lockdown here in New Zealand, we all face the chaos and health hazards of the pandemic around the world. The last few weeks resulted in cancelling all our departures for 2020, refunding any travellers who were insisting on cash refunds instead of future credit and shutting down our office in the interim. For the first time, in I don’t know how many years, I’ve put away my suitcases and my worn passports are filed away. I wanted to thank all of you who have emailed and texted saying you could not wait to continue and explore the world.
But for now, we stop and take a break. It’s time to take a deep breath and to be with your loved ones. And it’s time to dream. Longitude 80 is not going anywhere, and over the course of the next few months, you will start seeing a few of the 14,000 or so images I have taken over the last 5-6 years across Asia, now that I finally have the time to edit and pause on all the experiences I have witnessed . We are also in the process of finishing a catalogue of 52 special itineraries that we will forward to you when the time is right. We don’t know what international travel will be like and dozens of “so-called” experts are putting their predictions out in the ring. Who knows…. Will there be international travel? Will you seek remoteness and no crowds? Will border restrictions mean we will all stay within our own country? What will happen? I ask myself what would I want to do and see when all this mess is hopefully sorted? I know one thing for sure, I will pack my suitcase and camera gear and head for a road trip. See places without the hordes of bus tours and large groups and enjoy the magic of New Zealand to start with. And as soon as border restrictions allow, I will get on that plane and go explore.
Longitude 80 will continue to forge ahead and hopefully offer you dreams. In the meantime, have a look at this gorgeous video produced by Auckland Tourism. This reflects, in a much better way than my words, how we all feel here at Longitude 80 . Stay tuned and be well.