But we need to give more thought to our needs and wants.Ho ho ho! Looks like Santa’s Kayak Pack is every angler's perfect Christmas present!

It is not practical, nor desirable to stop travelling altogether. We must all share in the responsibility to travel more mindfully. Residents can no longer afford to live in their own cities and they’re not happy about it. In the past few years, similar protests have erupted in Barcelona, Venice, Dubrovnik and elsewhere.

This past spring, Lisbon residents took to the streets by the thousands to protest the loss of affordable housing. The threat of overtourism, when too many visitors “love” a place to death, is real. It is no longer the sole purview of the rich, and that’s a good thing, but there are also costs. International travel has become more accessible. But the pandemic made me realize that I don’t always have to be on the lookout for the next cheap flight. I’ve contributed more than my fair share of carbon emissions. Over the years, I haven’t just travelled “back home.” I’ve visited family in Brazil, studied in Thailand and camped throughout Costa Rica. We all have our reasons for travelling – family, work, adventure. We swam in the sea and floated in the salty waves of the Atlantic we visited with friends and family we shared lunches of fresh fish and steamed potatoes and we bathed in the thermal mineral-rich waters of Furnas. I resisted for a while, but by the fall, my husband and I had booked a flight to the Azores. A new term was even coined: revenge travel. People were willing to travel again, big time – they were eager to make up for two years of lost vacations. Thinking back to last summer when travel restrictions were eased, I can conjure up images of luggage pileups and long queues of stranded passengers in airports around the world. Still, I patted myself on the back for no longer feeling the intense need to get on a plane. I was aware of my privilege – I did not live alone, and I had a comfortable home. I came to enjoy the slower pace, and I liked the idea of letting the Earth breathe a bit. We waved at people we knew from two metres away.

Most of the time, though, we stayed close to home and strolled in the woods or walked our dog on the local beach.

We paddled a remote chain of lakes, kayaked off the West Coast and tried salmon fishing for the first time. We eased into a slower mode of travel – by car, by canoe and kayak, by foot. My husband and I are rule followers, and for three summers we abided by the recommendation of our health officials and stayed in British Columbia.

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