How I Spent My Summer Vacation | WOW! Travel Small Group Travel

Actually, a better title would be, “How I Was Supposed to Spend My Summer Vacation.”

Because it’s June of 2020. It’s the summer of COVID-19.

Because everything is upended. Everything is cancelled. Everything is uncertain.

Not just for me, but for almost everyone on our planet.

This has never happened before. Ever. There have been pandemics, but viruses never spread as wide or as fast as this one which hitched a ride on travelers coming from central China and rapidly spread to every country on earth.

I was leading a WOW group in Morocco when the shit hit the fan, but my 22 WOWees and I staged a miraculous escape after borders were shut and international flight cancelled – thanks to Gabriel, my VP of Operations. (I call him my “Angel Gabriel” for good reason!)

Since then, my company has cancelled group travel programs to Armenia, Croatia, Kenya, Hungary, and several other central European countries. I was supposed to travel independently to Japan and Tibet, looking forward to a 200-mile-per-hour ride on the Shinkansen. Instead I went to Arizona, traveling 80 MPH for eight hours in a Jeep Cherokee.

One of the most recognizable landmarks in Tucson: this two-story Tyrannosaurus rex looms over one of its busiest intersections – reminding everyone to wear their mask.

Next month, I was looking forward to Switzerland. Instead, I’ll settle for Spokane.

My team is working remotely, not planning or operating trips, as would be typical this time of year. Instead, they’re busy negotiating with suppliers to get our advance payments returned on cancelled trips, and sending refund checks to our customers.

Travel has always been the most rewarding, exciting, and fulfilling business. But it’s not fun these days.

As for me, I’m finally taking my long-threatened sabbatical. I’m working on a memoir, with plenty of time to revive and relive memories from my nearly 40-year career in travel.

Since I can’t go anywhere else, I’ve been traveling down memory lane – searching through old photos from my 40-year career.

Ever since I circumnavigated the world with a backpack as a solo 20-something traveler, my life has revolved around foreign travel. I built a career and a travel company – dreaming it, doing it. Creating magical journeys for others to come to know what I have learned about the world. People are all the same. No matter the skin color, cuisine, costume, or customs – we all want the same things for ourselves and our children. Peace. Possibility. Freedom.

Oh, the irony. We are America – the land of the free! We extoll and export the idea of freedom of speech, of religion, of expression, of movement. Now we’re living in limbo. With an abundance of time, but no place to go. No freedom to travel because borders are closed. Flights are severely restricted. Hotels are shuttered. Cruise ships are docked.

This is, of course, good news to the animals, the air, and the oceans. It’s as if Mother Nature was dealing her arrogant, hubristic children a severe “time out.” We’ve been grounded until we learn our lesson.

Maybe she’s telling us to just stay home and count our blessings. Recently, I found this quote by a Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore:

“For many years, at great cost, I traveled through many countries, saw the high mountains, the oceans. The only things I did not see were the sparkling dewdrops in the grass just outside my door.”

As much as I miss traveling the world, I am enjoying this time at home. I’m enjoying my garden, my cats, my husband, and my friends. I’m savoring the late afternoon sun as it illuminates the Buddha fountain in the birch grove in my backyard. I’m time-traveling by reading old journals and looking at photos as I research my book.

Loving my garden, my husband, and my black cats (not necessarily in that order!)

Still, I long to return to Kenya, to see Grace, the young girl I sponsor in the remote town of Kajiado. To have sundowners with Richard Corcoran, a 3rd-generation Kenyan with a passion for conservation of his beloved lands. To listen to the stories told by Kamuti, a weathered former poacher who now works as a gardener at Kipalo Hills Safari Lodge. To race a wind-powered buggy across miles of empty sand dunes at low tide on the Tana River Delta. And I’ll make sure to take extra time to go to Uganda to see the Mountain Gorillas (high on my list!) and visit my friend, Karon Wright’s philanthropic project supporting hard-working women with micro-loans, literacy, and skills training.

And I yearn to return to the Sea of Cortez, where I’ll go glamping on a UNESCO-protected island off the coast of Baja. I’ll snorkel with sea lions and whale sharks. I’ll see blue-footed Boobies, Cormorants, and storks. And I’ll scratch the barnacles of baby Gray Whales as they are nudged toward the side of our 20-foot panga boat by their mamas, popping up to take a peek at the strange humans who giggle in disbelief and fumble with their cameras trying to capture the amazing spectacle.

And I dream of replicating an unforgettable philanthropic journey to Vietnam, where we visited single mothers who were recipients of micro-loans from a non-profit called Children of Vietnam. With just a few hundred dollars (a loan which will be repaid), these proud women were now seamstresses, hairdressers, or fruit-sellers in the market and were using their income to send their kids to school. In addition to the poignant moments with these ladies, we had great fun riding rickshaws in Hanoi, cruising through the gorgeous waters of Halong Bay, learning to cook Vietnamese specialties, and hilariously trying to steer a round wicker boat in Hoi An.

(Is it obvious that I’m ready and raring to dust off my passport?)

Yes, I will enjoy my garden. And the kitties. And I’ll look for sparkling dewdrops is the grass. For now.

But when the world opens up again – I’ll be one of the first to go!

I hope you will, too.

25 Comments

Diane Sukiennik June 26, 2020 at 11:55am

A beautifully composed, poignant Covid summer of travel piece. You are a gifted writer, Marilyn with a lot to share. Can’t wait for your memoir.

Roberta Gelt June 26, 2020 at 1:50pm

OMG I’m so glad you let us all read your stream of consciousness. I’d love to be in your head for just an hour!
My heart aches!!! I ache for all the time I’ve lost during the last years when I was im so much pain I couldn’t travel and all the years I spent living with a man who didn’t like to fly so we would go camping in the US instead of traveling the world; wouldn’t give up those trips
but oh how much I missed in between. And I ache for the time going by that is lost to adventures that could have been. But acceptance to what is is a big lesson and I’m (we all) are faced with learning that every day now and that everything changes and this will pass too, hopefully with enough time left for me to experience much more in my lifetime. Fear that I won’t be able to do that is present but I have to keep reminding myself that fear is just an emotion that can be acknowledged and then dismissed!! There will be brighter days to come and now that I’ve been introduced to you and WOW! they will be MUCH brighter!’

Marilyn June 26, 2020 at 3:25pm

Roberta, thanks for the wonderful compliment. However, if you were in my head for an hour … you’d have SUCH a headache from being bandied about, flitting from one thing to another, to another! Especially now, without the business deadlines that once kept my over-active imagination on track! I always have about a dozen plates spinning at the same time! 🙂

dawn m ho June 26, 2020 at 2:52pm

Well done!

Karen Kennedy June 26, 2020 at 6:47pm

Marlyn I enjoyed your “how I spent my summer vacation”.
Lots of time for reflection. I will look forward to seeing your schedule for 2021.
All the best,
Karen Kennedy

Diana Loomans June 26, 2020 at 10:13pm

From sparkling dewdrops in the grass to blue footed Boobies…a sheer pleasure to read and ponder from start to finish 🙏🏻.

Signe Friar June 27, 2020 at 8:22am

Your an amazing writer!!!Enjoyed reading about your summer vacation. Loved the quote!! It’s a very surreal time.

Steve Glickman June 27, 2020 at 8:23am

Thanks for sharing. We too were out and about (in London, Tanzania and the Seychelles) when all hell broke lose, getting back just two days before LA and California shut down. Its hard to believe its been three and a half months! My time sense is way off so I have resorted for the first time since college to keeping a calendar and marking off the days.

Your quote about ‘sparkling dewdrops in the grass just outside my door’ reminded me of one of my wife’s favorite quotes ‘the grass may look greener on the other side of the fence, but itg greenest where you water it”.

Hopeful, optimism will work and thus we are looking forward to our WOW trip to Japan in April 2021! And watering our grass in anticipation!

Francine Fleming June 27, 2020 at 8:30am

Loved it —needed this now that Houston is on Level 1 lock down—again! Can’t wait to dust off my suitcase and see the rest of the world! Hugs to you!
Francine

Linda June 27, 2020 at 8:31am

Me too!!

Jill Stoliker June 27, 2020 at 12:18pm

I so appreciate your reference to “Mother Nature” putting humankind into a severe “time-out”! I am hearing and reading about the clearing of earth’s air, sky and water. The stories of animals reclaiming some of their territory is fascinating, especially in LA’s Griffith Park, Since the tourist helicopters hovering over the Hollywood sign have ceased, animals are becoming more comfortable, the park road has been closed to traffic and the number of people has been greatly reduced. As a result, the Owl boxes are full of families; falcons and coyotes are enjoying the increase in the rodent population; Quail are parading in coveys along the sides of the park roads; and deer are returning just outside the boundary to the Park. Look what Mother Nature can do if we just get out of her way. Now if we could just reduce, remove, eliminate our trash!! I am so glad I have Canada and Japan to anticipate! Love your Blogs!

Jean Lauterbach June 27, 2020 at 1:11pm

Wonderful, Marilyn! I hope we can go with you!

Jane Halsey June 27, 2020 at 1:40pm

Marilyn will you post this on facebook so I can share it for my traveling friends who share your perspective and experience. This is our time like never before to learn to live in the present…something I have to remind myself daily. Thank you as always for sharing your thoughts and feelings.

Marilyn June 27, 2020 at 4:10pm

Jane – yes! Thanks for asking! Much love …… MM

Steve Brown June 27, 2020 at 3:17pm

See you there…wherever there might be…

Susan Vose-Fernandez June 27, 2020 at 8:16pm

Marilyn, Loved your blog and could feel the inspiration as you reflect on your adventures. YES!! I would love to go on a “Marilyn Murphy WOW” adventure, sooner rather than later. Until then I look forward to hearing about more of your trip adventures😊 Thank you!!

Karen Oxrider June 28, 2020 at 2:31am

So beautifully written. I feel the same -my heart aches to explore. Thank you for sharing your journey.

Carol Blakeslee “CB” June 28, 2020 at 3:03pm

I love you Marilyn. You live life to the fullest and I enjoy reading about your adventures. I have never traveled much. I wish I had met you 40 years ago when travel for me would have been so much easier. I now have some physical ailments that keep me from traveling too far. When I read the part of your blog about visiting the Gorillas, my heart yearned for that too. I absolutely love Gorillas. I wish I could have studied with Jane Udall. What an experience! What a lady! Anyway my friend Marilyn, this too shall pass and you will be back out there in our big, wonderful World moving through it and developing new adventures. In the meantime enjoy your husband, your cats and your garden, in that order. I love you and look forward to seeing you again soon. In the meantime God bless you and your company of great helpers.

Karen Gordon June 28, 2020 at 3:19pm

It is wonderful hearing about all your travel adventures and I’m looking forward to your memoir…..I almost feel like I’m right there with you at these exotic destinations! We WILL get there again! I’m glad you are well! Thanks for the up-date….take good care!

bonnie June 28, 2020 at 6:06pm

thank you marilyn. awaiting the end of this and my first travel which will be with you, hopefully, in japan. your words are beautiful and hopeful.

Marilyn June 29, 2020 at 8:23am

Bonnie – thanks for your kind words. I’ve had writer’s block for awhile, but since this post produced so many nice comments, I’m motivated to share my stories. At least we can travel in our minds until we get back to the real thing! Look forward to sharing our first adventure together!

Suzy Kay June 29, 2020 at 9:58am

Absolutely wonderful! I loved reading this!

Julie Ringwood June 29, 2020 at 4:19pm

Just beautiful. I feel all of the above and more.

Richard Nogleberg June 29, 2020 at 5:43pm

Dear Marilyn, you will never have writers block. You write so beautifully. When you work on something exciting that you really care about, you never have to be pushed. The vision pulls you! Marilyn, your vision has pulled you and so many lucky people to many fantastic places around the world. I like what you said about Mother Nature giving us a time out. This taking time to smell the roses could be our hidden silver lining.

Linda Luczak June 30, 2020 at 5:03pm

You’re a great writer, Marilyn. I look forward to your next blog.

Diane Sukiennik June 26, 2020 at 11:55am

A beautifully composed, poignant Covid summer of travel piece. You are a gifted writer, Marilyn with a lot to share. Can’t wait for your memoir.
Roberta Gelt June 26, 2020 at 1:50pm

OMG I’m so glad you let us all read your stream of consciousness. I’d love to be in your head for just an hour!
My heart aches!!! I ache for all the time I’ve lost during the last years when I was im so much pain I couldn’t travel and all the years I spent living with a man who didn’t like to fly so we would go camping in the US instead of traveling the world; wouldn’t give up those trips
but oh how much I missed in between. And I ache for the time going by that is lost to adventures that could have been. But acceptance to what is is a big lesson and I’m (we all) are faced with learning that every day now and that everything changes and this will pass too, hopefully with enough time left for me to experience much more in my lifetime. Fear that I won’t be able to do that is present but I have to keep reminding myself that fear is just an emotion that can be acknowledged and then dismissed!! There will be brighter days to come and now that I’ve been introduced to you and WOW! they will be MUCH brighter!’
- Marilyn June 26, 2020 at 3:25pm
  
  Roberta, thanks for the wonderful compliment. However, if you were in my head for an hour … you’d have SUCH a headache from being bandied about, flitting from one thing to another, to another! Especially now, without the business deadlines that once kept my over-active imagination on track! I always have about a dozen plates spinning at the same time! 🙂
dawn m ho June 26, 2020 at 2:52pm

Well done!
Karen Kennedy June 26, 2020 at 6:47pm

Marlyn I enjoyed your “how I spent my summer vacation”.
Lots of time for reflection. I will look forward to seeing your schedule for 2021.
All the best,
Karen Kennedy
Diana Loomans June 26, 2020 at 10:13pm

From sparkling dewdrops in the grass to blue footed Boobies…a sheer pleasure to read and ponder from start to finish 🙏🏻.
Signe Friar June 27, 2020 at 8:22am

Your an amazing writer!!!Enjoyed reading about your summer vacation. Loved the quote!! It’s a very surreal time.
Steve Glickman June 27, 2020 at 8:23am

Thanks for sharing. We too were out and about (in London, Tanzania and the Seychelles) when all hell broke lose, getting back just two days before LA and California shut down. Its hard to believe its been three and a half months! My time sense is way off so I have resorted for the first time since college to keeping a calendar and marking off the days.

Your quote about ‘sparkling dewdrops in the grass just outside my door’ reminded me of one of my wife’s favorite quotes ‘the grass may look greener on the other side of the fence, but itg greenest where you water it”.

Hopeful, optimism will work and thus we are looking forward to our WOW trip to Japan in April 2021! And watering our grass in anticipation!
Francine Fleming June 27, 2020 at 8:30am

Loved it —needed this now that Houston is on Level 1 lock down—again! Can’t wait to dust off my suitcase and see the rest of the world! Hugs to you!
Francine
Linda June 27, 2020 at 8:31am

Me too!!
Jill Stoliker June 27, 2020 at 12:18pm

I so appreciate your reference to “Mother Nature” putting humankind into a severe “time-out”! I am hearing and reading about the clearing of earth’s air, sky and water. The stories of animals reclaiming some of their territory is fascinating, especially in LA’s Griffith Park, Since the tourist helicopters hovering over the Hollywood sign have ceased, animals are becoming more comfortable, the park road has been closed to traffic and the number of people has been greatly reduced. As a result, the Owl boxes are full of families; falcons and coyotes are enjoying the increase in the rodent population; Quail are parading in coveys along the sides of the park roads; and deer are returning just outside the boundary to the Park. Look what Mother Nature can do if we just get out of her way. Now if we could just reduce, remove, eliminate our trash!! I am so glad I have Canada and Japan to anticipate! Love your Blogs!
Jean Lauterbach June 27, 2020 at 1:11pm

Wonderful, Marilyn! I hope we can go with you!
Jane Halsey June 27, 2020 at 1:40pm

Marilyn will you post this on facebook so I can share it for my traveling friends who share your perspective and experience. This is our time like never before to learn to live in the present…something I have to remind myself daily. Thank you as always for sharing your thoughts and feelings.
- Marilyn June 27, 2020 at 4:10pm
  
  Jane – yes! Thanks for asking! Much love …… MM
Steve Brown June 27, 2020 at 3:17pm

See you there…wherever there might be…
Susan Vose-Fernandez June 27, 2020 at 8:16pm

Marilyn, Loved your blog and could feel the inspiration as you reflect on your adventures. YES!! I would love to go on a “Marilyn Murphy WOW” adventure, sooner rather than later. Until then I look forward to hearing about more of your trip adventures😊 Thank you!!
Karen Oxrider June 28, 2020 at 2:31am

So beautifully written. I feel the same -my heart aches to explore. Thank you for sharing your journey.
Carol Blakeslee “CB” June 28, 2020 at 3:03pm

I love you Marilyn. You live life to the fullest and I enjoy reading about your adventures. I have never traveled much. I wish I had met you 40 years ago when travel for me would have been so much easier. I now have some physical ailments that keep me from traveling too far. When I read the part of your blog about visiting the Gorillas, my heart yearned for that too. I absolutely love Gorillas. I wish I could have studied with Jane Udall. What an experience! What a lady! Anyway my friend Marilyn, this too shall pass and you will be back out there in our big, wonderful World moving through it and developing new adventures. In the meantime enjoy your husband, your cats and your garden, in that order. I love you and look forward to seeing you again soon. In the meantime God bless you and your company of great helpers.
Karen Gordon June 28, 2020 at 3:19pm

It is wonderful hearing about all your travel adventures and I’m looking forward to your memoir…..I almost feel like I’m right there with you at these exotic destinations! We WILL get there again! I’m glad you are well! Thanks for the up-date….take good care!
bonnie June 28, 2020 at 6:06pm

thank you marilyn. awaiting the end of this and my first travel which will be with you, hopefully, in japan. your words are beautiful and hopeful.
- Marilyn June 29, 2020 at 8:23am
  
  Bonnie – thanks for your kind words. I’ve had writer’s block for awhile, but since this post produced so many nice comments, I’m motivated to share my stories. At least we can travel in our minds until we get back to the real thing! Look forward to sharing our first adventure together!
Suzy Kay June 29, 2020 at 9:58am

Absolutely wonderful! I loved reading this!
Julie Ringwood June 29, 2020 at 4:19pm

Just beautiful. I feel all of the above and more.
Richard Nogleberg June 29, 2020 at 5:43pm

Dear Marilyn, you will never have writers block. You write so beautifully. When you work on something exciting that you really care about, you never have to be pushed. The vision pulls you! Marilyn, your vision has pulled you and so many lucky people to many fantastic places around the world. I like what you said about Mother Nature giving us a time out. This taking time to smell the roses could be our hidden silver lining.
Linda Luczak June 30, 2020 at 5:03pm

You’re a great writer, Marilyn. I look forward to your next blog.