It is common practice to hope the New Year be better than the one just left behind, and it seemed all the more practical to wish for it when we just took our leave from 2020. After all, 2021 has it really easy when it comes to being only just slightly better, right?
I for one can’t complain, and I won’t: 2020 has been pretty good for me, all the world suffering and pain aside – and that’s all I’m going to say. As for how much better 2021 can be, I just wish I can fully appreciate whatever may come.
Come what may, but the only thing I really wish is to get to freely travel again. I miss airports and train stations and with them, the momentousness instant at a check-in counter. I miss waking up in Madrid to leave for Hong Kong on my way to Ho Chi Minh City. I miss the thought of just leaving Bucharest and then be in Moscow four or so hours later. I miss the feeling of leaving Berlin to get to Freiburg by train and seeing literally all of Germany, top to bottom, east to west. I long for a long train ride from San Sebastián to Madrid, a book in hand, as I miss an even longer one from Iasi to Bucharest, all the reading resolutions safely stored on my e-reader.
During a year where we didn’t as much lack instant connections, I did miss the physicality of almost instant travelling. This century has brought fast travel and having breakfast in Madrid and then lunch in Montréal to end up having dinner in Sidney, yet this last year forbade that and left us with the second best thing and a whole lot of a bitter taste: facetime and social distancing.
Come what may, I only wish to enjoy every moment of 2021. I wish for the same long moments of meditation I had in 2020 interspersed with life and lively moments and people all over the world. I wish for travels and books and museums and people and all in between. I´ve had them all last year, yet bit by bit, and in 2021 I just want them all at once. And then, may all the other pieces fall into place.
Nefelibata 