COVID personal experiences

[Birdjaguar]

Kuchisabishii is the Japanese word for "lonely mouth" and

Do you find yourself wandering over to the fridge while in quarantine ― even when you’re not all that hungry? Have you been leaning into your favorite comfort foods a little more than usual lately? Sounds like you have “lonely mouth.”
For those unfamiliar, “kuchisabishii” is a uniquely Japanese word that literally means “lonely mouth” or “longing to have or put something in one’s mouth.” “People use this word a lot to mean ‘eating when bored’ or sometimes, stress eating,” said Kevin Marx, a language instructor in Japan and the author of “Speak Japanese in 90 Days.” “For instance, my go-to snack is popcorn so lately I’ve been eating a lot of that,” Marx said. “I might say ′ コロナのせいで最近口寂しい。(korona no sei de saikin kuchisabishii), which means ‘because of COVID, I’m stress eating recently.’”
Given how expansive Japanese snack food game is ― Kit Kat bars in hundreds of flavors, Pringles offered in varieties like fried chicken and squid, the list goes on and on ― it’s no wonder a word like this gets tossed around so often.

We are back to the “can’t stop eating things that are terrible for me” part of quarantine.

How do you say it in English? Koo-chi-sa-bi-shē, according to Vanessa Villalobos, a Japanese instructor in England who runs the site JapaneseLondon.com.

 

[Cutlass]

They're looking at opening most things back up here shortly,

 

[stfoskey12]

Cases in my county have mostly leveled off.

 

[Cutlass]

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/national/coronavirus/2020/5/19/1_4944793.html

Canada-U.S. border to remain closed to non-essential travel for another month, PM says it's the 'right thing'
Published May 19, 2020 10:53 a.m. ET



No vacation for me.

 

[ywhtptgtfo]

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/national/coronavirus/2020/5/19/1_4944793.html

Canada-U.S. border to remain closed to non-essential travel for another month, PM says it's the 'right thing'
Published May 19, 2020 10:53 a.m. ET



No vacation for me.

Vegas will welcome you with open arms

 

[Narz]

Is there a list/website of which countries accept travelers?

 

[Cutlass]

Vegas will welcome you with open arms

Been to Vegas. Not really interested in going back.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/national/coronavirus/2020/5/19/1_4944793.html

Canada-U.S. border to remain closed to non-essential travel for another month, PM says it's the 'right thing'
Published May 19, 2020 10:53 a.m. ET



No vacation for me.

That sucks. Can you get refunds?

 

[emzie]

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/national/coronavirus/2020/5/19/1_4944793.html

Canada-U.S. border to remain closed to non-essential travel for another month, PM says it's the 'right thing'
Published May 19, 2020 10:53 a.m. ET



No vacation for me.

No hate, but good. Y'all plaguelands

Is there a list/website of which countries accept travelers?

Iceland starting next month. Free covid test at the airport. Really good discounted on flights and hotels.

 

[Cutlass]

That sucks. Can you get refunds?

Who do you think I am, @warpus? I don't plan and book vacations months in advance. I get in the car and go.

 

[warpus]

If it was cheaper to just fly somewhere on a whim I would do that all the time. But booking a flight in advance can save you quite a bit. I also don't have a car, which helps me fund my trips.

This whole covid thing means no world travel for a while.. I am going to have so many vacation days in 2022 or whenever...

 

[Cutlass]

If it was cheaper to just fly somewhere on a whim I would do that all the time. But booking a flight in advance can save you quite a bit. I also don't have a car, which helps me fund my trips.

This whole covid thing means no world travel for a while.. I am going to have so many vacation days in 2022 or whenever...

I rarely fly, and haven't been traveling to many places that a lot of prior planning is really necessary for. 2 years ago when went to Newfoundland I booked the ferry and the rooms I would stay in in advance, which is the most travel planning I've ever done on my own. A few years back when I went to Nova Scotia, I winged the whole thing. And in some cases caught a break. On 2 separate nights I had a room nearby the same couple from Ontario, so we spent some time talking. And they were telling me that at the same time in the Halifax area there was no rooms to be had, so people were sleeping in their cars. Even up on Cape Breton there was some shortages of rooms, as I was traveling well at the end of the local travel season, and places were closing for the season. A couple of nights I had to rent a cabin instead of a room, because it was what I could get. And it was actually difficult to find food a couple of days. As restaurants had closed for the season. Last year in Maine I booked one room in advance, but winged the rest of the trip.

My trips are much smaller than yours in scope. So I can do this. But it's also true that because I'm using my own car, I have worst case scenario options which you don't. Which is to say, that if all else fails, I can sleep in my car. But that also means that I'm doing these trips within 2-3 days car travel from home, and not all over the world.

Honestly, most of the trips you've documented here, I would not be will to take by myself. I'd only do them if I had a traveling companion. And, since I don't, my options are more limited than yours.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Honestly, most of the trips you've documented here, I would not be will to take by myself. I'd only do them if I had a traveling companion. And, since I don't, my options are more limited than yours.

I understand your problem. My wife is not a traveler unless its on a train where there is no need to get off. Friends and relatives can be companions if your traveling styles are aligned. I hired a local guide in Beijing for 4 days and it made all the difference. I bet that if you "advertised" for a traveling companion in your city you could find one that fits with your vision of where and how to travel.

 

[The_J]

Honestly, most of the trips you've documented here, I would not be will to take by myself. I'd only do them if I had a traveling companion. And, since I don't, my options are more limited than yours.

Why not find one?
There are group travels organized for single people. Not only "amateur" ones like from student associations, but also for real adults.
These trips don't have to be big either. I know an organization around here, which does group trips for young adults to surrounding cities/areas.
I'm sure these must exist for older people too.

(TBH, would not have thought these things exist until I stumbled upon them by accident)

 

[Cutlass]

Why not find one?
There are group travels organized for single people. Not only "amateur" ones like from student associations, but also for real adults.
These trips don't have to be big either. I know an organization around here, which does group trips for young adults to surrounding cities/areas.
I'm sure these must exist for older people too.

(TBH, would not have thought these things exist until I stumbled upon them by accident)

Hadn't occurred to me to hunt up a stranger to take a trip with.

 

[The_J]

Would be a group of strangers in this case, who all don't know each other (well, at least some).
I've done this with student associations before. It's a bit scary, but in the worst case you go to a new place, and piss off, leaving the group alone and checking the surrounding yourself. In the best case, you find some nice new people for the time of the trip, or maybe even after.

And as I said, hadn't occurred to me either before seeing it online .



Back to Covid: I had to cancel the trip to my dad's bday. The flights got cancelled, and I can't go into quarantine for 2 weeks if I only visit for 5 days. Also my dad's in the risk group, so better not do this.

 

[Synobun]

Only thing worse than traveling alone would be traveling with a stranger. Ick.

 

[Hrothbern]

Travelling alone makes it so much easier to have contact with other people along your travels
and you can change on your whim what you do... how you move on

It all depends

Travelling with a small group of 3-4-5 can be great fun, and has many practical material advantages... but always a compromise what you do.

Travelling with one other something you can always do when you are more or less forced to do so when teamed up with a (life) partner.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

really depends on the person. maybe I wouldn't be travelling alone in Mexico city at night as a woman. but I have done many vacations completely alone, and they were my favorite. then again I have a very easy time making contact. when I was in viet nam I would regularly just come up to a group of people, sit down, and put a bottle of booze on the table. that was usually enough for me to be welcomed as a guest and treated as a friend. people elsewhere in the world are a lot less cold, detached and stuffy than in Germany. in retrospect, some of them might have not liked it/might have been uncomfortable, but from my personal memory the opposite was the case. they stuffed me with mussels, deep-fried snacks and let me hit that extremely weird 1 meter wooden bong thingie (they only smoke tobacco in that, weirdly enough), as well as their own moonshine. I doubt I was much of a nuisance.

They smoke "strong tobacco"/"aztec tobacco" in that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotiana_rustica

I also found travelling with strangers very exciting. when I was in Poland I met an Australian dude and we did the wildest **** together. He actually ended up coming to Hungary with me and showed me his favorite jazz clubs in Budapest. similiarly, in viet nam I was travelling with a Canadian girl who I just happened to meet on a tour.

 

[H4run]

I like travelling with people, in the train I usually end up talking with someone next to me, however the conflict that I usually have is about spacial, I don't like when someone pressing my chair or taking my arm-rest or spreading their legs, I usually give a signal to them, if they don't get it I can wake them up and answer their rudeness with another stern warning, I just don't like what I assume to be bully.