When I look back on each of the trips I have taken I realize there is always one thing that stands out about a place: the people (and the food, of course!). I remember a place by those I met while there.
As I find myself in quarantine, as we all find ourselves in quarantine, we are craving human connection. This same human connection is one of the things that makes travel so special.
In facing the hard truth that we won’t be traveling domestically, let alone internationally, for a very long time I have been searching for this human connection that I have been missing and will continue to miss for many months to come.
I have found social media to provide just what I am looking for.
I began being super intentional about my time on Instagram, solely opening the app to search for human connection and engaging conversation.
I have found myself using the Search feature to stumble upon a profile that peeks my interest. Specifically, I am searching some of my favorite places and/ or places I have yet to go and then I am sifting through profiles until I come across someone I would like to meet.
Next I follow them, engage with their posts, react to their stories and strike up a conversation.
It’s exciting to be making friends and growing your network in this difficult time.
It’s comforting to come to find out that someone who lives a million miles away from you, a 19 hour flight away from you, is feeling and experiencing all the same things you are during this time.
Some days are great, some days just suck.
Some days this is the “new normal,” some days this is hell.
Some days you find out someone you love is sick, some days you don’t.
But no matter the day and no matter what you feel, your new friend, Hannah, in Scotland feels the same.
And so does Becky in Australia.
We are all in this together thanks to human connection.
I challenge you to make a new connection today.
Hannah Rene Brown 