BY: JANICE DAVIDSON

It’s hard to believe that the world was such a different place at the beginning of the year. Words like ‘coronavirus’ and acronyms like ‘PPE’ were not in my lexicon. However, as the weeks progressed and we became more limited in our movements, dreaming about traveling became the hopeful highlight of so many conversations with family and friends. Many conversations were centered around the question:

“If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

For me, that is Da Nang, Vietnam. The images of the Marble Mountains have always piqued my interest, but being able to discern the beautiful embellishments and details up close is worth the trek.

During the quarantine, I found that my list of places that I longed to explore kept growing. Among the new additions is New Zealand, whose landscape is Hollywood’s favored set when the script calls for an epic, out-of-this-world backdrop.

There’s also the Sydney Opera House. One thing is to peruse countless images of the UNESCO architectural wonder, but it’s an entirely different experience to see it from Sydney Harbour from the bow of a Regent ship.

Also added is an exhilarating drive along the world-famous Chapman’s Peak near Cape Town. And I have somehow not been able to visit Japan yet to witness its winged temples with perfectly raked pebble Zen gardens and its futuristic capital with its famed Ginza shopping district.

More than just dream about it, perhaps we are a little closer to the day we get to embark on your own journeys. Now it’s up to me to make the time to start planning these vacations. After all, trips of a lifetime should be made in this lifetime.

Curate the voyage of a lifetime with Regent Seven Seas Cruises.