Like many New Yorkers, my husband Santino and I started working fully remote in March when the Pandemic first hit the city last year. Our 600sq ft East Village studio that was once perfect for our fast-paced city lifestyle was no longer ideal. Balancing work call schedules and cooking three meals a day in our small space became a bit difficult. After four plus months of quarantine, we needed a change of scenery badly!
You see, our relationship is one that has been built around travel and it’s one way we bond as a couple. Before the pandemic we had contemplated working remotely while traveling abroad—it was somewhat of a dream of ours that for one reason or another had never materialized. Suddenly, however, all things aligned and we had the perfect opportunity! Our apartment lease was up, we were still working remotely, and travel became possible to certain destinations. After extensive planning and research, we decided to put all of our possessions in storage and bought a one-way ticket to Portugal.
“Our relationship is one that has been built around travel and it’s one way we bond as a couple”
To Santino and I, travel represents much more than just a vacation. It is important for our personal development and growth as well as a way for us to experience the world together as a couple, which I believe makes us stronger. The Pandemic helped us understand that travel is a large part of our wellness.
As Santino will tell you “when I am traveling my brain’s filters are off, my senses are more acute, and I feel myself processing everything at a higher capacity -- colors are brighter, sounds are clearer, and smells and tastes are so strong they can’t be forgotten years to come. Once I experienced this for the first time I felt truly alive and have been chasing the feeling successfully ever since.”
Our love for travel lies in the planning process. As a luxury travel agent, I work with one of the most discerning clientele out there. They expect me to wow them and help them discover some of the most unique places and cultures one could imagine. Furthermore, in a world that is so fragmented, I find that the travel industry continues to play a key role in healing our world from the turmoils that we have faced recently. The more we know about the world around us, the more we want to protect it.
It can be as simple as studying the subway maps, finding a great bakery, going grocery shopping like the locals, or sitting down and people watching while you enjoy a coffee. All of these things may seem mundane but that’s what fascinates me because it reminds me of our humanity and seeing this helps keep me grounded on what is really important.
Here are our tips if you are considering to travel:
Stay Flexible
Research, study, learn - Reading books on a certain destination before travel always helps me understand the place on a deeper level
Open your mind and take time to enjoy the journey
Have a Homebase
We made the town of Cascais, in Portugal, our home base. My mother’s side of the family lives in this incredibly charming town on the Portuguese riviera. Man! Southern Europeans really know how to live! Not only were we able to immerse ourselves in Portuguese culture, but we were also able to spend time with family and have a great office set up where mom’s home-cooked breakfast was always available. Thank you, Patricia!
During our three months in Cascais, we planned our travels on weekends, holidays, and around our work schedules. We were able to spend time exploring the countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. After Europe, we headed back to the U.S and then down to my home country of Colombia where we made Bogota our home base and traveled around the country exploring the incredible biodiversity.
Follow Protocols: Research, Research, Research!
Traveling during the pandemic came with new challenges. We wanted to ensure that we followed all protocols, but these vary not only from country to country but from one city to another, so researching our destination was crucial! IATA is a great tool for information on COVID restrictions but it's always important to check the country's official government website for the most accurate information and very important to keep up to date with protocols as you are traveling since things change fast.
Shop Local
Once we were well informed on the situation and took all necessary precautions, we tried our best to support local communities, which meant choosing independently owned restaurants and shops. I’ve experienced the impact of the pandemic on the hospitality industry first hand so it was important to us to support as much as possible. While walking around Santorini and Venice without hordes of tourists was a lovely experience, Santino and I remain cognizant that many local economies that depend on travel are struggling.
Choose Nature
After three exciting and impacting months in Europe, we headed back to the U.S to spend time with Santino’s family for the holidays and to hit the slopes of Colorado and Utah. With the ski season cut short last year, we were eager to get back to skiing and enjoy the mountain air with fewer crowds as pre-holiday skiing is usually pretty quiet.
If you’re the kind of person that loves travel, you should be the kind of person that loves nature. Why? At its core, traveling is about experiencing new things, however, most people perceive it to be related to other countries and cultures, where they could dive into their food/drink scene, or go to see a show, art exhibition, or perhaps some live music. But, being surrounded by nature can get this same stimulation.
In this case, foreign cultures are not people, but countless species of flora and fauna. Instead of brushing up your French or Spanish, you could go on a hike and listen to the sound of the wind blowing the trees, water rushing down a mountain stream, or try to mimic the sound of the birds seeing if you could get them to call back.
Instead of going to the coffee shop to sit and people-watch, go tour a coffee farm. Instead of navigating a city’s subway system, look at a trail map and plan a day hike. Instead of going to a wine bar, go tour a vineyard. Instead of going to the new seafood restaurant or in town, go on a fishing trip. Instead of leg day at the gym, go skiing. Instead of going to the aquarium, go scuba diving. The list goes on and on.
Not only will these experiences give you a deeper appreciation and understanding of what you love, but they will take you out of the city and closer to nature, which is even more important now than ever given the pandemic.
Be Patient
It is important to remember that long-term traveling can be stressful and requires lots of meticulous planning. It is sometimes not as glamorous as portrayed in social media!
Back in college both Santino and I were part of Semester at Sea, where we had the opportunity to circumnavigate the globe while studying on-board the ship and stopping for field studies in countries throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. One of the most important lessons we learned on Semester at Sea was to stay flexible and be patient. No matter how much you prepare and plan you must be ready for the challenges of traveling that are sometimes out of your control.
Wrinkled clothes from living out of suitcases, dealing with flight changes and visas are all part of travel logistics and must be well thought out, while still maintaining flexibility and a positive attitude – but if you manage it properly it is an amazing and rewarding journey!
While sharing our travels via social media we received many messages from people interested in doing a similar travel experience and I would recommend for anybody who feels travel could improve their wellness to take the steps and do it!
We are not sure when we will head back to New York and for now, we are enjoying every moment of traveling including the not-so-glamorous ones. We have learned so much every day that we travel about our needs as a couple, as individuals, and about our needs within our built environment. We will certainly be incorporating some of what we saw abroad into our new sanctuary!
Valentina is a Luxury travel agent at Marchay, a membership-based luxury travel collective and agency. You can follow her on Instagram @varobayo
Santino is a Senior Media Director and globetrotter who spends his days chasing nature and exploring foreign cultures. He is one of the co-creators of @exotictoilet