2020 as a journey through the alphabet – Recap 23

The warm days of summer are most likely over, but 2020 still feels like a collective nightmare. During the dark days of the lockdown, I could still daydream of the summer. But right now, is there really something to look forward to in this awful year? Not much, if you ask me, and that’s how I decided to write that journey through the alphabet today. It’s not that writing an “A to Z” post will kick 2020 away. It’s just that I would somehow like to get rid of the spirit of a year that felt like a horrible decade.

I must admit, though, that I was among the privileged ones even under these circumstances: I managed to take a short vacation and relax a bit. I know that this was not possible for lots of people, either due to the Coronavirus fear or the uncertainty about the future. It’s not that I didn’t have the same concerns as well. But I felt that if I didn’t travel somewhere, I’d go crazy. So, if I’m writing this rather personal post today, it’s mainly because I want to share with you my agonies, my thoughts, and my hopes.

Last but not least, at the end of this post, you will also find my blog’s recap for August 2020.

2020 as a journey through the alphabet

The journey through the alphabet is most likely the longest trip I took in 2020. I wrote every single day, and I struggled with words for months, even though I couldn’t travel at all. Therefore, I’m structuring this post as a small dictionary, sharing my feelings and thoughts. So, here’s my 2020 from A to Z.

A is for Athens. I left Athens in early January, and the plan was to spend two or three weeks in Berlin. In general, I planned to travel between Athens and Berlin a lot this year: I wanted to spend some more time with my friends and family, plus I wanted to take care of my new book’s publishing process. Moreover, I had big traveling plans for 2020, and for some of them, I’d have to fly from Athens. If only I knew…I got stranded in Berlin for more than five months. It was only in late June that I managed to take a flight back to Athens.

B is for Berlin. Berlin hosted me for several months this year. The city was generous to me, and the Coronavirus paranoia didn’t feel as bad as elsewhere. I would take long rides with the bike, and I had a great time with Barbara. Every afternoon I’d cross the Admiralbrücke, and I’d observe the habits of a city during the lockdown. To this day, I firmly believe that I was freer in Berlin than I would be in Athens. After my Greek vacation, I’m now planning to return back to Berlin.

C is for Coronavirus. Shortly before the lockdown, I decided to cancel everything. The Coronavirus started to spread all over Europe, and journeys weren’t a good idea anymore. I thought that in March, I’d be traveling around northern Norway, but all I did was actually writing the Coronavirus Chronicles. I genuinely hope that I won’t have to write anything like that again. Writing the Chronicles was my way of keeping myself sane and occupied. I didn’t do it because I wanted to remember these days. On the contrary, I want to forget them. Completely.

D is for Donoussa. The remote Greek island of Donoussa restored my faith in traveling. I spent there almost two weeks in late August (if you are part of my mailing list, you’ve already got the first impressions), and it allowed me to relax a bit. I swam for hours every day, I’d sleep till late in the morning, and I’d eat delicious food. Donoussa proved to be exactly what I needed this summer: a place to relax and feel alive again.

E is for the Economy. I won’t lie: I worry a lot about what is going to happen. The lockdown was, in a way, a collective suicide of national economies. I don’t know if it was the optimal solution or not, but our economies are severely traumatized. We will have to live with the consequences for years. As it’s always the case, profits are privatized, and debts have to be paid by society. Social turmoil is on the way, unfortunately.

F is for the Faroe Islands. I have already visited the Faroe Islands twice, and I planned to revisit them in 2020. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen anytime soon. But I still want to plan a journey there, and I hope that I can make it happen one day. In my last visit, back in 2014, I wrote a very extensive travelogue (30+ pages) about the islands. I met loads of people, and I admired the stunning landscapes. This time, I want to visit the Faroe Islands for the Letters to Barbara and share my fresh impressions with you.

G is for Goals. What’s left to desire in a year like this? In my case, it was continually setting some goals. They didn’t have to be something grandiose: they were all small goals that kept me alive. Things like cycling 50-60 km per day, or projects like taking polaroids inside the flat in Berlin. I tried to fulfill smaller goals because these were the things that carried me through the quarantine. My perspective changed entirely for several months: I didn’t have to plan for the year, I just planned for the next 30 minutes.

H is for Heroes. 2020 changed the definition of heroes. Moreover, it was the revenge of the humble professions. It wasn’t anymore about bankers or politicians. The people that kept our societies alive were the ones that worked in humble jobs that the West learned to disregard. The delivery boys and girls, the postmen, people working in supermarkets, such people kept our societies on their feet. I kept thinking of them throughout this year, and I still admire their courage. There’s no journey through the alphabet of this horrible year without them.

I is for Isolation. It’s very tough to live in isolation. But this horrible year reminded us that some people are living in perpetual isolation. There are ethnic groups that have to spend their lives isolated, there are social groups that must live in the margins of society. We suffered because of the lockdown, but others struggle their whole life. Spending three months isolated in a flat is a bearable misfortune, but spending a life amputated from society is an unacceptable societal norm. I will remember 2020 not only as a dark one but also as a time that brought me closer to people living permanently in isolation.

J is for Joseph Roth. Joseph Roth is definitely one of the most underrated writers of the 20th century. I re-read most of his books during the lockdown, and I bought one that I didn’t read before. Berlin is full of Joseph Roth places: from a tribute restaurant to areas that he wrote about. Now and then, I’d stop with the bike in the corners he described and the places he used to hang out. It was both a tribute and a way to understand him. If you didn’t read any of his books, you should discover him. Start from The Radetzky March, What I Saw: Reports from Berlin (1920-1933) and Hotel Savoy.

K is for Kaleidoscopes. 2020 is a year that resembles a kaleidoscope. It offered us continuously alternative versions of a dark future. Moreover, it reminded us that the world could take a horrible turn in a matter of seconds. Nothing can stop the decline, and it’s not that hard to end up in some sort of 1984 or a Brave New World version. This year is a distortive lens: we really saw how bleak the future could be.

L is for Luminosity. It sounds like a bland -or even vague- term. The truth is, though, that I have no intention to be poetic or spiritual. I often complain that it rains all the time in Berlin. When the lockdown became our new normality, I thought I couldn’t survive it. Honestly, I was more afraid of the isolation and less of the virus itself. I imagined a never-ending black period (which it was) with lots of rain. But the latter didn’t happen. Berlin enjoyed splendid weather for its standards. Apart from a day or two with light rain, it remained sunny for the rest of the time. It meant that I could escape the flat and take long rides with the bike. Or, meet with friends and walk around the deserted city. For one spring, Berlin remained luminous.

M is for MacBook. There were days that I’d spent so many hours in front of my laptop that I’d think I only exist inside a virtual space. As I already wrote, writing and researching were the only things that could keep me sane during this period. I’d wake up early in the morning, and I will switch on the MacBook at once. Usually, I worked for 6-7 hours, and then I’d take the bike for a ride. Later on, I’d have dinner with Barbara, and around 9 pm, I’d turn the laptop on again. And stay in front of it until I fall asleep. It never happened before 4 am.

N is for Norway. I have daydreamed about this journey a lot. For several weeks in a row, I’d plan itineraries, and I’d contact people in Norway. I wanted to make the most out of this journey, and to this day, it was probably the most ambitious trip I planned for the blog. And yet, it didn’t happen. I had to cancel it together with all my other plans. But this one hurt significantly more: I have paid everything in advance, and I lost everything. Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world, and I had to struggle for months, both in terms of content for the blog and financially.

O is for Ocean. Some nights I dreamed of the Ocean. It wasn’t the open sea or places like Anafi overlooking the Aegean Sea. It was indeed the Ocean. Most likely, it was probably the Atlantic Ocean, but even for that, I wasn’t sure. I remember that while dreaming, I always tried to regain some consciousness and decide where I was. I couldn’t figure it out. The closest long shot was that I was somewhere in Alentejo and ready to continue the road trip along Portugal’s coast.

P is for Persistence. What can you really do when everything is falling apart? In former tough times, I thought there was only one reply: be persistent. And that’s what I actually did this time, too, almost automatically. I decided to stick to whatever I loved, and proved to be a good way to spend my life. There were good days, bad days, and indifferent days. And yet, I decided to stick to my work, to my hobbies, and my routine. I don’t know if it was the optimal way to go, but it was, for sure, the one that helped me overcome this tough year.

Q is for Queue. We have to social distance everywhere, and the queues at times can be very long. All of a sudden, it seemed that there’s not enough space for all of us. The long queues became somehow a habit in 2020. There are several words in this journey through the alphabet, but for 2020 the “Queue” is probably a cornerstone one.

R is for Romania. My journey to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, was actually the last journey I took before the lockdown. I visited Bucharest in mid-February, and when I returned, the Coronavirus was already in Europe. It seems like ages ago, but it’s just half a year since I’ve been somewhere. Sometimes, I think that we won’t be able to travel again. Then, I think that this is not true. Nowadays, I am actually considering a journey to Bucharest after this thing with the virus is over. It’s probably an inner effort to close the Coronavirus parenthesis. Let’s see.

S is for Serenity. How easy is it really to find serenity? Once again, I kept returning to past journeys. My mind couldn’t escape from moments by the sea or from long trips on a ferry. In 2020, serenity exists only in our minds. Deep breaths, past images, and people we love are probably our only shelters. To remain calm: that’s the challenge.

T is for Travel Blogging. I often wondered: is travel blogging still a thing in 2020? Or, will it also be a thing in 2021? There’s no straightforward reply to that. Every travel blog out there is struggling to survive. Traffic and income are at historical lows right now. And yet, I thought of continuing to write about traveling as a way out. Every prediction about the future of traveling is right now destined to fail. From my side, I thought of continuing to write about journeys, but I also enriched the blog with other sections. Only time will tell if travel blogging is still a thing for the years to come.

U is for Utopia. I always daydreamed of Utopias, of places with social justice and prosperity for all. But now, all I think of is some sort of return to our previous way of living. I wasn’t happy with the world, but I admit that things are now much worse than I ever thought they would be. Therefore, and sadly enough, our only Utopia right now is a return to times that we could hang out with friends, hug our parents, and travel whenever possible.

V is for Vaccine. That’s probably the holy grail of this journey through the alphabet. Humanity awaits desperately for a vaccine to start living normally again. I was never very optimistic that there will be one, and I genuinely hope that I’m wrong. But every single day, when I read the news, there’s always an article about the progress of Covid-19 vaccines. Only time will tell if this will be the solution.

W is for Wanderlust. And yet, here I am, having itchy feet and feeling ready to travel again, as soon as this thing is over. It’s only after my summer vacation in Donoussa that I started to daydream of journeys again. I have no idea how long it will take, but the spirit is here, and I once again have wanderlust. I’m just waiting for somebody to nod to me affirmatively.

X is Xennials. When I was writing my article about the Xennials, I could never imagine that I’ll add the word in a journey through the alphabet of a horrible year. But here’s the thing: I am a Xennial, and most of my friends are Xennials as well. We grew up similarly and for most of us, a second disaster after the financial crisis seemed unimaginable. And yet, the disaster is here, but we can’t do that much about it. For the past ten years (and probably the most productive ones of our lives), we are in limbo. Will this ever end?

Y is for Youtube. I spent lots of hours on Youtube in 2020. There were so many things that I wanted to watch, but I somehow never had the time. But during the weekends of the lockdown, I’d always try to watch stuff from my playlists. Apart from watching documentaries and short films, I also decided to start filming with my Osmo Pocket and grow my Youtube Channel. Feel free to follow me here.

Z is for Zest. It would have been very easy to choose Zero for the last word of this journey through the alphabet. We are in zero, and we have no idea when we could move forward. But here I am, choosing Zest, actually. And I can only think of the Zest for life. It feels as if I’m waiting for 2020 to end and my life to begin again. I try to remain optimistic and to look forward to things. Deep inside me, I hope that the restart of the world will be a colorful, spectacular explosion of joy. And I want to be there to observe it.

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What’s new on the blog – Recap 23

In August 2020, I finally slowed down a bit. It was the first time in two years that I didn’t post every single Saturday. Even though the initial plan was to skip two Saturdays and therefore post every 15 days, I uploaded four blog posts. But at least for the duration of my vacation in Donoussa, I didn’t work at all on the blog. I really have no idea what my schedule will be for the next months, but I definitely want to write and post as much as possible.

As it’s always the case, the first post of the month was last month’s recap. It wasn’t, of course, another journey through the alphabet, but actually a short story. The “Can you do me a favor?” is a story about traveling, scams, and dating. You can read it here.

Later in August, I decided to put together in a post my travel videos. Nowadays, I’m using the DJI OP whenever I’m on the road, and I try to capture footage from my trips. I’m delighted with the device, and for the ones that aren’t using Youtube, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to see what this device can do. Moreover, I felt like having all my travel videos under one post. Every new video will appear there (and on Youtube); therefore, make sure to bookmark the article if you like what you see. See the post here.

Lots of people asked me for writing tips during the last years. While I have also written a small ebook with my best travel writing tips (only available in my travel shop here), what I found more important in terms of advice was how one could build a writer’s mindset. Therefore, I thought of writing a very long post on how somebody can become a writer. The article is full of tips and advice, and I assume it as one of the most personal and ambitious texts on this blog. See how you can become a writer here.

Last but not least, in August, I decided to upload one more street photography article. This time it deals with the time I spent in Edinburgh. I was actually there for one day back in November 2019, but the time wasn’t enough, neither for a travelogue nor for a travel guide. That said, I focused on a pure street photography post. You can see the photo-report from Edinburgh here.

And that’s it with my August 2020 recap and my journey through the alphabet.

You can access my previous recaps by clicking here.

And here’s my 2020 year review

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Last Updated on January 9, 2021 by George Pavlopoulos