When We Get Out

With all the discussion about relaxing the guidelines, thoughts have naturally been turning to post quarantine activities. Who among us hasn’t thought about what we would do when the social distancing rules are dropped? Let’s have some fun and let our imaginations run a little wild. Here’s what I will do when I can get out. And it isn’t that different from what everyone else is craving. See below for the top 50 things we want to do when we all get out. What’s most heartening is it’s the simple things- food, travel, connection that seem to rise to the top.

Eating out

I am heading straight to either my favorite or most expensive restaurant on day 2. I am still thinking through which one I would choose. My favorite is my favorite and the taste of those dishes features in at least one dream out of three that I have been having lately. But my expensive choice announces that this nonsense is over and I can pop the cork on that pent up demand that I have been jamming down on now for too long. 

Now I know we have been cheating a bit and scratching our itch by supporting the restaurant industry and grabbing some take out every now and then, but eating out is about so much more than the food. There is the booking, getting the preferred reservation time, the anticipation, the pre-dinner drink either on-site or elsewhere, the delicious pleasure in the choice provided by the menu, the interaction with the server, the sounds and sights of the other patrons and surroundings, the leisurely progress of the meal, the escape it provides from our regular activities, the ritual, the ebb and flow of conversation, the sharing, the surprises and finally the check. Well, maybe we don’t really miss that last one. And not having to clean up! Forgot that one. There is so much to a good meal out that I anticipate it will be one industry that bounces back stronger and quicker than expected.

Social gatherings of all kinds

Whether we are talking about weddings, funerals, backyard cookouts, watching the game with a group of friends or throwing some back at my local bar, I simply cannot wait to see some different faces – live!! I mean I love my family, UPS guy, local deli owner and the three other people I have spoken to in person over the last couple of months but I will be beaming from ear to ear as I simply soak in the sights and sounds of other people, let alone talk to them. I mean we are going to be delighted to talk to anyone …about… anything! The staggeringly boring minutia of what people have been doing in quarantine will suddenly sound like the most fascinating stories you have ever heard in your entire life. Get ready to spend an hour with someone you hardly know discussing how they made toilet paper last or what canned goods they used to make new and delicious recipes…and enjoying that conversation. 

Travel

I don’t care if I have to walk through a Clorox spraying virus detector, pay three times as much for a round trip to Cleveland (which right now sounds exotic) stand for half the flight time or pay to check my hand luggage, I want to travel! And I miss it. Travel says that I can’t be contained, can’t be controlled, am free to choose who and what I see and when. It is such an essential part of our sense of freedom I believe it will literally explode when the guidelines are relaxed. Travel bookings are already reflecting pent up demand and many travel agents and companies are advising that now is a great time to plan a trip before prices are driven up. 

Everyone has their own ideas about what they want to do first when they get out. Check out this article here to get a really fun and surprising look at some of the different things that people want to do when quarantine is over. Mine are not that unique but that doesn’t bother me one bit. I’m happy to be just like everyone else in wanting to get back to the simple things I love to do.

Take care, stay healthy and create your own when-I-get-out list!