It’s 11:04PM on Wednesday 26th August, 2020. The house is peaceful and still - the few once-rustling trees are lying still and there’s nothing else to distract. It’s a good time to focus.
We’re two and a half weeks away from our planned vacation to Moorea in French Polynesia. This could be the best trip of our lives — overwater bungalows! — or a huge disappointment if we don’t get our mandatory COVID tests back in time to be allowed to board.
Here’s what usually happens when I travel:
- I spent hours and hours on the trip taking thousands of photos
- I build a giant mass of hundreds of gigabytes that take up every SD card and fill up my phone and computer storage
- When I finally get back home, I’m put off by the hours (or days) it’ll all take to upload so I put it off. Life has taken back over — it’s not a priority.
- Weeks, months, and eventually years go by. If they do ever get uploaded to the cloud, they’re lost forever in an even bigger giant mass — a lifetime of trips and other memories
- People ask for photos. People beg for photos. People get frustrated waiting for photos. My memories from the trip have faded, and I’ve lost any initial desire to curate an album.
Enter Medium. For this trip, I’m going to try something new:
- One post a day — highlights, fun facts, whatever comes to mind
- A few photos per post
- Maybe a short video some days — raw footage, nothing fancy
- That’s it! By the end of the trip — instant album
Back to Moorea
Our itinerary is still shaping up. 2020 is not a normal year for the tourism industry, but fortunately most of our top wants are still running — they really need the tourism income after all.
So far we have:
- Mon 9/14: Arrive, check-in, explore and relax!
- Tue 9/15: Snorkeling and trying to capture our drone print
- Wed 9/16: Taboo catamaran sailing and snorkeling
- Thu 9/17: Blue Invitation: Searching for humpback whales
- Fri 9/18: Explore the island! Maybe also photo shoot.
- Sat 9/19: Glass kayak sunset tour
- Sun 9/20: Chill SUP, snorkel and relax day. Not much open on Sundays.
- Mon 9/21: Would love to see renowned biologist Dr. Poole if possible.
- Tue 9/22: TBD
- Wed 9/23: Travel home
It’ll be pretty amazing if we get to go. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much, but certainly dream about it every day. Fingers crossed!
12:02AM. Time for bed.
