This story is part of a series, Pandemic Life: One Year On. Click here for more.
It’s been a year since health officials reported the first coronavirus case in San Diego County. The pandemic has turned all of our lives upside down. But with more people getting vaccinated every day, there's hope that we can eventually do the things we used to.
Travel is on many people's minds, like Karla Beltran of San Ysidro. She says she can’t wait to hop on a plane and travel somewhere far away.
“I love to travel, and I’m looking forward to maybe getting on an airplane and going somewhere far. Maybe like to Europe. One of the places I’d really love to visit is Switzerland. So maybe I’ll get to do that after this is all over,” Beltran said.
Kevin Davis, who lives in North Park, also can’t wait to travel.
“I’d like to visit friends and family in Tuscan, Denver, Victoria in British Columbia, New York City...Washington D.C., Baltimore...Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. For fun I’d like to go to Las Vegas maybe, or to London,” Davis said.
Jannette Kutchins, of Mira Mesa, says before the pandemic began, she was traveling and dancing a lot.
“Before COVID-19 struck, I was traveling a lot. And I was dancing a lot. When I wasn’t traveling I was dancing," Kutchins said. "So after this COVID-19 is done, and everyone has been vaccinated hopefully, and we’re all safe to go out, I would like to go back to that again. To travel and to dance.”
San Diegan Kathryn Garcia says she can’t wait to attend a concert again.
“The one thing I can’t wait to do once the pandemic is over is go to a concert again, and feel the energy of being in a sweaty crowd, all connected by the music that we love,” Garcia said.
Some people, like Florizel Yasuhara of Clairemont, can’t wait to do something as simple as drink a cup of tea with her friends.
“What I’d really love to do when this pandemic is over, is share a bowl of bright green tea with my friends,” she said. “This is something that we haven’t had a chance to do since last March. We really miss one another. We see each other virtually on Zoom, but it’s just not the same,” Yasuhara said.
