A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Did you know that Mr. Rogers offered travel advice to use during the Covid-19 pandemic? As a child, Mr. Rogers was often sick. He had to adapt and adjust to being sick and quarantined. Sound familiar these days? Read on to see Mr. Rogers take on how to make the most out of quarantine life and how this applies to your love of travel…

“I had every imaginable childhood disease, even scarlet fever. Whenever I was quarantined, I would be in bed a lot. I would put up my knees and they would be mountains covered with the sheet. And I’d have all these little figures moving around and I’d make them talk. I had to make up a lot of my own fun.”

-Fred Rogers (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?)

This timeless quote by Mr. Rogers captures the feelings of many in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The notion of making up a lot of our own fun has become a social media obsession for those looking for creative outlets for newfound free time at home. In the travel world, this has meant virtual travel via YouTube, exploring foreign cities on Google Earth, or other picture or streaming methods to capture a slice of an actual travel experience. These are all wonderful ideas. But, for those who are safely able to do so (see here regarding how people make decisions about their health about travel and here for the latest safety guidelines and policies), it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Let me explain…

I was going on a walk with my family the other day, and we took a detour down a less familiar street on our typical neighborhood stroll. Along this detour, I began to pay more attention to the houses along the street like the paint color and some interesting yard art. We took another offshoot road thinking it would loop back around to our more familiar strolling streets that we already know by heart (side note, should have remembered to bring my custom CamelBak water bottle, it was hot outside!). Unfortunately, or perhaps quite fortunately depending on how you look at it, this offshoot road took us further on a detour. It ended in a dead-end cul-de-sac rather than back to our known pathway.

What Would Mr. Rogers Do?

It was at this point that I recognized a wonderful truth about the connection between Mr. Rogers and Travel. It was indeed a beautiful day in the neighborhood, and just as important, I was paying attention to the beautiful day in the neighborhood. Just like when you travel to any leisure destination, our brains are designed to pick up on new and different things. These things make us use an extra bit of mental energy to process because they are not things known by heart, but rather something that our brains must consider for a moment. The result in this exploratory stroll was the same result you find during exploration and travel. In other words, I just went on vacation and found a way to “make up a lot of my own fun.”

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Wanna know something else cool? You can do this to. Safety permitting, consider getting the physical and emotional benefits of exercise as you take a stroll, jog, or bike ride. Combine this with your desire for travel by taking a different route. The forced recognition of newness is exploration. Exploration is a wonderful part of travel! So take Mr. Rogers’ travel advice. Just like he did as a child, pepper in a little creativity and effort in “making your own fun” and you’ll see what a beautiful day in the neighborhood really looks like.

Happy Travels,

-Dr. L
Founder, Psychologyoftravel.com

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