KeizerHarm

I am about to engage upon a great adventure: three weeks in Newfoundland. Now a century or so in the past, this would have been a daring trip due to the fact that the island in question is one of Canada's most remote and barren marches - land untamed by any of the five distinct cultures that live here. But I expect no danger from that direction: we are a profoundly domesticating species, and have endowed this land with infrastructure in the form of paved roads, gas stations and even the occasional bus. Everything for the hordes of people that have yet to populate this place, which is three times the size of my home country but with barely half a million people. Given the local clime, with the rain frequency of Scotland but much greater intensity in every shower, they may have to wait a little longer. So where is the adventure? It is in the date on which I made the booking, barely two weeks behind me. Most of the hotels where I will reside have yet to learn of my existence, as I have not even gotten around to deciding on a region of the island for the latter half of my stay. But when Covid ruled out holiday plans A, B and C, going to Canada on the very day they start allowing foreign tourists seems like not only a reasonable plan D but a strategy to get to the place when it is even emptier than normal, as possibly the very first foreign tourist in over a year. The risk is not in the island itself, but in the inherent risk of travelling before Canada even knows what kind of vaccination proof it will accept, and when the dreaded beer virus may scupper my plans at any moment and send me back to Dutchland on an overpriced last-minute ticket. I may not have to fear a bear attack, but I may lose a lot of money. Does seeking out that domesticated risk make me an adventurer yet?