New Normal 2.0

This past weekend I was on a girls trip in Palma di Mallorca and thanks to glorious weather and no face masks anywhere in sight it felt almost like a pre-pandemic weekend break back in the days when I was trying hard to meet the renewal threshold for my frequent traveller status (which I will be losing for good next month, by the way). It was a carefree two days and packing my trusty slim Rimowa cabin baggage trolley gave me that well-known rush of excitement. It was as if I had been abstinent from a pretty addictive drug for years and then somebody had offered me a cheap hit. Pre-Covid, I was flight-shamed by some of my friends a lot for weekend-trips like that and despite the time element (can someone remind me why I registered for this intense MBA-programme of mine, please?) I definitely wouldn't fly around as much even if I, ironically I now have tempting access to cheap tickets thanks to being the registered spouse of an airline employee. Times have changed and so have I, but I finally feel like this is what the elusive New Normal feels like when you don't constantly have the pandemic at the back of your mind.