The American holiday of Thanksgiving offers an opportunity to reflect on a challenging year and to share gratitude.
When travel came to a standstill back in March, none of us knew what to expect. However, we at HE Travel are very grateful for the support and encouragement we received from our clients and our travel partners around the world. This has made it possible to look ahead to offering memorable travel experiences in 2021 and beyond.
These are some of the things I am most grateful for this year.
- I am grateful for everyone who voted in the recent American election. As I conclude my duties with the Salt Lake County election office, I am delighted to see a 90% turnout in Utah, and a high turnout throughout the country. Wide participation in elections keeps our democratic republic robust!
- I am grateful for the many travelers who have joined HE Travel group tours and our customized travel experiences since 1973.
- I am grateful for the many clients who plan to join us to explore new corners of the world as soon as they feel comfortable doing so.
- I am grateful for our travel partners around the world who have worked closely with us to convert carefully crafted 2020 tours into 2021 adventures.
- I am grateful for everyone in the HE Travel family for their strength and support.
- I am grateful for the prompt bipartisan efforts by Congress last spring to create programs that helped small businesses like ours get through this year.
- I am grateful for the grace and wisdom that I learned from my parents, including my mom who left us in April.
- I am grateful for a warm home with my partner Jake (aka Cake), for our one-eyed cat (with her chin on my leg as I write this), and for our family of bunnies (including five born this week!)
We enjoy poetry, so after our special dinner, we created a Thanksgiving prose poem to share with you.
Thanksgiving 2020: A 399-Year-Old Legacy
Now that the election is behind, it’s time to find November’s other thyme (and a rhyme).
400 years ago this month, the Pilgrims completed something rather tough. A treacherous journey across the Atlantic Sea. They first stepped ashore at the tip of Cape Cod in 1620. Provincetown, it is now known to be. Over the next year, they put down roots across the Bay in Plymouth without fear. Following their first harvest in autumn 1621, they celebrated together with a feast all will remember. Commemorated as the First Thanksgiving just before a bleak December.
Many Mayflowerers did not live to see that day, but some may say the survivors had made it through to another way. With assistance from a Native tribe, the Wampanoag, they had staved off starvation so they could help create our current nation. To get through the upcoming winter stew, the celebration was a shared fondue of delicacies by people who could not have been a more different hue.
2020 has certainly provided its fair share of fear. With far fewer explorations this year, familiar Thanksgiving dinners are being replaced by a new kind of cheer. Families will joyfully share memories of those no longer here while finding innovative ways to maintain the spirit with those they hold dear.
At its core, Thanksgiving gives us so much more. A chance to identify what we are grateful for, and to look toward the future that shall become our lore.
Best wishes for the holidays from Phil and Cake, without delays!
