Pipe-Dream Vacation
All packed up with nowhere to go
As the pandemic brought international travel to a standstill, flight prices reached all-time lows. Grounded by circumstance but buoyed by delusion, 2020 denizens huddled around their Kayak accounts to book once-in-a-lifetime travel to exotic locales. Would these trips ever come to pass? Mercy, no! But until the cancellation confirmation email arrived, there was hope. And in 2020, hope was the most precious commodity of all. This hope was powerful enough to fuel a spate of similarly wishful purchases: One ticket to Tokyo-Narita International Airport snowballed into a Duolingo subscription, an okonomiyaki cookbook, 42 rolls of rainbow-toned washi tape, a six-foot Gudetama body pillow and, ultimately, a voice-controlled Japanese bidet.