A Palm Springs Christmas (part 1): The ghost of Christmas Past



    For our 5th Christmas-versary, my boyfriend and I did something a bit different from previous Christmases-- we travelled across the continent, away from the harsh Canadian winters and towards the balmy Californian climate. Since we turned 18 (and were allowed by our parents to travel together), we've spent most of our Christmas vacations away from home. In 2019, we brought in the New Year in Phoenix, Arizona.




Where we hiked the mountains in Sedona and rode camels at the Phoenix zoo...



The next year, in 2020, we jetted around the West coast. Making stops in Rosalind, BC to hike some more...


And another stop in Seattle to bring in the New Year shopping...
Then came 2021, where everything was locked down, and COVID-19 had left us in a place where we weren't even allowed to have Christmas dinner together at each other's house. So we got stuck in the Canadian cold and barely had a Christmas at all. But that only left us more motivated this Christmas.

My boyfriend was in school and off of work for two months prior to Christmas, and COVID left my exams online. So, naturally, the two of us were as close to free as we get to go to Palm Springs and make up for the previous years lack-lustre celebrations. 

So, we left as soon as possible and planned on staying as long as possible. Just before we left, however, some complications arose. I had some issues with my vaccination records and a few days before we left, the time window we needed a negative rapid test in shortened from 72 hours to 24. Of course, since travel during the Christmas season is always busy, and our local pharmacies didn't let us book our test in advance, we were stuck showing up, the morning of our busy day before we left, and trying to find a pharmacy we could get our test from. The first one we tried had 9 tests ahead of ours and told us to come back later, so we called a few more and on our 3rd attempt, finally got in with minimal wait times. 

And so, we were off, to begin our cozy Californian Christmas.
Location: Palm Desert, CA, USA

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