I realized that ever since the Covid outbreak in 2020, I haven’t traveled to any country other than the Philippines. Before Covid, we made it a point to travel at least three times a year: once domestically within Japan, once back to the Philippines, and once somewhere else. That already covered about 15 days of our annual leave, and we would reserve the remainder for emergencies or maybe just relaxing at home.

Then in 2020, Covid happened, and we found ourselves stuck in Tokyo for a couple of years. Traveling abroad was a big no-no, and even domestic travel within Japan was discouraged. There were too many restrictions and too many things to worry about. We even kept meetups with friends in Tokyo to a minimum.

One good thing came out of that, though. We realized we didn’t really need to travel that much. We spent those couple of years in Tokyo, and we were perfectly fine. We were actually happy.

I still played tennis regularly, while my wife actually started practicing kyudo more frequently after Covid. Our employers both implemented hybrid work arrangements, so sometimes we worked from home and sometimes from the office. We believe this setup strikes the right balance and gives us the best of both worlds. When working from home, we save time by not needing to commute, but we also don’t get tired of staying home because we still get to go to the office, meet people, and eat at restaurants near our workplaces.

Eventually, the pandemic faded and things slowly returned to normal. We started meeting friends again and traveling again as well, although mostly within Japan. After a while, we also started flying back to the Philippines again. My wife traveled to Vietnam once for a company-sponsored event, but other than that, all our flights were to Manila to spend time with family.

Things were returning to normal, but the local-centered life we built and learned to appreciate during Covid remained. We were happy staying local, walking around the neighborhood, and exploring nearby places to eat. We were happy being able to continue pursuing our tennis and kyudo hobbies without needing to travel far. We were happy occasionally meeting up with friends — just enough to catch up and stay in touch.

As more Filipinos started traveling to Japan, we were also happy to meet visiting family and friends, some of whom we would probably never get the chance to see in the Philippines because our schedules there are usually filled with family commitments.

Six years after Covid began, we are happy with where we are and with the simple yet comfortable life we were able to build for ourselves. We may start traveling abroad again someday, though we no longer feel the same urge to do so. Maybe if and when we start traveling again, our feelings will change, but for now we are just as happy staying in Tokyo, discovering new places to eat while continuing to pursue our hobbies.

We have found our comfort zone, and contrary to what others might suggest, we no longer feel the need to constantly push the envelope or force ourselves out of it.