I felt that the year 2019 was an extraordinarily good year for travel .
COUNTRIES VISITED IN 2019
MANY TIMES
USA
CUBA
FRANCE
MEXICO
COLOMBIA
BRASIL
ARGENTINA
URUGUAY
CHILE
EASTER ISLAND
ENGLAND
BELGIUM
SPAIN
PORTUGAL
ITALY
AUSTRIA
SLOVENIA
QATAR
INDIA
SRI LANKA
MALAYSIA
CAMBODIA
MYANMAR
LOOKING FORWARD TO
THAILAND
QATAR
COCHIN
OMAN
FRANCE
IT HAS BEEN A GOOD YEAR FOR TRAVEL
THE COUNTRY I AM IN LOVE WITH THAT I CANNOT VISIT IN 2019 . IS IRAN
It was like the calm before the storm. I spent the New Year's evening at the Bristow Bungalow Lighthouse Hotel in Fort Cochin. A short but sweet visit to Muscat and then on to Miami and Havana.
On Jan 4, 2020 I had given a talk at a gathering in Mala, Kerala and I met a professor from WUHAN at that meeting. Nothing prepared any of us for what lay ahead .
January and February were normal months for travel and on March 10th I think I was ready with my usual number of overpacked bags ready to leave for the airport to go back to Cuba. My sister and her husband with whom I stay in Miami, insisted that I cancel the trip as they were not sure when I would be able to get back to the USA where I have a contract to consult as an Endocrinologist.
Then began the dark days of isolation. No more places dear to my heart CUBA FRANCE COCHIN SIEM REAP LETICIA KUALA LUMPUR..
The fear and anxiety in the streets and began the divisiveness based on science and knowledge on one hand and ignorance and nationalism on the other.
It was truly times of sadness and suffering which has not yet disappeared.
March April May June July were difficult as we were only learning about the Pandemic and so much false news and the rise of Nationalism.
Luckily on 17 July 2020, someone entered the cyberspace and we were able to keep company with each other in space while I was counseling friends and patients from all over the world. I had to read voraciously as I had to answer questions diligently and my knowledge of Medicine increased tremendously. Thus the time in isolation was not boring.
I was not able to travel to Cuba for 9 months and to France for 18 months! were not even able to visit friends living in the south florida region as the covid was raging under a very conservative administration. In November 2020, news of a new government and in January 2021, a more enlightened approach to the control of the epidemic began to show results.
Now we are in November 2021. and this is usually an exciting time for me as I plan travels around this time, more intensely than normal.
Once again my 2019 schedule
In Miami I was able to visit some indigenous people, on to Barcelona to spend time with some spanish friends and then a delightful time in Bangkok (with appropriately good food), went back to Europe and France with usual tribulations of rail travels and strikes. Left for India few days later and a very nice time until the flight to Muscat on 4/1/2020.
If I were to tell you that I am happy and excited at this time, 21 Nov 2021, it would be a lie. I tried to get tickets to Marrakech, to Sao Paolo, to Buenos Aires.. no avail.
I do not wish to be here during the holiday season, with crowded streets and shops and cafes and very disagreeable people with confused heads made worse by the isolation.
I can devote this time to the indigenous people.
Someone from Sao Paolo might come to visit.
and on 22/12/2021 I am going back to Europe.. Israel France Morocco are all on the radar.. Essouira is very inviting..
Countries visited in 2021
France
Spain
Belgium
Morocco
this is painful for this traveller !
Look forward to 2022 and a reasonable resumption of my usual wanderings
Colombia
Buenos Aires
Easter Island
France
Spain
Morocco
Israel
Qatar
Cochin
Kuala Lumpur
Siem Reap ....
