Remember that time there was a worldwide pandemic that put a halt on all travel?   I do.

Sigh.

I spent a lot of the pandemic traveling to Las Vegas.  But then I got sick of that.  So I booked a month long trip on Amtrak.  Guess what?  That was an insanely expensive reminder that the world is so much cheaper when you are outside America.  So I booked a flight to leave America.  For ten weeks.  And then sat back and waited to leave.

I had great plans for this trip.  I was going to be working remotely, but still had time to see things during the day and on weekends.  I purposely picked countries that were not too overwhelming with things to do and see.  Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and then ending in Turkey.  I want to see all of Turkey but also thought this would be a great time to cross just Mount Nemrut off the list.

I was going to blog nonstop.  Every day.  Okay not every day.  But weekly. Multiple times a week!  I was going to be very conscious of the things I post on my personal Facebook page.  Should I be posting this here, or on my blog, where people follow it because they want to read about your travels?   Blog it is!

Oh wow – I even packed my Las Vegas notes because I was going to finish posting the 2 trips I have halfway typed up.  I am going to be Superblogger, watch me go!

Then I got to Baku.  And opened the post I started about this trip before leaving and yet never finished that post.

I am currenty in my second to last hotel of this trip.  I am in Istanbul.  Tomorrow I start my commute home, with an overnight layover in Amsterdam.

In the past ten weeks I:

Drank more lattes than I would ever have thought possible.

Fed and pet all the stray dogs.

Got bit by a dog, who left a tiny scar on my arm.  Aw.  We became friends afterwards and he would sleep outside my Air BnB door.

Saw a whole lot of beautiful places.

Walked on some very “I AM GOING TO FALL AND DIE” types of streets and sidewalks.

Tripped and almost fell on a sidewalk in Baku and yelled out “PARKOUR” as I grabbed onto a railing.  No one saw me. I amuse myself.

Actually did fall on a sidewalk in Baku.  This time I did not yell “PARKOUR” and this time someone did see me land not only on the ground, but on the bag of groceries I was carrying.  Whoops?

I saw a naked man who I am sure did not realize his room was completely open to people standing outside.

I fed some stray cats cheese and then spent a few days with them screaming for me at the back door of my Air BnB for more.

I swam in a pool for the first time in probably over 30 years.

I dipped my feet in the Black Sea.

I gambled in a Georgian casino.

I got in a car accident in Georgia.  I was not driving (I don’t have a license.)

I listened to the call to prayer a million times.

I had balconies at every place I stayed at and had gorgeous sunset views.

I drank a fuckton of canned iced coffee.

I discovered I lost my packing skills.  I packed way too many shirts and way too little bottoms.  I did not pack a second pair of my lightweight Mary Janes and then spent a lot of time trying to find glue in a country where no one understands “glue” so I could fix the one pair I had when the bottoms started falling off.

I watched a million travel vloggers and priced flights to the entire world.

Now it is time to go home and I am already planning to go out again.

I am going to Vegas in June and Philadelphia in July.  I’ll go somewhere short and sweet in August for my birthday.

And then in either September or October, I will leave again.

My plans were to spend 2 or 3 months working remote and then 6 weeks not working.   I have a 4 week sabbatical I am elligible for starting in late December.  With the Christmas/New Years and Martin Luther King Day holidays, that’s a total of five weeks.  Add in one week of vacation, and I have six weeks.  That is a perfect amount of time.

My job announced a change to our vacation policy while I was on this trip.  I now have unlimited vacation time.  I also now have the rule that you cannot add vacation to your sabbatical.  I get it, it is a fair rule.  But that extra week is crucial to me.

When I get home, I need to figure that out.  I cannot really plan where I am going unless I know how much time I will have.

Thoughts I have:

Traveling to South East Asia and spending 2 months working remote.  Laos is at the top of my list here.  Depending on my route (which depends on my time off work) I would like to spend 3 weeks in Bangladesh before taking the Friendship Train to India and traveling overland from Kolkata Bhutan for 2 weeks.  Yes you can (maybe, not sure because COVID) fly from Bangladesh to Bhutan.  But I love train rides.  I would fly home from Bhutan via a few days in Singapore.

South America!  I cry every time I watch Up because I am so over in love with the idea of visiting South America and yet still haven’t gone.  Why?  Because I want it so bad that I am scared of what happens when I cross everything off my want it list and then what’s left?   I need to get over these stupid mental blocks.  I really do.

Traveling around the Middle East.  I would spent a month seeing more in Turkey, followed by a month in Israel, before spending 6 weeks going around to all the “You are going where what why?!?” places.  Saudi Arabia.  Bahrain.  Syria. Yes, you can travel to Syria.  Yes, it is safe.

I’ll figure it all out soon.  While also playing the game of “Should I give up my apartment / Should I buy a condo so I have a home to come back to / Should I just quit my fucking job and take a year or two off to travel / Should I just fucking STOP IT and just live like a normal person for 4 more years and then have the budget to retire at 55 and travel full time forever?”

Sigh.

I already got dressed today and am right next to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and this is what I am doing with my last full day out in the world.  Blogging.  Yeargh.

It is time to go outside and revisit Istanbul.  I was last here 9 years ago.  I walked across the Galata Bridge and took my first steps on the continent of Asia and thought I needed to go to Asia next year.  And I did.