LashWorldTour 2021 World Travel Plans

As many of you may know, I’ve been traveling the world full time since 1998. My goal is to visit every country on the globe.

I explore each place I visit slowly and in-depth. I’m not just ticking off a list of countries. I really want to experience each country and culture, its beautiful natural places, its interesting towns & cities and any other noteworthy destinations.

Istanbul – Turkey

Preface: Impact of Covid-19 on my Travels

Unfortunately for me and my grand world travel plans, in 2020 the global Covid-19 Pandemic brought all travel – both domestic and international – to a screeching halt and then, gradually, to a much more regulated and minimalized potential for travel.

Obviously the pandemic greatly affected my world travel plans. But it did not end them entirely. I’m still out here in the world, slowly – but much more carefully – exploring new places.

Stepping back to early 2020: When the pandemic and the subsequent regulations to contain it hit the globe in March, 2020, I was in Turkey, just one month into my 90-day tourist visa. And there I was ‘stranded’ in Turkey for another six months.

I wrote several articles at the time about the Covid situation in Turkey, traveling during the Covid pandemic and actually enjoying an ideal life in Antalya under Covid lockdowns.

Duden Waterfalls – Antalya – Turkey

As driven as I am to explore the whole globe, I also believe in adapting to the times, following international virus experts’ advice about Covid-19, keeping myself safe & healthy, and doing my part to help prevent the spread of this virus.

When Turkey and various European countries opened their borders to tourists for the 2020 summer vacation season, I did not jump to venture out during that time, which seemed to me a huge & obvious recipe for disaster in terms of Covid-19 spread.

I more or less stayed put at the relatively safe Turkish Mediterranean coast. I did explore the gorgeous coast for one month in June. I then stayed put in Fetiye for another two months while exploring the local region, enjoying near-empty beaches, walking and cycling in parks and coastal areas.

In mid-September, after the big summer tourist season, I did cautiously venture to Croatia, where I spent three months doing hotel reviews and updating country & city travel guides. Then I continued on to neighboring Bosnia for my final assignment of the year and to explore the small beautiful Balkan country.

2021 Travel Plans

My travel plans for 2021 include, first of all, embrace staying safe & healthy and minimizing travel while waiting out the pandemic again. Secondly, I hope that by mid-year enough Covid-19 vaccinations will have been given that global travel becomes safe again and I can proceed on my merry way.

My ability to resume travels mid-year will also depend on getting more work assignments reviewing luxury & boutique hotels and/or making enough income from my travel blog.

Part 1 – Sarajevo, Bosnia

January, 2021 finds me in the midst of winter in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

I arrived in Bosnia in early December from Croatia. In Bosnia I had a small hotel review / travel guide update assignment. I then stayed for Christmas and New Year’s in a wonderful (dark pink) apartment in Sarajevo, set on a hillside with fabulous views over the city.

I was planning to explore much more of Bosnia in January. There are many gorgeous historic towns and beautiful natural places in this country I wanted to visit.

Quite unfortunately, I discovered that traveling in Bosnia is surprisingly expensive! It’s on par with Croatia, in fact.

Transportation and accommodation are both expensive in most places around Bosnia, I discovered while researching. It seems the only inexpensive destinations for accommodation are Mostar and Sarajevo. Luckily at least food is very cheap throughout Bosnia.

Since I have a fabulous apartment in Sarajevo and the city itself has many things to see & do, I decided it’s best for me to simply stay in Sarajevo until I leave Bosnia.

It’s rare for me to experience winter and snow, so this has been a wonderful, beautiful couple weeks in a Winter Wonderland. I’ve hiked in a snowy forest, built a miniature snowman, thrown some snowballs, made a snow angel and helped my host shovel snow & clear off this car. Fun!

Part 2 – Antalya and Fetiye – Turkey

In late January I will return to my beloved Antalya, Turkey to wait out the pandemic yet again. Round two. I will have a 90-day tourist visa, which means I can stay until late April. I’ll probably split the time between the two beautiful coastal cities of Antalya and Fetiye, where I spent so much time last year.

I may end up staying in Turkey longer than my allotted 90 days, just like last year, if the pandemic still has the world paralyzed. I might apply for a temporary residence visa so I can stay longer in a proper manner. If I’m not able to do that, I may opt to consciously over-stay my visit like I did in 2020, assuming I’ll have to pay a fine again on departure.

Part 3 – Resuming World Travels ?

However, I hope by late spring / early summer that we’ll be reaching some sort of Covid-19 control or a decline in the pandemic’s danger.

I hope to be able to resume my world travels sometime in the middle of the year. That will depend on several crucial factors, though, as I hinted above.

First of all, the world will have to somehow more or less gain control over the virus to make it safe enough to travel again. I hope that can be achieved by vaccinating enough people by then.

At this point, it sounds like massive numbers of vaccines are rolling out in the USA, Europe and elsewhere. It looks like a mass vaccination effort could be enacted within this year. And hopefully I’ll be getting a vaccine too.

Secondly, some countries will have to re-open their borders to Americans in order for me to be able to go anywhere.

quaint historic Hvar town – Hvar Island – Croatia

Currently, there are a handful of countries that have continued to remain open to American visitors. They include Turkey, some Balkan countries, UK, many African countries, several central Asian/former USSR countries, and a handful of scattered nations around the globe.

So, unless things take a serious turn for the worse, it looks like I will be allowed to travel somewhere in the middle of this year. I’m tentatively considering exploring Scotland, Wales and Ireland for about three months. Alternately, perhaps I’ll head to several countries in eastern Africa.

Third, and equally importantly, I will have to secure some work and income to afford travel. During my stint in Turkey I’ll try to re-gain more income from my travel blog. In addition, my boss is hoping that by March or April the company will be able to start issuing more hotel reviews and guide updates work.

All I can do is wait and see what happens.

Part 4 – Visit to USA for the holidays?

Last year I had planned to return to the USA in late October in order to vote in the Presidential Election and then spend the holiday season with family in Florida. Quite unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic halted my plans.

It’s now been more than two years since I visited family, so I really hope that President Biden’s ambitious, comprehensive US vaccination program succeeds, as well as vaccination programs around the world, so that it will be safe for me to return to Florida in late 2021.

At that point it will have been three years since I celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve with family. I sorely missed celebrating Math them last year and greatly look forward to joining them this year.

Summary of my 2021 World Travel Plans

As I noted above, although the global Covid-19 pandemic has seriously slowed my travels, it hasn’t halted them completely. I’m still out here traveling, just at a much slower and more careful manner.

My exact travel plans for 2021 depend almost entirely on ongoing developments with the pandemic, particularly on how well global vaccination programs and decreasing danger plays out.

Certainly the beginning of the year will find me more or less waiting out the pandemic at Turkey’s gorgeous Mediterranean coast. Hopefully by spring or early summer things will have improved enough for me to continue traveling and to receive new work assignments. And hopefully I’ll be joining family for year-end holidays.

I hope all of you stay safe & healthy, get inoculated and are able to resume a more or less normal life asap.

======================================

You might also like:

Update on Staying Safe While Traveling in a Covid-19 World

My 2020 Covid-19 Year in Review

Introduction to Croatia

======================================