LashWorldTour 2021 World Travels in Review

2021 was yet another year of full-time world travels for me, albeit much more slowly, due primarily to the ongoing Covid pandemic. In fact, during my second year of full-time travels in this Covid world (2020 & 2021), the ongoing pandemic proved to be the main factor that determined my travel itinerary for the entire year.

One result of Covid was that I only managed to visit six countries in 2021. However, only three of them were new to me, namely Egypt, Georgia (the country, not the US state) and Aruba. Despite my relatively limited travels, my travel costs in many instances were much higher, also primarily due to Covid.

For this yearly travel review then, it makes sense then to begin by detailing the many ways Covid affected my travel life.

Affects of Covid on my 2021 Travels

1. Covid determined which countries I could and could not visit.

Like in 2020, most European countries closed their borders to visitors again in 2021. Other countries, like UK and Jordan, allowed Americans visitors to enter, but with very strict & extensive rules and procedures, making visiting excessively expensive and complicated.

As 2021 began, I was in Eastern Europe and Turkey. To continue my travels from there I looked to countries that I could visit nearby. All the European countries were closed, as well as most other countries bordering Turkey: Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Syria. My options were quite limited.

2. Covid made me abandon several travel itineraries I researched and planned for.

Early in the year while thrusting around for new countries to visit, mostly near Turkey or else a cheap flight away, I discovered several countries that were still open to American travelers. They included UK, Jordan, Egypt and most African countries.

So I began researching those countries in depth to learn the best places to visit, things to see and do, costs of various types of accommodation and so on. I also checked each country’s Covid situation more thoroughly.

First I made a potential plan to fly to Egypt then head to Ethiopia and southward through Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique. But when I checked the Covid situations, I discovered that neither Kenya, Tanzania nor Mozambique even reported their Covid stats to the world!

And that meant I had no idea how bad their situations were. In addition, I could assume that nobody in those countries were taking any precautions to prevent spread of the virus (such as wearing masks, keeping social distancing, getting vaccinated).

In addition, Ethiopia was in the midst of a nasty genocidal civil/tribal war and extensive famine. Not a good time to travel around that country either!

It seemed like a really bad idea to visit any countries like that. Sure enough, to confirm my instincts, a few months later the Covid-denying president of Tanzania contracted a bad case of Covid, went to India for treatment (of all places?!) and soon died from it.

So I had to abandon plans to travel down the east coast of Africa, though Egypt was still an option.

In the meantime, I had decided for the summer of 2021 to travel around Scotland, Ireland, N. Ireland and Wales. I did quite extensive research on all the things to see and do in each of those countries. I even layed out an itinerary & travel route and checked air fares from Istanbul to several key UK cities

Already knowing that Americans could travel to UK for up to six months, I was getting ready to pin down a flight and specific accommodations, when I -luckily – read the detailed UK entry rules. I found out that, first of all, UK wasn’t accepting visitors directly from Turkey! So I couldn’t actually go anyhow.

Secondly, even if I could go, I would have to endure a 2-week quarantine upon arrival and undergo not one, but two more Covid tests after I arrived. In the UK that would be extremely expensive.

Finally, to cap that off, the USA was no longer accepting travelers arriving from the UK, due to the spread of the Delta variant.

So I had to suddenly scrap my 3-4-month summer travel plans as well.

More or less the same thing happened with my plans to explore Jordan and Israel. I could enter Jordan, but I’d have to fly in from Egypt rather than simply crossing the land border. And I’d have to take a second Covid test upon arrival at the airport, staying at the airport for several hours until the test results arrived. No thanks.

As for Israel, their borders remained locked firmly shut.

In short, I spend dozens of hours & days researching and preparing to visit many different countries in 2021, then had to abandon my plans over and over again.

3. I incurred a lot of extra expenses due to Covid rules.

In 2021 nearly every country in the world, with borders open to visitors, required every visitor to take a PCR Covid test within 72-hours of arrival. Each of those tests cost money.

In my case, I took 10 PCR tests in about one year’s time. From September, 2020, when I finally left Turkey after their initial long Covid lock-down, through late October 2021, when I landed in Florida to spend holiday with family, I had to take a PCR test before each flight I took.

I estimate that I spent about $375 US on those tests in total. They ranged in price from about $25 US in Turkey to $110 US in Croatia. The only free PCR test I lucked into was in St Pete, Florida, on my way down to Aruba in late August. All other tests I had to pay for myself.

That’s a pretty large chunk of excess expense, especialy for a budget traveler like myself. $375 US would pay for a flight – or two – or cover my full daily expenses for more than two weeks. It really sucked to ‘waste’ my hard-earned cash on virus tests.

4. Covid made travel considerably more complicated.

In addition to the wasted research time, abandoned travel plans, extra costs, multiple PCR tests, Covid created other country entry requirements & documents, all of which made traveling considerably more complicated.

Before heading to any other country, I had to check the country’s entry requirements carefully. Then I had to find out where to get a PCR test in my location, how and when to get the results, sometimes get photocopies somewhere, co-ordinate the time of the test with my flight time and test results time.

Then I usually had to arrive at the airport even earlier than normal. And I often had to have other documents, in addition to my clinic-stamped negative PCR test results.

5. Covid greatly decreased my work and income.

Like many other people in the world, I lost a lot of work and income because of Covid. Not surprisingly, Covid hit the travel industry mighty hard. And that meant most of my usual income from LashWorldTour travel blog disappeared for the year. In addition, my work reviewing luxury/boutiuqe hotels was greatly limited.

In fact, I only had enough money to get through the year because of the two US Stimulus Checks I received. Thank goodness for those! Also, my dad gave me the value of one stimulus check, which never showed up until later in the year.

2021 Travels

As I mentioned above, in 2021 I visited only six countries. They included Bosnia, Turkey, Egypt, Georgia, Aruba and the USA.

I had already explored Bosnia and Turkey in 2020, so those weren’t new to me in 2021. And obviously I’ve already spent heaps of time in the USA.

Here’s a quick re-cap of my travels:

Bosnia & Herzegovina

I started the year off in pretty Sarajevo, Bosnia. There I celebrated Christmas, 2020 and New Year’s Eve ‘holed up’ in a spacious & sumptuous hillside private apartment. My hospitable, friendly hosts lived downstairs.

Sarajevo was covered in thick snow through the whole holiday season. I made several excursions outside to walk around in the winter wonderland, including a day-trip on Sarajevo Cable Car to the top of Trebevic Mountain, where there are fantastic city views and the 1984 Olympics Bobsled Track. I don’t often experience snow in my travel life, so it was a great novelty.

Turkey

In late January I flew back to my beloved Antalya, Turkey. I returned there mainly because I couldn’t figure out anywhere else to go (due to Covid, of course) !

I celebrated my birthday at a stunning luxury hotel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and snow-capped mountains surrounding Antalya.

Then I set about researching potential new travel destinations, as detailed above, then repeatedly abandoning those plans.

I stayed in beautiful Antalya for two months, then spend one month exploring nearby destinations that I had never visited. They included the coastal beachside towns of Alanya and Side, as well as famous Pamukale, which has a unique mountainside of thick white sodium deposits and bright turquiose pools of water.

Egypt

Finally, my travel research finally lead me to Egypt,where I went for the month of April. Part of my decision included a hefty assignment reviewing luxury hotels and updating a Cairo Guide.

I spent most of one month exploring dusty, broiling Cairo. As many of you may recall, I more or less absolutely hated Cairo, and Egypt in general. I did manage to take a lovely train ride north to Alexandria and spend several days exploring that marginally better Egyptian city. For anyone interested in my take on Egypt, I’ve detailed my first impressions of Cairo here.

At least I got to exploree a new country. And the income I earned covered about two months of my travel life.

From Egypt I had hoped to visit neighboring Jordan and Israel or else head down the east coast of Africa. Since all those travel plans fell through, thanks again to Covid, I returned to Turkey once again!

Turkey, phase II

As I continued to find closed country borders and strict, complicated, expensive entry requirements, I ended up abandoning travels to other nearby countries. Instead, I simply stayed longer in wonderful Turkey. In total, I spent five months in Turkey in 2021. Added to the seven months I spent there in 2020, I spent 12 months – an entire year – in Turkey.

Rather than stay longer in Antalya, I decided to go explore more of Turkey. I revisited a couple favorite places like Konya city and Cappadocia. Then I headed toward Turkey’s northern coastline on the Black Sea. I visited several adorable little historic towns and seaside cities as I headed east toward the bordering country of Georgia.

I visited historic mosques, beautiful Ottoman old town, and specialty museums in Konya. In Cappadocia I hiked through the stunning, colorful rock canyons. I explored the charming historic towns of Tokat, Amasya and Unye in northern Turkey. I ended my Turkish travels staying with a very hospitable Turkish man in Trabzon city, while preparing to head to Georgia.

Georgia

In June, Georgia’s border opened. So I crossed the border and spent 1 ½ extremely hot & humid months on Georgia’s Black Sea coast and the wonderful capital city of Tbilisi.

I admired the very quirky modern architecture in seaside Batumi, strolled the long pebble beaches at Kobuleti, went camping in Kintrishi National Park, took an extremely comfortable modern train across Georgia to the capital, then explored wonderful Tbilisi city for 10 days.

Aruba

Meanwhile, I had one fantastic stroke of good luck in the year. Out of the clear blue I landed a great cat-sitting position in the tiny Caribbean country of Aruba.

Since I was already planning to return to Florida in late 2021 to visit family for the holiday season, it was easy enough to fly home earlier then head down to Aruba.

So in mid-August I flew from Tbilisi, Georgia over to St Pete, Florida. After a short 10-day stay with family, I flew on to Aruba in late August. I stayed in Aruba for seven weeks in a charming apartment with a wonderful fluffy black & white cat.

Quite luckily, I also had a car to drive in Aruba. So I explored the island quite extensively, visiting most of its notable natural, historic and cultural sites. I also spent nearly every morning at Aruba’s spectacularly beautiful beaches; swam in the sea; snorkeled on reefs; and relaxed under shady trees while reading back-copies of National Geographic and drinking strong coffee.

Florida – USA

Finally in late October I eturned to Florida to spend holidays with family and to plot the next phase of my travels, starting in early 2022.

Personal Happenings in 2021

This year I really had only two significant personal ‘events’. The first was my ‘big’ birthday, which I greatly enjoyed at fabulous luxury hotel in Antalya, Turkey. The second was returning to US after three years’ absence to spend a chunk of time with family over the holidays.

Throughout the year of travels, I made many new friends and acquaintances. They include other travelers, hosts at apartments & homes, local neighbors and staff of hotels & shops.

Looking ahead to 2022

In 2022 I plan to spend the whole year traveling, as usual. Thus far, it looks like Covid will throw a huge wrench in my international travel plans once again. As I write, the latest Covid variant, Omicron, has forced most countries to re-close their borders yet again. I don’t think that will change by early 2022 when I’m ready to hit the road.

Meanwhile, I’ve already started researching my travel options. I’ll continue researching and planning in January, then hopefully set out in February for another exciting year of world travels.

Stay tuned for more travel tips, destination articles, suggestions, advice and photos from countries around the world.

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