Leaving England For The First Time Since Pando

Holly crap! It just occurred to me, just as I sat down to start writing this post, that this is the longest time I've ever spent in a country continuously since my adult life. I was last out of England in late 2019 when I travelled to the Canary Islands. Funny thing is, back then I was actually there to scope out the possibility of moving there for a change of scenery. News of "the virus in China" had reached me by then, but it was still in the realm of "fake news" and "nah, that can't be."

I couldn't for the life of me imagine back then what was coming. I even wrote an article about the uncertainty of holidays in 2020, and how many holiday companies were collapsing due to the poor state of economies across Europe, and BREXIT. That was laughably the understatement of the millennium, now in hindsight.

Thankfully, today, most places I'd love to go are relatively open. The Gambia will let me in. Tanzania will too. Ghana is still a little closed for irrational reasons. Nigeria is as open as the UK now, with all testing requirements and government mandates scrapped (not that anybody was following any of it before haha). The Canary Islands, my favourite part of the world, are still a little uncertain. I'll give them another year to get their act together I think.

Hopefully, if all plans go as expected, I should be travelling out of England for the first time since the pando began. The thing is, though, I'll be visiting a country that borders the turbulent area of eastern Europe that's in the news presently. Most people will probably be apprehensive, since most of the traffic is flowing out of the general area, but I feel zero fear about it. I'm hoping for two weeks of bliss in rural Europe - mountains, forests, streams, meadows and fresh air. I just hope to never meet a bear or wolf :)

Peace & Love,

Adé