Anyhow, an interesting comment came up yesterday regarding how far in advance people are planning trips. Given the Covid situation, I was surprised at how some people already have so much booked.
We should have all learned last year that there is no point in booking something in advance unless it is fully refundable. And even then, I don't really see the point unless it was a steal of a deal in the first place and it's fully refundable. Too much can change too quickly as we have seen this past week.
For us, we have always been fairly "last minute" travelers, and we are totally flexible to begin with. I think those two attributes have been what has made it relatively easy to continue traveling during these times. Of course for the next few months we have no plans that involve airplanes or accommodations, so provided the land borders stay open for vaccinated travelers, we're good to continue doing what we're doing. And quite happily!
Despite the current weather.
Right now, all of Albania, much of Greece, and the Balkans right through Croatia is in the middle of a big wet stormy weather system. We've looked at the options, and there is no logical way to avoid it. And the forecast into the first week of December isn't much better.
Still, we've been managing to get out for some exercise without getting poured on. Yesterday, we walked into town. We could have ridden the bikes, but we find that for fairly short distances (under 6 or 7 kms) we get more exercise by walking.
No, this is not a government building.
It's a big hotel.
There is a bypass being built on the opposite side of the river.
I was sure when we set out walking yesterday that we wouldn't make it back to Max without getting drenched. We had our raincoats and umbrellas with us, but it turned out we didn't need them.
During lunch, it poured again, but just afterwards Ruth looked out her window, and said... "ohhh, look at the rainbow!"
Ruth and Max enjoying the rainbow.
Probably the most vivid rainbow we have ever seen!
I took a video for you...
It rained hard overnight, even waking me up a few times. And still raining as I write this, however it's supposed to clear after lunch and actually be sunny tomorrow... before the rains return on Thursday and Friday!
We thought about going somewhere different for a change over the next two days, but we decided we're quite happy staying right here. There is still some cycling and hiking we can do right from the campground, so we'll plan that for tomorrow.
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And in Canada...
As a friend says, don't plan, prepare.
ReplyDeleteYour friend has a good way of looking at things. :-)
DeleteLots of rain forecast here but more often than not it doesn't come. Impossible to plan and v glad we don't have to.
ReplyDeleteGlad that the rain hasn't come your way, hopefully you didn't have any problems with the winds either, some places certainly did.
DeleteYep, it is definitely impossible to plan during these crazy times. Having a loose idea of what you want to do is good and having the flexibility to go with that is great. :-)
For Native Americans, it's taboo to plan ahead hence "Indian Time' (they are always annoyingly late). But I'm a pessimist...always have been. I 'prepare' for the worst. I book my flight ahead and reserve accommodations ahead and I'm set. Only once in my life time, it back fired....what a mess that was.
ReplyDeleteIn these crazy times even booking a flight and reserving accommodations a couple of weeks ahead of time can be risky because things change so fast, it is always good to make sure that your can get a full refund when doing it. We know some people that flew into Morocco and now they are stuck there for a least two addition weeks as the country has shut down all flights in and out of the country. It isn't so bad if you are booking these flights and accommodations in your own country but when they are international there is definitely more risk that they could be impacted with lockdowns.
DeleteI saw where the winds in Turkey were disastrous - 6 dead and 52 injured in one instance alone.
ReplyDeleteYes, the winds were terrible and brought on a lot of damage. We have friends there now but luckily they are much further down the coast. They said it was really windy but not like what the Istanbul area had.
DeleteLooks like a double rainbow. Thanks for your blogs. I really enjoy traveling with you. We have been on the road for 9 years and whereas we didn't need to book in advance back then, there are so many people traveling now that we have to book far in advance especially for popular places and holiday weekends. We don't have solar and like to have electric hookups.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was a double rainbow but you couldn't see the full second rainbow, it was pretty faint.
DeleteI think when Kevin was talking about making reservations ahead of time, he was referring to international travel. We do understand what you mean by more people RVing now, that the campgrounds are quite full compared to even several years ago and if you always stay in campgrounds then we can understand you need to book in advance. Glad that you are still on the road and still traveling around. :-)