Yesterday was a busy work day, so Ruth and I didn't even leave the house. Which was okay in the morning because it also started off being a rain day! Helen and Tony managed to get out for a walk around the village though.
Besides doing some internet work, I was also doing some future travel research and planning. The problem is that we can't decide where to go!
We return to Germany on November 5th and are going to make our way to Spain with Max where we will explore until mid January. But once again the Schengen visa problem comes up as we are still only allowed to be in the Schengen European countries for 90 out of every 180 days. And by January 19th we will have used up 75 of those days.
So, we have to get out of the Schengen zone for two and a half months. We want to take the ferry from Northern Spain to Ireland at the end of April, so would use the last two weeks of April to drive up there.
So, we have some choices to make. In no particular order, here are our options...
1. Drive Max to Morocco. We had been in Morocco for a couple of weeks in April of 2017. At the time, we saw quite a few foreign plated motorhomes (mostly from France and Germany) and we said at the time that we could easily spend a couple of months exploring Morocco by motorhome. The only downside is possible Covid problems related to the border. During the Covid lockdowns when Morocco's border was closed, they didn't let any motorhomes leave, and many were stuck there. While we want to visit Morocco by motorhome, we don't want Max to be stuck there. I think it's a slim possibility of a repeat of that scenario, but it could happen.
2. Fly to Mexico. This is still probably our top choice, however flights from Spain to Mexico are currently really expensive. If we do fly to Mexico, we will probably also fly to Ecuador from Mexico for part of that three month period. We had tried to go to Ecuador in October 2019, but there was public unrest and we ended up cancelling and going to Peru instead.
3. Fly to Sri Lanka. Flights from Spain to Sri Lanka are currently reasonable, In fact, there is one flight listed that isn't much more than what it would cost from Spain to Mexico and it's on Qatar Airways which is a really nice carrier.
4. Fly to Vietnam. We really want to go there, but it's not the easiest flight routing from Spain. Cheap once we get there, but it would probably be the costliest flight.
Morocco would be the cheapest option. Mexico is the most likely option, but Sri Lanka is a close second. It could be that it comes down to a flight showing up at a great price. If that's the case, it may not be to any of these countries.
Thrown into the mix is trying to get Lindsey and the grandkids somewhere to visit us this winter. They would be flying out of Halifax, Canada and it's not a great airport for international flights, so visiting us where ever we happen to be would involve multiple flights. Even getting to Mexico would likely involve a connection.
Anyhow, as always, we will figure it out.
Today, we drive from Gjirokaster to Berat!
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And in Canada...
Mexico is a must :) Ecuador is also fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThe issue with that, is that we have been to Mexico so many times before and there are still so many other places that we want to go but Mexico keeps drawing us back again and again! There are so many things that we just love about Mexico, including friends, food and beautiful scenery. And yes, tacking Ecuador on to the trip is an added bonus. :-)
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