'Direct-Orient Revisited' : One Year Later

Greetings from the depths of my depression. The second attempt at this blog entry will be shorter than the first attempt. It had better be. This is not an easy piece to write. 

Here I am, retired, with all the time in the world in order to travel and enjoy my retirement, and what happens? Americans (as of this date, anyways) can only travel to 27 countries, most of which are either tiny outposts at the ends of the Earth (Fiji, Vanuatu, the Maldives) or under such restrictions that it wouldn't be financially viable to travel there IN THE FIRST PLACE!

But one year ago, nobody (outside of governments) had ever heard of 'beautiful Downtown' Wuhan, China, or their 'wet market' poultry problems, or that the place was an incubator for the worst pandemic to plague the Earth in a decade. Throw in numerous non-believing (or mis-informed, or both) governments, perfectly good plans that could have mitigated the problem, thrown out simply because your political party didn't develop them; along with the changing diagnoses of the resulting virus confusing scientists and politicians alike, and the world has been thrown into a quagmire ever since. 

Whole countries (especially in Europe) shut down. No trains anywhere, no matter how short or long. Inter-continental air travel? After the first few days, virtually impossible. Borders between countries closed. No travel anywhere. Everyone home to stay for weeks, and weeks, and months, and...

Work from home. School online. No restaurants open (most of the spring at least). No entertainment of any kind. No assemblies of more than 4-6 people. 'Social Distancing.' 'Wear a Mask.' (Please still do wear a mask, OK?)

When this is all over and a properly researched, properly-studied vaccine is released and known to be effective, the fortunes of the travel industry will indeed begin to revert to something akin to what we all are used to. Until then, though, remember to wash your hands before and after touching anything. 

Since the end of our trip, relations have become strained between the USA and...virtually every country we travelled thru on our trip (although tourists are not affected immediately...well, somewhat).  But when the world began to shut down in mid-March, well, we had just begun to plan a Nashville trip for the last regular season Minnesota Wild road game. That trip was very quickly scrapped, as well as everything else for the next six months. Things went from bad to worse as March (and Easter Sunday) dragged on, and on, and on. No sports of any kind to end the mind-numbing boredom and the daily Coronavirus reports from the governments involved. 

As the spring dragged on, the train cancellations came in from around the world... VIA Rail Canada stopped their long-haul, non-Northern services (Northern services are guaranteed operation, by government edict). The privately-operated ROCKY MOUNTAINEER trains also ground to a halt as well.  The Australian operators of Great Southern Railway stopped the Indian-Pacific, Ghan, and the Overland;  Kiwi Rail (New Zealand) halted all non-commuter services on both islands (even though the total number of COVID-19 infections were in the hundreds, not thousands).

RZD Russian Railways first cut back, then restructured, their Trans-Siberian services; the new schedules added a full day onto Moscow-Vladivostok trains.  European Railways were reduced to extremely limited, near-regional services in most areas; no way would you be travelling from country to country (unless you were a health official en route to another overcrowded hospital). 

Amtrak reverted to a 'disaster' schedule in the Northeast Corridor (locomotive-hauled trains a few times per day, even in the NYC-Washington corridor 'spine').  On other corridors, most trains did not run at all or ran once per day (or less);  at one point in April, only one bus (substituting for a Horizon train set) and the Chicago -- St. Paul -- Seattle/Portland EMPIRE BUILDER were operating between Chicago and Milwaukee. Even in sunny Southern California, Los Angeles-San Diego service dwindled to just 3-4 trains each way each day (depending on the day of the week).  No one was riding; everyone feared the virus, and the fear grew nearly every day. 

Now, I wrote a book about my Paris-to-Istanbul adventure, completed merely days before the world started sliding down this slippery slope in a hand basket. Published it in February, first started promoting it to friends and acquaintances in April, and entered into an agreement with the European Rail Timetable folks to sell it outside the USA and Canada in June: alas, before I was able to get copies to the UK (where ERT is based), they shut down for 60 days in order to protect their business. 

So, here I am. I want to go somewhere. I have been telling people that when we (as a people) are able to travel, we should do so with a vengeance. Why? We owe it to ourselves to break the bonds of this cycle of disillusionment, despair and denial in our world. Doesn't have to be a real long trip; just somewhere you haven't been before. Somewhere which will make you forget the worst year in this century. Enjoy yourself; you've earned it! 

Just one thing before you go? 

Remember your shots. Please.